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Sample records for high performance preconditioners

  1. Approximate tensor-product preconditioners for very high order discontinuous Galerkin methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pazner, Will; Persson, Per-Olof

    2018-02-01

    In this paper, we develop a new tensor-product based preconditioner for discontinuous Galerkin methods with polynomial degrees higher than those typically employed. This preconditioner uses an automatic, purely algebraic method to approximate the exact block Jacobi preconditioner by Kronecker products of several small, one-dimensional matrices. Traditional matrix-based preconditioners require O (p2d) storage and O (p3d) computational work, where p is the degree of basis polynomials used, and d is the spatial dimension. Our SVD-based tensor-product preconditioner requires O (p d + 1) storage, O (p d + 1) work in two spatial dimensions, and O (p d + 2) work in three spatial dimensions. Combined with a matrix-free Newton-Krylov solver, these preconditioners allow for the solution of DG systems in linear time in p per degree of freedom in 2D, and reduce the computational complexity from O (p9) to O (p5) in 3D. Numerical results are shown in 2D and 3D for the advection, Euler, and Navier-Stokes equations, using polynomials of degree up to p = 30. For many test cases, the preconditioner results in similar iteration counts when compared with the exact block Jacobi preconditioner, and performance is significantly improved for high polynomial degrees p.

  2. Domain Decomposition Preconditioners for Multiscale Flows in High-Contrast Media

    KAUST Repository

    Galvis, Juan; Efendiev, Yalchin

    2010-01-01

    In this paper, we study domain decomposition preconditioners for multiscale flows in high-contrast media. We consider flow equations governed by elliptic equations in heterogeneous media with a large contrast in the coefficients. Our main goal is to develop domain decomposition preconditioners with the condition number that is independent of the contrast when there are variations within coarse regions. This is accomplished by designing coarse-scale spaces and interpolators that represent important features of the solution within each coarse region. The important features are characterized by the connectivities of high-conductivity regions. To detect these connectivities, we introduce an eigenvalue problem that automatically detects high-conductivity regions via a large gap in the spectrum. A main observation is that this eigenvalue problem has a few small, asymptotically vanishing eigenvalues. The number of these small eigenvalues is the same as the number of connected high-conductivity regions. The coarse spaces are constructed such that they span eigenfunctions corresponding to these small eigenvalues. These spaces are used within two-level additive Schwarz preconditioners as well as overlapping methods for the Schur complement to design preconditioners. We show that the condition number of the preconditioned systems is independent of the contrast. More detailed studies are performed for the case when the high-conductivity region is connected within coarse block neighborhoods. Our numerical experiments confirm the theoretical results presented in this paper. © 2010 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

  3. An Empirical Analysis of the Performance of Preconditioners for SPD Systems

    KAUST Repository

    George, Thomas

    2012-08-01

    Preconditioned iterative solvers have the potential to solve very large sparse linear systems with a fraction of the memory used by direct methods. However, the effectiveness and performance of most preconditioners is not only problem dependent, but also fairly sensitive to the choice of their tunable parameters. As a result, a typical practitioner is faced with an overwhelming number of choices of solvers, preconditioners, and their parameters. The diversity of preconditioners makes it difficult to analyze them in a unified theoretical model. A systematic empirical evaluation of existing preconditioned iterative solvers can help in identifying the relative advantages of various implementations. We present the results of a comprehensive experimental study of the most popular preconditioner and iterative solver combinations for symmetric positive-definite systems. We introduce a methodology for a rigorous comparative evaluation of various preconditioners, including the use of some simple but powerful metrics. The detailed comparison of various preconditioner implementations and a state-of-the-art direct solver gives interesting insights into their relative strengths and weaknesses. We believe that these results would be useful to researchers developing preconditioners and iterative solvers as well as practitioners looking for appropriate sparse solvers for their applications. © 2012 ACM.

  4. Object-Oriented Software Tools for the Construction of Preconditioners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eva Mossberg

    1997-01-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, there has been considerable progress concerning preconditioned iterative methods for large and sparse systems of equations arising from the discretization of differential equations. Such methods are particularly attractive in the context of high-performance (parallel computers. However, the implementation of a preconditioner is a nontrivial task. The focus of the present contribution is on a set of object-oriented software tools that support the construction of a family of preconditioners based on fast transforms. By combining objects of different classes, it is possible to conveniently construct any preconditioner within this family.

  5. An Empirical Analysis of the Performance of Preconditioners for SPD Systems

    KAUST Repository

    George, Thomas; Gupta, Anshul; Sarin, Vivek

    2012-01-01

    study of the most popular preconditioner and iterative solver combinations for symmetric positive-definite systems. We introduce a methodology for a rigorous comparative evaluation of various preconditioners, including the use of some simple but powerful

  6. Scalable Domain Decomposition Preconditioners for Heterogeneous Elliptic Problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pierre Jolivet

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Domain decomposition methods are, alongside multigrid methods, one of the dominant paradigms in contemporary large-scale partial differential equation simulation. In this paper, a lightweight implementation of a theoretically and numerically scalable preconditioner is presented in the context of overlapping methods. The performance of this work is assessed by numerical simulations executed on thousands of cores, for solving various highly heterogeneous elliptic problems in both 2D and 3D with billions of degrees of freedom. Such problems arise in computational science and engineering, in solid and fluid mechanics. While focusing on overlapping domain decomposition methods might seem too restrictive, it will be shown how this work can be applied to a variety of other methods, such as non-overlapping methods and abstract deflation based preconditioners. It is also presented how multilevel preconditioners can be used to avoid communication during an iterative process such as a Krylov method.

  7. Element-topology-independent preconditioners for parallel finite element computations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, K. C.; Alexander, Scott

    1992-01-01

    A family of preconditioners for the solution of finite element equations are presented, which are element-topology independent and thus can be applicable to element order-free parallel computations. A key feature of the present preconditioners is the repeated use of element connectivity matrices and their left and right inverses. The properties and performance of the present preconditioners are demonstrated via beam and two-dimensional finite element matrices for implicit time integration computations.

  8. On performance of Krylov smoothing for fully-coupled AMG preconditioners for VMS resistive MHD

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, Paul T. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Shadid, John N. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States). Department of Mathematics and Statistics,; Tsuji, Paul H. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

    2017-11-01

    Here, this study explores the performance and scaling of a GMRES Krylov method employed as a smoother for an algebraic multigrid (AMG) preconditioned Newton- Krylov solution approach applied to a fully-implicit variational multiscale (VMS) nite element (FE) resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) formulation. In this context a Newton iteration is used for the nonlinear system and a Krylov (GMRES) method is employed for the linear subsystems. The efficiency of this approach is critically dependent on the scalability and performance of the AMG preconditioner for the linear solutions and the performance of the smoothers play a critical role. Krylov smoothers are considered in an attempt to reduce the time and memory requirements of existing robust smoothers based on additive Schwarz domain decomposition (DD) with incomplete LU factorization solves on each subdomain. Three time dependent resistive MHD test cases are considered to evaluate the method. The results demonstrate that the GMRES smoother can be faster due to a decrease in the preconditioner setup time and a reduction in outer GMRESR solver iterations, and requires less memory (typically 35% less memory for global GMRES smoother) than the DD ILU smoother.

  9. Incomplete augmented Lagrangian preconditioner for steady incompressible Navier-Stokes equations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Ning-Bo; Huang, Ting-Zhu; Hu, Ze-Jun

    2013-01-01

    An incomplete augmented Lagrangian preconditioner, for the steady incompressible Navier-Stokes equations discretized by stable finite elements, is proposed. The eigenvalues of the preconditioned matrix are analyzed. Numerical experiments show that the incomplete augmented Lagrangian-based preconditioner proposed is very robust and performs quite well by the Picard linearization or the Newton linearization over a wide range of values of the viscosity on both uniform and stretched grids.

  10. Parallel accelerated cyclic reduction preconditioner for three-dimensional elliptic PDEs with variable coefficients

    KAUST Repository

    Chavez Chavez, Gustavo Ivan

    2017-12-07

    We present a robust and scalable preconditioner for the solution of large-scale linear systems that arise from the discretization of elliptic PDEs amenable to rank compression. The preconditioner is based on hierarchical low-rank approximations and the cyclic reduction method. The setup and application phases of the preconditioner achieve log-linear complexity in memory footprint and number of operations, and numerical experiments exhibit good weak and strong scalability at large processor counts in a distributed memory environment. Numerical experiments with linear systems that feature symmetry and nonsymmetry, definiteness and indefiniteness, constant and variable coefficients demonstrate the preconditioner applicability and robustness. Furthermore, it is possible to control the number of iterations via the accuracy threshold of the hierarchical matrix approximations and their arithmetic operations, and the tuning of the admissibility condition parameter. Together, these parameters allow for optimization of the memory requirements and performance of the preconditioner.

  11. Block-triangular preconditioners for PDE-constrained optimization

    KAUST Repository

    Rees, Tyrone

    2010-11-26

    In this paper we investigate the possibility of using a block-triangular preconditioner for saddle point problems arising in PDE-constrained optimization. In particular, we focus on a conjugate gradient-type method introduced by Bramble and Pasciak that uses self-adjointness of the preconditioned system in a non-standard inner product. We show when the Chebyshev semi-iteration is used as a preconditioner for the relevant matrix blocks involving the finite element mass matrix that the main drawback of the Bramble-Pasciak method-the appropriate scaling of the preconditioners-is easily overcome. We present an eigenvalue analysis for the block-triangular preconditioners that gives convergence bounds in the non-standard inner product and illustrates their competitiveness on a number of computed examples. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  12. Block-triangular preconditioners for PDE-constrained optimization

    KAUST Repository

    Rees, Tyrone; Stoll, Martin

    2010-01-01

    In this paper we investigate the possibility of using a block-triangular preconditioner for saddle point problems arising in PDE-constrained optimization. In particular, we focus on a conjugate gradient-type method introduced by Bramble and Pasciak that uses self-adjointness of the preconditioned system in a non-standard inner product. We show when the Chebyshev semi-iteration is used as a preconditioner for the relevant matrix blocks involving the finite element mass matrix that the main drawback of the Bramble-Pasciak method-the appropriate scaling of the preconditioners-is easily overcome. We present an eigenvalue analysis for the block-triangular preconditioners that gives convergence bounds in the non-standard inner product and illustrates their competitiveness on a number of computed examples. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  13. Application of polynomial preconditioners to conservation laws

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Geurts, Bernardus J.; van Buuren, R.; Lu, H.

    2000-01-01

    Polynomial preconditioners which are suitable in implicit time-stepping methods for conservation laws are reviewed and analyzed. The preconditioners considered are either based on a truncation of a Neumann series or on Chebyshev polynomials for the inverse of the system-matrix. The latter class of

  14. A comparison of deflation and the balancing Neumann-Neumann preconditioner

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nabben, R.; Vuik, C.

    2004-01-01

    In this paper we compare various preconditioners for the numerical solution of partial differential equations. We compare the well-known balancing Neumann Neumann preconditioner used in domain decomposition methods with a so-called deflation preconditioner. We prove that the effective condition

  15. Towards an ideal preconditioner for linearized Navier-Stokes problems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Murphy, M.F. [Univ. of Bristol (United Kingdom)

    1996-12-31

    Discretizing certain linearizations of the steady-state Navier-Stokes equations gives rise to nonsymmetric linear systems with indefinite symmetric part. We show that for such systems there exists a block diagonal preconditioner which gives convergence in three GMRES steps, independent of the mesh size and viscosity parameter (Reynolds number). While this {open_quotes}ideal{close_quotes} preconditioner is too expensive to be used in practice, it provides a useful insight into the problem. We then consider various approximations to the ideal preconditioner, and describe the eigenvalues of the preconditioned systems. Finally, we compare these preconditioners numerically, and present our conclusions.

  16. Analysis and performance of adjacent-cell preconditioners for accelerating multidimensional transport calculations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Azmy, Y.Y.

    1996-01-01

    The formal development of the Adjacent-cell Preconditioner (AP) and its implementation in the TORT code are briefly reviewed. Based on earlier experience with diffusion type acceleration, and excellent results in slab geometry the reciprocal averaging formula is used to mix the preconditioner elements across material and mesh discontinuities. Numerical testing of the method employing the Burre Suite of Test Problems (BSTeP), a collection of 144 cases covering a wide range in parameter space, using AP, Partial Current Rebalance (PCR), and TWODANT's Diffusion Synthetic Acceleration (DSA) is presented. While AP outperforms the other two methods for the majority of the cases included in BSTeP it consumes many more iterations than can be explained by spectral analysis of the homogeneous model problem in cases with sharp material discontinuity. In order to verify this undesirable behavior and explore potential remedies a model problem, the Periodic Horizontal Interface (PHI), is developed that permits discontinuity of nuclear properties and cell height across the interface. Fourier mode decomposition is applied to AP with the reciprocal averaging mixing formula for the PHI configuration and shown to possess a spectral radius that approaches unity as the material discontinuity gets larger. The question of whether an unconditionally stable AP exists for PHI is tackled and preliminary indications are negative. Novel preconditioners that have nontraditional cell-coupling schemes that remain stable in these regimes may have to be sought

  17. A Parallel Sweeping Preconditioner for Heterogeneous 3D Helmholtz Equations

    KAUST Repository

    Poulson, Jack

    2013-05-02

    A parallelization of a sweeping preconditioner for three-dimensional Helmholtz equations without large cavities is introduced and benchmarked for several challenging velocity models. The setup and application costs of the sequential preconditioner are shown to be O(γ2N4/3) and O(γN logN), where γ(ω) denotes the modestly frequency-dependent number of grid points per perfectly matched layer. Several computational and memory improvements are introduced relative to using black-box sparse-direct solvers for the auxiliary problems, and competitive runtimes and iteration counts are reported for high-frequency problems distributed over thousands of cores. Two open-source packages are released along with this paper: Parallel Sweeping Preconditioner (PSP) and the underlying distributed multifrontal solver, Clique. © 2013 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

  18. Block preconditioners for linear systems arising from multiscale collocation with compactly supported RBFs

    KAUST Repository

    Farrell, Patricio

    2015-04-30

    © 2015John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Symmetric collocation methods with RBFs allow approximation of the solution of a partial differential equation, even if the right-hand side is only known at scattered data points, without needing to generate a grid. However, the benefit of a guaranteed symmetric positive definite block system comes at a high computational cost. This cost can be alleviated somewhat by considering compactly supported RBFs and a multiscale technique. But the condition number and sparsity will still deteriorate with the number of data points. Therefore, we study certain block diagonal and triangular preconditioners. We investigate ideal preconditioners and determine the spectra of the preconditioned matrices before proposing more practical preconditioners based on a restricted additive Schwarz method with coarse grid correction. Numerical results verify the effectiveness of the preconditioners.

  19. Parallel iterative solvers and preconditioners using approximate hierarchical methods

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grama, A.; Kumar, V.; Sameh, A. [Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

    1996-12-31

    In this paper, we report results of the performance, convergence, and accuracy of a parallel GMRES solver for Boundary Element Methods. The solver uses a hierarchical approximate matrix-vector product based on a hybrid Barnes-Hut / Fast Multipole Method. We study the impact of various accuracy parameters on the convergence and show that with minimal loss in accuracy, our solver yields significant speedups. We demonstrate the excellent parallel efficiency and scalability of our solver. The combined speedups from approximation and parallelism represent an improvement of several orders in solution time. We also develop fast and paralellizable preconditioners for this problem. We report on the performance of an inner-outer scheme and a preconditioner based on truncated Green`s function. Experimental results on a 256 processor Cray T3D are presented.

  20. Finite element analysis of multi-material models using a balancing domain decomposition method combined with the diagonal scaling preconditioner

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ogino, Masao

    2016-01-01

    Actual problems in science and industrial applications are modeled by multi-materials and large-scale unstructured mesh, and the finite element analysis has been widely used to solve such problems on the parallel computer. However, for large-scale problems, the iterative methods for linear finite element equations suffer from slow or no convergence. Therefore, numerical methods having both robust convergence and scalable parallel efficiency are in great demand. The domain decomposition method is well known as an iterative substructuring method, and is an efficient approach for parallel finite element methods. Moreover, the balancing preconditioner achieves robust convergence. However, in case of problems consisting of very different materials, the convergence becomes bad. There are some research to solve this issue, however not suitable for cases of complex shape and composite materials. In this study, to improve convergence of the balancing preconditioner for multi-materials, a balancing preconditioner combined with the diagonal scaling preconditioner, called Scaled-BDD method, is proposed. Some numerical results are included which indicate that the proposed method has robust convergence for the number of subdomains and shows high performances compared with the original balancing preconditioner. (author)

  1. Block recursive LU preconditioners for the thermally coupled incompressible inductionless MHD problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Badia, Santiago; Martín, Alberto F.; Planas, Ramon

    2014-10-01

    The thermally coupled incompressible inductionless magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) problem models the flow of an electrically charged fluid under the influence of an external electromagnetic field with thermal coupling. This system of partial differential equations is strongly coupled and highly nonlinear for real cases of interest. Therefore, fully implicit time integration schemes are very desirable in order to capture the different physical scales of the problem at hand. However, solving the multiphysics linear systems of equations resulting from such algorithms is a very challenging task which requires efficient and scalable preconditioners. In this work, a new family of recursive block LU preconditioners is designed and tested for solving the thermally coupled inductionless MHD equations. These preconditioners are obtained after splitting the fully coupled matrix into one-physics problems for every variable (velocity, pressure, current density, electric potential and temperature) that can be optimally solved, e.g., using preconditioned domain decomposition algorithms. The main idea is to arrange the original matrix into an (arbitrary) 2 × 2 block matrix, and consider an LU preconditioner obtained by approximating the corresponding Schur complement. For every one of the diagonal blocks in the LU preconditioner, if it involves more than one type of unknowns, we proceed the same way in a recursive fashion. This approach is stated in an abstract way, and can be straightforwardly applied to other multiphysics problems. Further, we precisely explain a flexible and general software design for the code implementation of this type of preconditioners.

  2. Substructuring preconditioners for an h-p domain decomposition method with interior penalty mortaring

    KAUST Repository

    Antonietti, P. F.; Ayuso Dios, Blanca; Bertoluzza, S.; Pennacchio, M.

    2014-01-01

    We propose and study an iterative substructuring method for an h-p Nitsche-type discretization, following the original approach introduced in Bramble et al. Math. Comp. 47(175):103–134, (1986) for conforming methods. We prove quasi-optimality with respect to the mesh size and the polynomial degree for the proposed preconditioner. Numerical experiments assess the performance of the preconditioner and verify the theory. © 2014, Springer-Verlag Italia.

  3. Substructuring preconditioners for an h-p domain decomposition method with interior penalty mortaring

    KAUST Repository

    Antonietti, P. F.

    2014-05-13

    We propose and study an iterative substructuring method for an h-p Nitsche-type discretization, following the original approach introduced in Bramble et al. Math. Comp. 47(175):103–134, (1986) for conforming methods. We prove quasi-optimality with respect to the mesh size and the polynomial degree for the proposed preconditioner. Numerical experiments assess the performance of the preconditioner and verify the theory. © 2014, Springer-Verlag Italia.

  4. Fast wavelet based sparse approximate inverse preconditioner

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wan, W.L. [Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)

    1996-12-31

    Incomplete LU factorization is a robust preconditioner for both general and PDE problems but unfortunately not easy to parallelize. Recent study of Huckle and Grote and Chow and Saad showed that sparse approximate inverse could be a potential alternative while readily parallelizable. However, for special class of matrix A that comes from elliptic PDE problems, their preconditioners are not optimal in the sense that independent of mesh size. A reason may be that no good sparse approximate inverse exists for the dense inverse matrix. Our observation is that for this kind of matrices, its inverse entries typically have piecewise smooth changes. We can take advantage of this fact and use wavelet compression techniques to construct a better sparse approximate inverse preconditioner. We shall show numerically that our approach is effective for this kind of matrices.

  5. Domain decomposition method of stochastic PDEs: a two-level scalable preconditioner

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Subber, Waad; Sarkar, Abhijit

    2012-01-01

    For uncertainty quantification in many practical engineering problems, the stochastic finite element method (SFEM) may be computationally challenging. In SFEM, the size of the algebraic linear system grows rapidly with the spatial mesh resolution and the order of the stochastic dimension. In this paper, we describe a non-overlapping domain decomposition method, namely the iterative substructuring method to tackle the large-scale linear system arising in the SFEM. The SFEM is based on domain decomposition in the geometric space and a polynomial chaos expansion in the probabilistic space. In particular, a two-level scalable preconditioner is proposed for the iterative solver of the interface problem for the stochastic systems. The preconditioner is equipped with a coarse problem which globally connects the subdomains both in the geometric and probabilistic spaces via their corner nodes. This coarse problem propagates the information quickly across the subdomains leading to a scalable preconditioner. For numerical illustrations, a two-dimensional stochastic elliptic partial differential equation (SPDE) with spatially varying non-Gaussian random coefficients is considered. The numerical scalability of the the preconditioner is investigated with respect to the mesh size, subdomain size, fixed problem size per subdomain and order of polynomial chaos expansion. The numerical experiments are performed on a Linux cluster using MPI and PETSc parallel libraries.

  6. Domain decomposed preconditioners with Krylov subspace methods as subdomain solvers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pernice, M. [Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)

    1994-12-31

    Domain decomposed preconditioners for nonsymmetric partial differential equations typically require the solution of problems on the subdomains. Most implementations employ exact solvers to obtain these solutions. Consequently work and storage requirements for the subdomain problems grow rapidly with the size of the subdomain problems. Subdomain solves constitute the single largest computational cost of a domain decomposed preconditioner, and improving the efficiency of this phase of the computation will have a significant impact on the performance of the overall method. The small local memory available on the nodes of most message-passing multicomputers motivates consideration of the use of an iterative method for solving subdomain problems. For large-scale systems of equations that are derived from three-dimensional problems, memory considerations alone may dictate the need for using iterative methods for the subdomain problems. In addition to reduced storage requirements, use of an iterative solver on the subdomains allows flexibility in specifying the accuracy of the subdomain solutions. Substantial savings in solution time is possible if the quality of the domain decomposed preconditioner is not degraded too much by relaxing the accuracy of the subdomain solutions. While some work in this direction has been conducted for symmetric problems, similar studies for nonsymmetric problems appear not to have been pursued. This work represents a first step in this direction, and explores the effectiveness of performing subdomain solves using several transpose-free Krylov subspace methods, GMRES, transpose-free QMR, CGS, and a smoothed version of CGS. Depending on the difficulty of the subdomain problem and the convergence tolerance used, a reduction in solution time is possible in addition to the reduced memory requirements. The domain decomposed preconditioner is a Schur complement method in which the interface operators are approximated using interface probing.

  7. Performance evaluation of block-diagonal preconditioners for the divergence-conforming B-spline discretization of the Stokes system

    KAUST Repository

    Cô rtes, A.M.A.; Coutinho, A.L.G.A.; Dalcin, L.; Calo, Victor M.

    2015-01-01

    The recently introduced divergence-conforming B-spline discretizations allow the construction of smooth discrete velocity–pressure pairs for viscous incompressible flows that are at the same time inf-sup stable and pointwise divergence-free. When applied to discretized Stokes equations, these spaces generate a symmetric and indefinite saddle-point linear system. Krylov subspace methods are usually the most efficient procedures to solve such systems. One of such methods, for symmetric systems, is the Minimum Residual Method (MINRES). However, the efficiency and robustness of Krylov subspace methods is closely tied to appropriate preconditioning strategies. For the discrete Stokes system, in particular, block-diagonal strategies provide efficient preconditioners. In this article, we compare the performance of block-diagonal preconditioners for several block choices. We verify how the eigenvalue clustering promoted by the preconditioning strategies affects MINRES convergence. We also compare the number of iterations and wall-clock timings. We conclude that among the building blocks we tested, the strategy with relaxed inner conjugate gradients preconditioned with incomplete Cholesky provided the best results.

  8. Performance evaluation of block-diagonal preconditioners for the divergence-conforming B-spline discretization of the Stokes system

    KAUST Repository

    Côrtes, A.M.A.

    2015-02-20

    The recently introduced divergence-conforming B-spline discretizations allow the construction of smooth discrete velocity–pressure pairs for viscous incompressible flows that are at the same time inf-sup stable and pointwise divergence-free. When applied to discretized Stokes equations, these spaces generate a symmetric and indefinite saddle-point linear system. Krylov subspace methods are usually the most efficient procedures to solve such systems. One of such methods, for symmetric systems, is the Minimum Residual Method (MINRES). However, the efficiency and robustness of Krylov subspace methods is closely tied to appropriate preconditioning strategies. For the discrete Stokes system, in particular, block-diagonal strategies provide efficient preconditioners. In this article, we compare the performance of block-diagonal preconditioners for several block choices. We verify how the eigenvalue clustering promoted by the preconditioning strategies affects MINRES convergence. We also compare the number of iterations and wall-clock timings. We conclude that among the building blocks we tested, the strategy with relaxed inner conjugate gradients preconditioned with incomplete Cholesky provided the best results.

  9. A universal preconditioner for simulating condensed phase materials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Packwood, David; Ortner, Christoph, E-mail: c.ortner@warwick.ac.uk [Mathematics Institute, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom); Kermode, James, E-mail: j.r.kermode@warwick.ac.uk [Warwick Centre for Predictive Modelling, School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom); Mones, Letif [Mathematics Institute, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom); Engineering Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ (United Kingdom); Bernstein, Noam [Center for Materials Physics and Technology, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 (United States); Woolley, John [Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom); Gould, Nicholas [Scientific Computing Department, STFC-Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Chilton, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX (United Kingdom); Csányi, Gábor, E-mail: gc121@cam.ac.uk [Engineering Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ (United Kingdom)

    2016-04-28

    We introduce a universal sparse preconditioner that accelerates geometry optimisation and saddle point search tasks that are common in the atomic scale simulation of materials. Our preconditioner is based on the neighbourhood structure and we demonstrate the gain in computational efficiency in a wide range of materials that include metals, insulators, and molecular solids. The simple structure of the preconditioner means that the gains can be realised in practice not only when using expensive electronic structure models but also for fast empirical potentials. Even for relatively small systems of a few hundred atoms, we observe speedups of a factor of two or more, and the gain grows with system size. An open source Python implementation within the Atomic Simulation Environment is available, offering interfaces to a wide range of atomistic codes.

  10. On preconditioner updates for sequences of saddle-point linear systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simone Valentina De

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Updating preconditioners for the solution of sequences of large and sparse saddle- point linear systems via Krylov methods has received increasing attention in the last few years, because it allows to reduce the cost of preconditioning while keeping the efficiency of the overall solution process. This paper provides a short survey of the two approaches proposed in the literature for this problem: updating the factors of a preconditioner available in a block LDLT form, and updating a preconditioner via a limited-memory technique inspired by quasi-Newton methods.

  11. Tensor-product preconditioners for higher-order space-time discontinuous Galerkin methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diosady, Laslo T.; Murman, Scott M.

    2017-02-01

    A space-time discontinuous-Galerkin spectral-element discretization is presented for direct numerical simulation of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. An efficient solution technique based on a matrix-free Newton-Krylov method is developed in order to overcome the stiffness associated with high solution order. The use of tensor-product basis functions is key to maintaining efficiency at high-order. Efficient preconditioning methods are presented which can take advantage of the tensor-product formulation. A diagonalized Alternating-Direction-Implicit (ADI) scheme is extended to the space-time discontinuous Galerkin discretization. A new preconditioner for the compressible Euler/Navier-Stokes equations based on the fast-diagonalization method is also presented. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of these preconditioners for the direct numerical simulation of subsonic turbulent flows.

  12. Tensor-Product Preconditioners for Higher-Order Space-Time Discontinuous Galerkin Methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diosady, Laslo T.; Murman, Scott M.

    2016-01-01

    space-time discontinuous-Galerkin spectral-element discretization is presented for direct numerical simulation of the compressible Navier-Stokes equat ions. An efficient solution technique based on a matrix-free Newton-Krylov method is developed in order to overcome the stiffness associated with high solution order. The use of tensor-product basis functions is key to maintaining efficiency at high order. Efficient preconditioning methods are presented which can take advantage of the tensor-product formulation. A diagonalized Alternating-Direction-Implicit (ADI) scheme is extended to the space-time discontinuous Galerkin discretization. A new preconditioner for the compressible Euler/Navier-Stokes equations based on the fast-diagonalization method is also presented. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of these preconditioners for the direct numerical simulation of subsonic turbulent flows.

  13. A note on the preconditioner Pm=(I+Sm)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kohno, Toshiyuki; Niki, Hiroshi

    2009-03-01

    Kotakemori et al. [H. Kotakemori, K. Harada, M. Morimoto, H. Niki, A comparison theorem for the iterative method with the preconditioner (I+Smax), Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics 145 (2002) 373-378] have reported that the convergence rate of the iterative method with a preconditioner Pm=(I+Sm) was superior to one of the modified Gauss-Seidel method under the condition. These authors derived a theorem comparing the Gauss-Seidel method with the proposed method. However, through application of a counter example, Wen Li [Wen Li, A note on the preconditioned GaussSeidel (GS) method for linear systems, Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics 182 (2005) 81-91] pointed out that there exists a special matrix that does not satisfy this comparison theorem. In this note, we analyze the reason why such a to counter example may be produced, and propose a preconditioner to overcome this problem.

  14. Isogeometric BDDC deluxe preconditioners for linear elasticity

    KAUST Repository

    Pavarino, L. F.

    2018-03-14

    Balancing Domain Decomposition by Constraints (BDDC) preconditioners have been shown to provide rapidly convergent preconditioned conjugate gradient methods for solving many of the very ill-conditioned systems of algebraic equations which often arise in finite element approximations of a large variety of problems in continuum mechanics. These algorithms have also been developed successfully for problems arising in isogeometric analysis. In particular, the BDDC deluxe version has proven very successful for problems approximated by Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS), even those of high order and regularity. One main purpose of this paper is to extend the theory, previously fully developed only for scalar elliptic problems in the plane, to problems of linear elasticity in three dimensions. Numerical experiments supporting the theory are also reported. Some of these experiments highlight the fact that the development of the theory can help to decrease substantially the dimension of the primal space of the BDDC algorithm, which provides the necessary global component of these preconditioners, while maintaining scalability and good convergence rates.

  15. Isogeometric BDDC deluxe preconditioners for linear elasticity

    KAUST Repository

    Pavarino, L. F.; Scacchi, S.; Widlund, O. B.; Zampini, Stefano

    2018-01-01

    Balancing Domain Decomposition by Constraints (BDDC) preconditioners have been shown to provide rapidly convergent preconditioned conjugate gradient methods for solving many of the very ill-conditioned systems of algebraic equations which often arise in finite element approximations of a large variety of problems in continuum mechanics. These algorithms have also been developed successfully for problems arising in isogeometric analysis. In particular, the BDDC deluxe version has proven very successful for problems approximated by Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS), even those of high order and regularity. One main purpose of this paper is to extend the theory, previously fully developed only for scalar elliptic problems in the plane, to problems of linear elasticity in three dimensions. Numerical experiments supporting the theory are also reported. Some of these experiments highlight the fact that the development of the theory can help to decrease substantially the dimension of the primal space of the BDDC algorithm, which provides the necessary global component of these preconditioners, while maintaining scalability and good convergence rates.

  16. Elliptic Preconditioner for Accelerating the Self-Consistent Field Iteration in Kohn--Sham Density Functional Theory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, Lin [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Computational Research Division; Yang, Chao [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Computational Research Division

    2013-10-28

    We discuss techniques for accelerating the self consistent field (SCF) iteration for solving the Kohn-Sham equations. These techniques are all based on constructing approximations to the inverse of the Jacobian associated with a fixed point map satisfied by the total potential. They can be viewed as preconditioners for a fixed point iteration. We point out different requirements for constructing preconditioners for insulating and metallic systems respectively, and discuss how to construct preconditioners to keep the convergence rate of the fixed point iteration independent of the size of the atomistic system. We propose a new preconditioner that can treat insulating and metallic system in a unified way. The new preconditioner, which we call an elliptic preconditioner, is constructed by solving an elliptic partial differential equation. The elliptic preconditioner is shown to be more effective in accelerating the convergence of a fixed point iteration than the existing approaches for large inhomogeneous systems at low temperature.

  17. Multilevel preconditioners for discontinuous, Galerkin approximations of elliptic problems, with jump coefficients

    KAUST Repository

    Ayuso Dios, Blanca

    2013-10-30

    We introduce and analyze two-level and multilevel preconditioners for a family of Interior Penalty (IP) discontinuous Galerkin (DG) discretizations of second order elliptic problems with large jumps in the diffusion coefficient. Our approach to IPDG-type methods is based on a splitting of the DG space into two components that are orthogonal in the energy inner product naturally induced by the methods. As a result, the methods and their analysis depend in a crucial way on the diffusion coefficient of the problem. The analysis of the proposed preconditioners is presented for both symmetric and non-symmetric IP schemes; dealing simultaneously with the jump in the diffusion coefficient and the non-nested character of the relevant discrete spaces presents additional difficulties in the analysis, which precludes a simple extension of existing results. However, we are able to establish robustness (with respect to the diffusion coefficient) and near-optimality (up to a logarithmic term depending on the mesh size) for both two-level and BPX-type preconditioners, by using a more refined Conjugate Gradient theory. Useful by-products of the analysis are the supporting results on the construction and analysis of simple, efficient and robust two-level and multilevel preconditioners for non-conforming Crouzeix-Raviart discretizations of elliptic problems with jump coefficients. Following the analysis, we present a sequence of detailed numerical results which verify the theory and illustrate the performance of the methods. © 2013 American Mathematical Society.

  18. Multilevel preconditioners for discontinuous, Galerkin approximations of elliptic problems, with jump coefficients

    KAUST Repository

    Ayuso Dios, Blanca; Holst, Michael; Zhu, Yunrong; Zikatanov, Ludmil

    2013-01-01

    We introduce and analyze two-level and multilevel preconditioners for a family of Interior Penalty (IP) discontinuous Galerkin (DG) discretizations of second order elliptic problems with large jumps in the diffusion coefficient. Our approach to IPDG-type methods is based on a splitting of the DG space into two components that are orthogonal in the energy inner product naturally induced by the methods. As a result, the methods and their analysis depend in a crucial way on the diffusion coefficient of the problem. The analysis of the proposed preconditioners is presented for both symmetric and non-symmetric IP schemes; dealing simultaneously with the jump in the diffusion coefficient and the non-nested character of the relevant discrete spaces presents additional difficulties in the analysis, which precludes a simple extension of existing results. However, we are able to establish robustness (with respect to the diffusion coefficient) and near-optimality (up to a logarithmic term depending on the mesh size) for both two-level and BPX-type preconditioners, by using a more refined Conjugate Gradient theory. Useful by-products of the analysis are the supporting results on the construction and analysis of simple, efficient and robust two-level and multilevel preconditioners for non-conforming Crouzeix-Raviart discretizations of elliptic problems with jump coefficients. Following the analysis, we present a sequence of detailed numerical results which verify the theory and illustrate the performance of the methods. © 2013 American Mathematical Society.

  19. Fast Multipole-Based Elliptic PDE Solver and Preconditioner

    KAUST Repository

    Ibeid, Huda

    2016-12-07

    Exascale systems are predicted to have approximately one billion cores, assuming Gigahertz cores. Limitations on affordable network topologies for distributed memory systems of such massive scale bring new challenges to the currently dominant parallel programing model. Currently, there are many efforts to evaluate the hardware and software bottlenecks of exascale designs. It is therefore of interest to model application performance and to understand what changes need to be made to ensure extrapolated scalability. Fast multipole methods (FMM) were originally developed for accelerating N-body problems for particle-based methods in astrophysics and molecular dynamics. FMM is more than an N-body solver, however. Recent efforts to view the FMM as an elliptic PDE solver have opened the possibility to use it as a preconditioner for even a broader range of applications. In this thesis, we (i) discuss the challenges for FMM on current parallel computers and future exascale architectures, with a focus on inter-node communication, and develop a performance model that considers the communication patterns of the FMM for spatially quasi-uniform distributions, (ii) employ this performance model to guide performance and scaling improvement of FMM for all-atom molecular dynamics simulations of uniformly distributed particles, and (iii) demonstrate that, beyond its traditional use as a solver in problems for which explicit free-space kernel representations are available, the FMM has applicability as a preconditioner in finite domain elliptic boundary value problems, by equipping it with boundary integral capability for satisfying conditions at finite boundaries and by wrapping it in a Krylov method for extensibility to more general operators. Compared with multilevel methods, FMM is capable of comparable algebraic convergence rates down to the truncation error of the discretized PDE, and it has superior multicore and distributed memory scalability properties on commodity

  20. Preconditioners based on the Alternating-Direction-Implicit algorithm for the 2D steady-state diffusion equation with orthotropic heterogeneous coefficients

    KAUST Repository

    Gao, Longfei; Calo, Victor M.

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, we combine the Alternating Direction Implicit (ADI) algorithm with the concept of preconditioning and apply it to linear systems discretized from the 2D steady-state diffusion equations with orthotropic heterogeneous coefficients by the finite element method assuming tensor product basis functions. Specifically, we adopt the compound iteration idea and use ADI iterations as the preconditioner for the outside Krylov subspace method that is used to solve the preconditioned linear system. An efficient algorithm to perform each ADI iteration is crucial to the efficiency of the overall iterative scheme. We exploit the Kronecker product structure in the matrices, inherited from the tensor product basis functions, to achieve high efficiency in each ADI iteration. Meanwhile, in order to reduce the number of Krylov subspace iterations, we incorporate partially the coefficient information into the preconditioner by exploiting the local support property of the finite element basis functions. Numerical results demonstrated the efficiency and quality of the proposed preconditioner. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Research on an efficient preconditioner using GMRES method for the MOC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takeda, Satoshi; Kitada, Takanori; Smith, Michael A.

    2011-01-01

    The modeling accuracy of reactor analysis techniques has improved considerably with the progressive improvements in computational capabilities. The method of characteristics (MOC) solves the neutron transport equation using tracking lines which simulates the neutron paths. The MOC is an accurate calculation method and is becoming a major solver because of the rapid advancement of the computer. In this methodology, the transport equation is discretized into many spatial meshes and energy wise groups. And the discretization generates a large system which needs a lot of computational costs. To reduce computational costs of MOC calculation, we investigate the Generalized Minimal RESidual (GMRES) method as an accelerator and developed an efficient preconditioner for the MOC calculation. The preconditioner we developed was made by simplifying rigorous preconditioner. And the efficiency was verified by comparing the number of iterations which is calculated by one dimensional MOC code

  2. Using Runtime Systems Tools to Implement Efficient Preconditioners for Heterogeneous Architectures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roussel Adrien

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Solving large sparse linear systems is a time-consuming step in basin modeling or reservoir simulation. The choice of a robust preconditioner strongly impact the performance of the overall simulation. Heterogeneous architectures based on General Purpose computing on Graphic Processing Units (GPGPU or many-core architectures introduce programming challenges which can be managed in a transparent way for developer with the use of runtime systems. Nevertheless, algorithms need to be well suited for these massively parallel architectures. In this paper, we present preconditioning techniques which enable to take advantage of emerging architectures. We also present our task-based implementations through the use of the HARTS (Heterogeneous Abstract RunTime System runtime system, which aims to manage the recent architectures. We focus on two preconditoners. The first is ILU(0 preconditioner implemented on distributing memory systems. The second one is a multi-level domain decomposition method implemented on a shared-memory system. Obtained results are then presented on corresponding architectures, which open the way to discuss on the scalability of such methods according to numerical performances while keeping in mind that the next step is to propose a massively parallel implementations of these techniques.

  3. Scalable and Robust BDDC Preconditioners for Reservoir and Electromagnetics Modeling

    KAUST Repository

    Zampini, S.; Widlund, O.B.; Keyes, David E.

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of the study is to show the effectiveness of recent algorithmic advances in Balancing Domain Decomposition by Constraints (BDDC) preconditioners for the solution of elliptic PDEs with highly heterogeneous coefficients, and discretized by means of the finite element method. Applications to large linear systems generated by div- and curl- conforming finite elements discretizations commonly arising in the contexts of modelling reservoirs and electromagnetics will be presented.

  4. Scalable and Robust BDDC Preconditioners for Reservoir and Electromagnetics Modeling

    KAUST Repository

    Zampini, S.

    2015-09-13

    The purpose of the study is to show the effectiveness of recent algorithmic advances in Balancing Domain Decomposition by Constraints (BDDC) preconditioners for the solution of elliptic PDEs with highly heterogeneous coefficients, and discretized by means of the finite element method. Applications to large linear systems generated by div- and curl- conforming finite elements discretizations commonly arising in the contexts of modelling reservoirs and electromagnetics will be presented.

  5. A general class of preconditioners for statistical iterative reconstruction of emission computed tomography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chinn, G.; Huang, S.C.

    1997-01-01

    A major drawback of statistical iterative image reconstruction for emission computed tomography is its high computational cost. The ill-posed nature of tomography leads to slow convergence for standard gradient-based iterative approaches such as the steepest descent or the conjugate gradient algorithm. In this paper new theory and methods for a class of preconditioners are developed for accelerating the convergence rate of iterative reconstruction. To demonstrate the potential of this class of preconditioners, a preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) iterative algorithm for weighted least squares reconstruction (WLS) was formulated for emission tomography. Using simulated positron emission tomography (PET) data of the Hoffman brain phantom, it was shown that the convergence rate of the PCG can reduce the number of iterations of the standard conjugate gradient algorithm by a factor of 2--8 times depending on the convergence criterion

  6. An evaluation of parallel multigrid as a solver and a preconditioner for singular perturbed problems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oosterlee, C.W. [Inst. for Algorithms and Scientific Computing, Sankt Augustin (Germany); Washio, T. [C& C Research Lab., Sankt Augustin (Germany)

    1996-12-31

    In this paper we try to achieve h-independent convergence with preconditioned GMRES and BiCGSTAB for 2D singular perturbed equations. Three recently developed multigrid methods are adopted as a preconditioner. They are also used as solution methods in order to compare the performance of the methods as solvers and as preconditioners. Two of the multigrid methods differ only in the transfer operators. One uses standard matrix- dependent prolongation operators from. The second uses {open_quotes}upwind{close_quotes} prolongation operators, developed. Both employ the Galerkin coarse grid approximation and an alternating zebra line Gauss-Seidel smoother. The third method is based on the block LU decomposition of a matrix and on an approximate Schur complement. This multigrid variant is presented in. All three multigrid algorithms are algebraic methods.

  7. Scalable parallel elastic-plastic finite element analysis using a quasi-Newton method with a balancing domain decomposition preconditioner

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yusa, Yasunori; Okada, Hiroshi; Yamada, Tomonori; Yoshimura, Shinobu

    2018-04-01

    A domain decomposition method for large-scale elastic-plastic problems is proposed. The proposed method is based on a quasi-Newton method in conjunction with a balancing domain decomposition preconditioner. The use of a quasi-Newton method overcomes two problems associated with the conventional domain decomposition method based on the Newton-Raphson method: (1) avoidance of a double-loop iteration algorithm, which generally has large computational complexity, and (2) consideration of the local concentration of nonlinear deformation, which is observed in elastic-plastic problems with stress concentration. Moreover, the application of a balancing domain decomposition preconditioner ensures scalability. Using the conventional and proposed domain decomposition methods, several numerical tests, including weak scaling tests, were performed. The convergence performance of the proposed method is comparable to that of the conventional method. In particular, in elastic-plastic analysis, the proposed method exhibits better convergence performance than the conventional method.

  8. The Importance of Structure in Incomplete Factorization Preconditioners

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Scott, J.; Tůma, Miroslav

    2011-01-01

    Roč. 51, č. 2 (2011), s. 385-404 ISSN 0006-3835 Grant - others:GA AV ČR(CZ) M100300902 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10300504 Keywords : sparse symmetric linear systems * incomplete factorizations * preconditioners * level-based approach Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 0.724, year: 2011

  9. Acceleration of Multidimensional Discrete Ordinates Methods Via Adjacent-Cell Preconditioners

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Azmy, Y.Y.

    2000-01-01

    The adjacent-cell preconditioner (AP) formalism originally derived in slab geometry is extended to multidimensional Cartesian geometry for generic fixed-weight, weighted diamond difference neutron transport methods. This is accomplished for the thick-cell regime (KAP) and thin-cell regime (NAP). A spectral analysis of the resulting acceleration schemes demonstrates their excellent spectral properties for model problem configurations, characterized by a uniform mesh of infinite extent and homogeneous material composition, each in its own cell-size regime. Thus, the spectral radius of KAP vanishes as the computational cell size approaches infinity, but it exceeds unity for very thin cells, thereby implying instability. In contrast, NAP is stable and robust for all cell sizes, but its spectral radius vanishes more slowly as the cell size increases. For this reason, and to avoid potential complication in the case of cells that are thin in one dimension and thick in another, NAP is adopted in the remainder of this work. The most important feature of AP for practical implementation in production level codes is that it is cell centered, reducing the size of the algebraic system comprising the acceleration stage compared to face-centered schemes. Boundary conditions for finite extent problems and a mixing formula across material and cell-size discontinuity are derived and used to implement NAP in a test code, AHOT, and a production code, TORT. Numerical testing for algebraically linear iterative schemes for the cases embodied in Burre's Suite of Test Problems demonstrates the high efficiency of the new method in reducing the number of iterations required to achieve convergence, especially for optically thick cells where acceleration is most needed. Also, for algebraically nonlinear (adaptive) methods, AP generally performs better than the partial current rebalance method in TORT and the diffusion synthetic acceleration method in TWODANT. Finally, application of the AP

  10. A parallel sweeping preconditioner for frequency-domain seismic wave propagation

    KAUST Repository

    Poulson, Jack

    2012-09-01

    We present a parallel implementation of Engquist and Ying\\'s sweeping preconditioner, which exploits radiation boundary conditions in order to form an approximate block LDLT factorization of the Helmholtz operator with only O(N4/3) work and an application (and memory) cost of only O(N logN). The approximate factorization is then used as a preconditioner for GMRES, and we show that essentially O(1) iterations are required for convergence, even for the full SEG/EAGE over-thrust model at 30 Hz. In particular, we demonstrate the solution of said problem in a mere 15 minutes on 8192 cores of TACC\\'s Lonestar, which may be the largest-scale 3D heterogeneous Helmholtz calculation to date. Generalizations of our parallel strategy are also briefly discussed for time-harmonic linear elasticity and Maxwell\\'s equations.

  11. Parallel alternating direction preconditioner for isogeometric simulations of explicit dynamics

    KAUST Repository

    Łoś, Marcin

    2015-04-27

    In this paper we present a parallel implementation of the alternating direction preconditioner for isogeometric simulations of explicit dynamics. The Alternating Direction Implicit (ADI) algorithm, belongs to the category of matrix-splitting iterative methods, was proposed almost six decades ago for solving parabolic and elliptic partial differential equations, see [1–4]. The new version of this algorithm has been recently developed for isogeometric simulations of two dimensional explicit dynamics [5] and steady-state diffusion equations with orthotropic heterogenous coefficients [6]. In this paper we present a parallel version of the alternating direction implicit algorithm for three dimensional simulations. The algorithm has been incorporated as a part of PETIGA an isogeometric framework [7] build on top of PETSc [8]. We show the scalability of the parallel algorithm on STAMPEDE linux cluster up to 10,000 processors, as well as the convergence rate of the PCG solver with ADI algorithm as preconditioner.

  12. A convergence analysis for a sweeping preconditioner for block tridiagonal systems of linear equations

    KAUST Repository

    Bagci, Hakan; Pasciak, Joseph E.; Sirenko, Kostyantyn

    2014-01-01

    We study sweeping preconditioners for symmetric and positive definite block tridiagonal systems of linear equations. The algorithm provides an approximate inverse that can be used directly or in a preconditioned iterative scheme. These algorithms are based on replacing the Schur complements appearing in a block Gaussian elimination direct solve by hierarchical matrix approximations with reduced off-diagonal ranks. This involves developing low rank hierarchical approximations to inverses. We first provide a convergence analysis for the algorithm for reduced rank hierarchical inverse approximation. These results are then used to prove convergence and preconditioning estimates for the resulting sweeping preconditioner.

  13. A convergence analysis for a sweeping preconditioner for block tridiagonal systems of linear equations

    KAUST Repository

    Bagci, Hakan

    2014-11-11

    We study sweeping preconditioners for symmetric and positive definite block tridiagonal systems of linear equations. The algorithm provides an approximate inverse that can be used directly or in a preconditioned iterative scheme. These algorithms are based on replacing the Schur complements appearing in a block Gaussian elimination direct solve by hierarchical matrix approximations with reduced off-diagonal ranks. This involves developing low rank hierarchical approximations to inverses. We first provide a convergence analysis for the algorithm for reduced rank hierarchical inverse approximation. These results are then used to prove convergence and preconditioning estimates for the resulting sweeping preconditioner.

  14. Fast Multipole-Based Preconditioner for Sparse Iterative Solvers

    KAUST Repository

    Ibeid, Huda; Yokota, Rio; Keyes, David E.

    2014-01-01

    Among optimal hierarchical algorithms for the computational solution of elliptic problems, the Fast Multipole Method (FMM) stands out for its adaptability to emerging architectures, having high arithmetic intensity, tunable accuracy, and relaxed global synchronization requirements. We demonstrate that, beyond its traditional use as a solver in problems for which explicit free-space kernel representations are available, the FMM has applicability as a preconditioner in finite domain elliptic boundary value problems, by equipping it with boundary integral capability for finite boundaries and by wrapping it in a Krylov method for extensibility to more general operators. Compared with multilevel methods, it is capable of comparable algebraic convergence rates down to the truncation error of the discretized PDE, and it has superior multicore and distributed memory scalability properties on commodity architecture supercomputers.

  15. Fast Multipole-Based Preconditioner for Sparse Iterative Solvers

    KAUST Repository

    Ibeid, Huda

    2014-05-04

    Among optimal hierarchical algorithms for the computational solution of elliptic problems, the Fast Multipole Method (FMM) stands out for its adaptability to emerging architectures, having high arithmetic intensity, tunable accuracy, and relaxed global synchronization requirements. We demonstrate that, beyond its traditional use as a solver in problems for which explicit free-space kernel representations are available, the FMM has applicability as a preconditioner in finite domain elliptic boundary value problems, by equipping it with boundary integral capability for finite boundaries and by wrapping it in a Krylov method for extensibility to more general operators. Compared with multilevel methods, it is capable of comparable algebraic convergence rates down to the truncation error of the discretized PDE, and it has superior multicore and distributed memory scalability properties on commodity architecture supercomputers.

  16. Adjacent-cell Preconditioners for solving optically thick neutron transport problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Azmy, Y.Y.

    1994-01-01

    We develop, analyze, and test a new acceleration scheme for neutron transport methods, the Adjacent-cell Preconditioner (AP) that is particularly suited for solving optically thick problems. Our method goes beyond Diffusion Synthetic Acceleration (DSA) methods in that it's spectral radius vanishes with increasing cell thickness. In particular, for the ID case the AP method converges immediately, i.e. in one iteration, to 10 -4 pointwise relative criterion in problems with dominant cell size of 10 mfp or thicker. Also the AP has a simple formalism and is cell-centered hence, multidimensional and high order extensions are easier to develop, and more efficient to implement

  17. A calderón multiplicative preconditioner for the combined field integral equation

    KAUST Repository

    Bagci, Hakan; Andriulli, Francesco P.; Cools, Kristof; Olyslager, Femke; Michielssen, Eric

    2009-01-01

    A Calderón multiplicative preconditioner (CMP) for the combined field integral equation (CFIE) is developed. Just like with previously proposed Caldern-preconditioned CFIEs, a localization procedure is employed to ensure that the equation

  18. Preconditioner and convergence study for the Quantum Computer Aided Design (QCAD) nonlinear poisson problem posed on the Ottawa Flat 270 design geometry.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kalashnikova, Irina

    2012-05-01

    A numerical study aimed to evaluate different preconditioners within the Trilinos Ifpack and ML packages for the Quantum Computer Aided Design (QCAD) non-linear Poisson problem implemented within the Albany code base and posed on the Ottawa Flat 270 design geometry is performed. This study led to some new development of Albany that allows the user to select an ML preconditioner with Zoltan repartitioning based on nodal coordinates, which is summarized. Convergence of the numerical solutions computed within the QCAD computational suite with successive mesh refinement is examined in two metrics, the mean value of the solution (an L{sup 1} norm) and the field integral of the solution (L{sup 2} norm).

  19. Efficient Tridiagonal Preconditioner for the Matrix-Free Truncated Newton Method

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Lukšan, Ladislav; Vlček, Jan

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 235, 25 May (2014), s. 394-407 ISSN 0096-3003 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA13-06684S Institutional support: RVO:67985807 Keywords : unconstrained optimization * large scale optimization * matrix-free truncated Newton method * preconditioned conjugate gradient method * preconditioners obtained by the directional differentiation * numerical algorithms Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 1.551, year: 2014

  20. A preconditioner for the finite element computation of incompressible, nonlinear elastic deformations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whiteley, J. P.

    2017-10-01

    Large, incompressible elastic deformations are governed by a system of nonlinear partial differential equations. The finite element discretisation of these partial differential equations yields a system of nonlinear algebraic equations that are usually solved using Newton's method. On each iteration of Newton's method, a linear system must be solved. We exploit the structure of the Jacobian matrix to propose a preconditioner, comprising two steps. The first step is the solution of a relatively small, symmetric, positive definite linear system using the preconditioned conjugate gradient method. This is followed by a small number of multigrid V-cycles for a larger linear system. Through the use of exemplar elastic deformations, the preconditioner is demonstrated to facilitate the iterative solution of the linear systems arising. The number of GMRES iterations required has only a very weak dependence on the number of degrees of freedom of the linear systems.

  1. Robust and scalable hierarchical matrix-based fast direct solver and preconditioner for the numerical solution of elliptic partial differential equations

    KAUST Repository

    Chavez, Gustavo Ivan

    2017-07-10

    This dissertation introduces a novel fast direct solver and preconditioner for the solution of block tridiagonal linear systems that arise from the discretization of elliptic partial differential equations on a Cartesian product mesh, such as the variable-coefficient Poisson equation, the convection-diffusion equation, and the wave Helmholtz equation in heterogeneous media. The algorithm extends the traditional cyclic reduction method with hierarchical matrix techniques. The resulting method exposes substantial concurrency, and its arithmetic operations and memory consumption grow only log-linearly with problem size, assuming bounded rank of off-diagonal matrix blocks, even for problems with arbitrary coefficient structure. The method can be used as a standalone direct solver with tunable accuracy, or as a black-box preconditioner in conjunction with Krylov methods. The challenges that distinguish this work from other thrusts in this active field are the hybrid distributed-shared parallelism that can demonstrate the algorithm at large-scale, full three-dimensionality, and the three stressors of the current state-of-the-art multigrid technology: high wavenumber Helmholtz (indefiniteness), high Reynolds convection (nonsymmetry), and high contrast diffusion (inhomogeneity). Numerical experiments corroborate the robustness, accuracy, and complexity claims and provide a baseline of the performance and memory footprint by comparisons with competing approaches such as the multigrid solver hypre, and the STRUMPACK implementation of the multifrontal factorization with hierarchically semi-separable matrices. The companion implementation can utilize many thousands of cores of Shaheen, KAUST\\'s Haswell-based Cray XC-40 supercomputer, and compares favorably with other implementations of hierarchical solvers in terms of time-to-solution and memory consumption.

  2. Parallel accelerated cyclic reduction preconditioner for three-dimensional elliptic PDEs with variable coefficients

    KAUST Repository

    Chavez Chavez, Gustavo Ivan; Turkiyyah, George; Zampini, Stefano; Keyes, David E.

    2017-01-01

    and the cyclic reduction method. The setup and application phases of the preconditioner achieve log-linear complexity in memory footprint and number of operations, and numerical experiments exhibit good weak and strong scalability at large processor counts in a

  3. Parallel RFSAI-BFGS Preconditioners for Large Symmetric Eigenproblems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. Bergamaschi

    2013-01-01

    the linearized Newton system to solve Au=q(uu, q(u being the Rayleigh quotient. In a previous work (Bergamaschi and Martínez, 2013 the sequence of preconditioned Jacobians is proven to remain close to the identity matrix if the initial preconditioned Jacobian is so. Numerical results onto matrices arising from various realistic problems with size up to 1.5 million unknowns account for the efficiency and the scalability of the proposed low rank update of the RFSAI preconditioner. The overall RFSAI-BFGS preconditioned Newton algorithm has shown comparable efficiencies with a well-established eigenvalue solver on all the test problems.

  4. Triangular preconditioners for saddle point problems with a penalty term

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Klawonn, A. [Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet, Muenster (Germany)

    1996-12-31

    Triangular preconditioners for a class of saddle point problems with a penalty term are considered. An important example is the mixed formulation of the pure displacement problem in linear elasticity. It is shown that the spectrum of the preconditioned system is contained in a real, positive interval, and that the interval bounds can be made independent of the discretization and penalty parameters. This fact is used to construct bounds of the convergence rate of the GMRES method used with an energy norm. Numerical results are given for GMRES and BI-CGSTAB.

  5. A calderón multiplicative preconditioner for the combined field integral equation

    KAUST Repository

    Bagci, Hakan

    2009-10-01

    A Calderón multiplicative preconditioner (CMP) for the combined field integral equation (CFIE) is developed. Just like with previously proposed Caldern-preconditioned CFIEs, a localization procedure is employed to ensure that the equation is resonance-free. The iterative solution of the linear system of equations obtained via the CMP-based discretization of the CFIE converges rapidly regardless of the discretization density and the frequency of excitation. © 2009 IEEE.

  6. A fully implicit Newton-Krylov-Schwarz method for tokamak magnetohydrodynamics: Jacobian construction and preconditioner formulation

    KAUST Repository

    Reynolds, Daniel R.

    2012-01-01

    Single-fluid resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is a fluid description of fusion plasmas which is often used to investigate macroscopic instabilities in tokamaks. In MHD modeling of tokamaks, it is often desirable to compute MHD phenomena to resistive time scales or a combination of resistive-Alfvén time scales, which can render explicit time stepping schemes computationally expensive. We present recent advancements in the development of preconditioners for fully nonlinearly implicit simulations of single-fluid resistive tokamak MHD. Our work focuses on simulations using a structured mesh mapped into a toroidal geometry with a shaped poloidal cross-section, and a finite-volume spatial discretization of the partial differential equation model. We discretize the temporal dimension using a fully implicit or the backwards differentiation formula method, and solve the resulting nonlinear algebraic system using a standard inexact Newton-Krylov approach, provided by the sundials library. The focus of this paper is on the construction and performance of various preconditioning approaches for accelerating the convergence of the iterative solver algorithms. Effective preconditioners require information about the Jacobian entries; however, analytical formulae for these Jacobian entries may be prohibitive to derive/implement without error. We therefore compute these entries using automatic differentiation with OpenAD. We then investigate a variety of preconditioning formulations inspired by standard solution approaches in modern MHD codes, in order to investigate their utility in a preconditioning context. We first describe the code modifications necessary for the use of the OpenAD tool and sundials solver library. We conclude with numerical results for each of our preconditioning approaches in the context of pellet-injection fueling of tokamak plasmas. Of these, our optimal approach results in a speedup of a factor of 3 compared with non-preconditioned implicit tests, with

  7. Preconditioner considerations for an aerodynamic Newton-Krylov solver

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chisholm, T.; Zingg, D.W.

    2003-01-01

    A fast Newton-Krylov algorithm is presented for solving the compressible Navier-Stokes equations on structured multi-block grids with application to turbulent aerodynamic flows. The one-equation Spalart-Allmaras model is used to provide the turbulent viscosity. The optimization of the algorithm is discussed. ILU(4) is suggested for a preconditioner, operating on a modified Jacobian matrix. An RCM reordering is used, with a suggested root node in the wake. The advantages of a matrix-free technique for forming matrix-vector products are shown. Three test cases are used to demonstrate convergence rates. Single-element cases are solved in less than 60 seconds on a desktop computer, while the solution of a multi-element case can be found in about 10 minutes. (author)

  8. Preconditioners for regularized saddle point problems with an application for heterogeneous Darcy flow problems

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Axelsson, Owe; Blaheta, Radim; Byczanski, Petr; Karátson, J.; Ahmad, B.

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 280, č. 280 (2015), s. 141-157 ISSN 0377-0427 R&D Projects: GA MŠk ED1.1.00/02.0070 Institutional support: RVO:68145535 Keywords : preconditioners * heterogeneous coefficients * regularized saddle point Inner–outer iterations * Darcy flow Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 1.328, year: 2015 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377042714005238

  9. Robust Multiscale Iterative Solvers for Nonlinear Flows in Highly Heterogeneous Media

    KAUST Repository

    Efendiev, Y.

    2012-08-01

    In this paper, we study robust iterative solvers for finite element systems resulting in approximation of steady-state Richards\\' equation in porous media with highly heterogeneous conductivity fields. It is known that in such cases the contrast, ratio between the highest and lowest values of the conductivity, can adversely affect the performance of the preconditioners and, consequently, a design of robust preconditioners is important for many practical applications. The proposed iterative solvers consist of two kinds of iterations, outer and inner iterations. Outer iterations are designed to handle nonlinearities by linearizing the equation around the previous solution state. As a result of the linearization, a large-scale linear system needs to be solved. This linear system is solved iteratively (called inner iterations), and since it can have large variations in the coefficients, a robust preconditioner is needed. First, we show that under some assumptions the number of outer iterations is independent of the contrast. Second, based on the recently developed iterative methods, we construct a class of preconditioners that yields convergence rate that is independent of the contrast. Thus, the proposed iterative solvers are optimal with respect to the large variation in the physical parameters. Since the same preconditioner can be reused in every outer iteration, this provides an additional computational savings in the overall solution process. Numerical tests are presented to confirm the theoretical results. © 2012 Global-Science Press.

  10. A new preconditioner update strategy for the solution of sequences of linear systems in structural mechanics: application to saddle point problems in elasticity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mercier, Sylvain; Gratton, Serge; Tardieu, Nicolas; Vasseur, Xavier

    2017-12-01

    Many applications in structural mechanics require the numerical solution of sequences of linear systems typically issued from a finite element discretization of the governing equations on fine meshes. The method of Lagrange multipliers is often used to take into account mechanical constraints. The resulting matrices then exhibit a saddle point structure and the iterative solution of such preconditioned linear systems is considered as challenging. A popular strategy is then to combine preconditioning and deflation to yield an efficient method. We propose an alternative that is applicable to the general case and not only to matrices with a saddle point structure. In this approach, we consider to update an existing algebraic or application-based preconditioner, using specific available information exploiting the knowledge of an approximate invariant subspace or of matrix-vector products. The resulting preconditioner has the form of a limited memory quasi-Newton matrix and requires a small number of linearly independent vectors. Numerical experiments performed on three large-scale applications in elasticity highlight the relevance of the new approach. We show that the proposed method outperforms the deflation method when considering sequences of linear systems with varying matrices.

  11. Preconditioners for state-constrained optimal control problems with Moreau-Yosida penalty function

    KAUST Repository

    Pearson, John W.

    2012-11-21

    Optimal control problems with partial differential equations as constraints play an important role in many applications. The inclusion of bound constraints for the state variable poses a significant challenge for optimization methods. Our focus here is on the incorporation of the constraints via the Moreau-Yosida regularization technique. This method has been studied recently and has proven to be advantageous compared with other approaches. In this paper, we develop robust preconditioners for the efficient solution of the Newton steps associated with the fast solution of the Moreau-Yosida regularized problem. Numerical results illustrate the efficiency of our approach. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  12. Preconditioner-free Wiener filtering with a dense noise matrix

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huffenberger, Kevin M.

    2018-05-01

    This work extends the Elsner & Wandelt (2013) iterative method for efficient, preconditioner-free Wiener filtering to cases in which the noise covariance matrix is dense, but can be decomposed into a sum whose parts are sparse in convenient bases. The new method, which uses multiple messenger fields, reproduces Wiener-filter solutions for test problems, and we apply it to a case beyond the reach of the Elsner & Wandelt (2013) method. We compute the Wiener-filter solution for a simulated Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) map that contains spatially varying, uncorrelated noise, isotropic 1/f noise, and large-scale horizontal stripes (like those caused by atmospheric noise). We discuss simple extensions that can filter contaminated modes or inverse-noise-filter the data. These techniques help to address complications in the noise properties of maps from current and future generations of ground-based Microwave Background experiments, like Advanced ACTPol, Simons Observatory, and CMB-S4.

  13. Adaptive Selection of Primal Constraints for Isogeometric BDDC Deluxe Preconditioners

    KAUST Repository

    Beirã o Da Veiga, L.; Pavarino, L. F.; Scacchi, S.; Widlund, O. B.; Zampini, Stefano

    2017-01-01

    Isogeometric analysis has been introduced as an alternative to finite element methods in order to simplify the integration of computer-aided design (CAD) software and the discretization of variational problems of continuum mechanics. In contrast with the finite element case, the basis functions of isogeometric analysis are often not nodal. As a consequence, there are fat interfaces which can easily lead to an increase in the number of interface variables after a decomposition of the parameter space into subdomains. Building on earlier work on the deluxe version of the BDDC (balancing domain decomposition by constraints) family of domain decomposition algorithms, several adaptive algorithms are developed in this paper for scalar elliptic problems in an effort to decrease the dimension of the global, coarse component of these preconditioners. Numerical experiments provide evidence that this work can be successful, yielding scalable and quasi-optimal adaptive BDDC algorithms for isogeometric discretizations.

  14. Adaptive Selection of Primal Constraints for Isogeometric BDDC Deluxe Preconditioners

    KAUST Repository

    Beirão Da Veiga, L.

    2017-02-23

    Isogeometric analysis has been introduced as an alternative to finite element methods in order to simplify the integration of computer-aided design (CAD) software and the discretization of variational problems of continuum mechanics. In contrast with the finite element case, the basis functions of isogeometric analysis are often not nodal. As a consequence, there are fat interfaces which can easily lead to an increase in the number of interface variables after a decomposition of the parameter space into subdomains. Building on earlier work on the deluxe version of the BDDC (balancing domain decomposition by constraints) family of domain decomposition algorithms, several adaptive algorithms are developed in this paper for scalar elliptic problems in an effort to decrease the dimension of the global, coarse component of these preconditioners. Numerical experiments provide evidence that this work can be successful, yielding scalable and quasi-optimal adaptive BDDC algorithms for isogeometric discretizations.

  15. Scalable domain decomposition solvers for stochastic PDEs in high performance computing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Desai, Ajit; Pettit, Chris; Poirel, Dominique; Sarkar, Abhijit

    2017-01-01

    Stochastic spectral finite element models of practical engineering systems may involve solutions of linear systems or linearized systems for non-linear problems with billions of unknowns. For stochastic modeling, it is therefore essential to design robust, parallel and scalable algorithms that can efficiently utilize high-performance computing to tackle such large-scale systems. Domain decomposition based iterative solvers can handle such systems. And though these algorithms exhibit excellent scalabilities, significant algorithmic and implementational challenges exist to extend them to solve extreme-scale stochastic systems using emerging computing platforms. Intrusive polynomial chaos expansion based domain decomposition algorithms are extended here to concurrently handle high resolution in both spatial and stochastic domains using an in-house implementation. Sparse iterative solvers with efficient preconditioners are employed to solve the resulting global and subdomain level local systems through multi-level iterative solvers. We also use parallel sparse matrix–vector operations to reduce the floating-point operations and memory requirements. Numerical and parallel scalabilities of these algorithms are presented for the diffusion equation having spatially varying diffusion coefficient modeled by a non-Gaussian stochastic process. Scalability of the solvers with respect to the number of random variables is also investigated.

  16. Angular Multigrid Preconditioner for Krylov-Based Solution Techniques Applied to the Sn Equations with Highly Forward-Peaked Scattering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turcksin, Bruno; Ragusa, Jean C.; Morel, Jim E.

    2012-01-01

    It is well known that the diffusion synthetic acceleration (DSA) methods for the Sn equations become ineffective in the Fokker-Planck forward-peaked scattering limit. In response to this deficiency, Morel and Manteuffel (1991) developed an angular multigrid method for the 1-D Sn equations. This method is very effective, costing roughly twice as much as DSA per source iteration, and yielding a maximum spectral radius of approximately 0.6 in the Fokker-Planck limit. Pautz, Adams, and Morel (PAM) (1999) later generalized the angular multigrid to 2-D, but it was found that the method was unstable with sufficiently forward-peaked mappings between the angular grids. The method was stabilized via a filtering technique based on diffusion operators, but this filtering also degraded the effectiveness of the overall scheme. The spectral radius was not bounded away from unity in the Fokker-Planck limit, although the method remained more effective than DSA. The purpose of this article is to recast the multidimensional PAM angular multigrid method without the filtering as an Sn preconditioner and use it in conjunction with the Generalized Minimal RESidual (GMRES) Krylov method. The approach ensures stability and our computational results demonstrate that it is also significantly more efficient than an analogous DSA-preconditioned Krylov method.

  17. Wide-angle full-vector beam propagation method based on an alternating direction implicit preconditioner

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chui, Siu Lit; Lu, Ya Yan

    2004-03-01

    Wide-angle full-vector beam propagation methods (BPMs) for three-dimensional wave-guiding structures can be derived on the basis of rational approximants of a square root operator or its exponential (i.e., the one-way propagator). While the less accurate BPM based on the slowly varying envelope approximation can be efficiently solved by the alternating direction implicit (ADI) method, the wide-angle variants involve linear systems that are more difficult to handle. We present an efficient solver for these linear systems that is based on a Krylov subspace method with an ADI preconditioner. The resulting wide-angle full-vector BPM is used to simulate the propagation of wave fields in a Y branch and a taper.

  18. Improved L-BFGS diagonal preconditioners for a large-scale 4D-Var inversion system: application to CO2 flux constraints and analysis error calculation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bousserez, Nicolas; Henze, Daven; Bowman, Kevin; Liu, Junjie; Jones, Dylan; Keller, Martin; Deng, Feng

    2013-04-01

    This work presents improved analysis error estimates for 4D-Var systems. From operational NWP models to top-down constraints on trace gas emissions, many of today's data assimilation and inversion systems in atmospheric science rely on variational approaches. This success is due to both the mathematical clarity of these formulations and the availability of computationally efficient minimization algorithms. However, unlike Kalman Filter-based algorithms, these methods do not provide an estimate of the analysis or forecast error covariance matrices, these error statistics being propagated only implicitly by the system. From both a practical (cycling assimilation) and scientific perspective, assessing uncertainties in the solution of the variational problem is critical. For large-scale linear systems, deterministic or randomization approaches can be considered based on the equivalence between the inverse Hessian of the cost function and the covariance matrix of analysis error. For perfectly quadratic systems, like incremental 4D-Var, Lanczos/Conjugate-Gradient algorithms have proven to be most efficient in generating low-rank approximations of the Hessian matrix during the minimization. For weakly non-linear systems though, the Limited-memory Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno (L-BFGS), a quasi-Newton descent algorithm, is usually considered the best method for the minimization. Suitable for large-scale optimization, this method allows one to generate an approximation to the inverse Hessian using the latest m vector/gradient pairs generated during the minimization, m depending upon the available core memory. At each iteration, an initial low-rank approximation to the inverse Hessian has to be provided, which is called preconditioning. The ability of the preconditioner to retain useful information from previous iterations largely determines the efficiency of the algorithm. Here we assess the performance of different preconditioners to estimate the inverse Hessian of a

  19. Fast multipole preconditioners for sparse matrices arising from elliptic equations

    KAUST Repository

    Ibeid, Huda

    2017-11-09

    Among optimal hierarchical algorithms for the computational solution of elliptic problems, the fast multipole method (FMM) stands out for its adaptability to emerging architectures, having high arithmetic intensity, tunable accuracy, and relaxable global synchronization requirements. We demonstrate that, beyond its traditional use as a solver in problems for which explicit free-space kernel representations are available, the FMM has applicability as a preconditioner in finite domain elliptic boundary value problems, by equipping it with boundary integral capability for satisfying conditions at finite boundaries and by wrapping it in a Krylov method for extensibility to more general operators. Here, we do not discuss the well developed applications of FMM to implement matrix-vector multiplications within Krylov solvers of boundary element methods. Instead, we propose using FMM for the volume-to-volume contribution of inhomogeneous Poisson-like problems, where the boundary integral is a small part of the overall computation. Our method may be used to precondition sparse matrices arising from finite difference/element discretizations, and can handle a broader range of scientific applications. It is capable of algebraic convergence rates down to the truncation error of the discretized PDE comparable to those of multigrid methods, and it offers potentially superior multicore and distributed memory scalability properties on commodity architecture supercomputers. Compared with other methods exploiting the low-rank character of off-diagonal blocks of the dense resolvent operator, FMM-preconditioned Krylov iteration may reduce the amount of communication because it is matrix-free and exploits the tree structure of FMM. We describe our tests in reproducible detail with freely available codes and outline directions for further extensibility.

  20. Fast multipole preconditioners for sparse matrices arising from elliptic equations

    KAUST Repository

    Ibeid, Huda; Yokota, Rio; Pestana, Jennifer; Keyes, David E.

    2017-01-01

    Among optimal hierarchical algorithms for the computational solution of elliptic problems, the fast multipole method (FMM) stands out for its adaptability to emerging architectures, having high arithmetic intensity, tunable accuracy, and relaxable global synchronization requirements. We demonstrate that, beyond its traditional use as a solver in problems for which explicit free-space kernel representations are available, the FMM has applicability as a preconditioner in finite domain elliptic boundary value problems, by equipping it with boundary integral capability for satisfying conditions at finite boundaries and by wrapping it in a Krylov method for extensibility to more general operators. Here, we do not discuss the well developed applications of FMM to implement matrix-vector multiplications within Krylov solvers of boundary element methods. Instead, we propose using FMM for the volume-to-volume contribution of inhomogeneous Poisson-like problems, where the boundary integral is a small part of the overall computation. Our method may be used to precondition sparse matrices arising from finite difference/element discretizations, and can handle a broader range of scientific applications. It is capable of algebraic convergence rates down to the truncation error of the discretized PDE comparable to those of multigrid methods, and it offers potentially superior multicore and distributed memory scalability properties on commodity architecture supercomputers. Compared with other methods exploiting the low-rank character of off-diagonal blocks of the dense resolvent operator, FMM-preconditioned Krylov iteration may reduce the amount of communication because it is matrix-free and exploits the tree structure of FMM. We describe our tests in reproducible detail with freely available codes and outline directions for further extensibility.

  1. A Calderón multiplicative preconditioner for coupled surface-volume electric field integral equations

    KAUST Repository

    Bagci, Hakan

    2010-08-01

    A well-conditioned coupled set of surface (S) and volume (V) electric field integral equations (S-EFIE and V-EFIE) for analyzing wave interactions with densely discretized composite structures is presented. Whereas the V-EFIE operator is well-posed even when applied to densely discretized volumes, a classically formulated S-EFIE operator is ill-posed when applied to densely discretized surfaces. This renders the discretized coupled S-EFIE and V-EFIE system ill-conditioned, and its iterative solution inefficient or even impossible. The proposed scheme regularizes the coupled set of S-EFIE and V-EFIE using a Calderón multiplicative preconditioner (CMP)-based technique. The resulting scheme enables the efficient analysis of electromagnetic interactions with composite structures containing fine/subwavelength geometric features. Numerical examples demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed scheme. © 2006 IEEE.

  2. A Kronecker product splitting preconditioner for two-dimensional space-fractional diffusion equations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Hao; Lv, Wen; Zhang, Tongtong

    2018-05-01

    We study preconditioned iterative methods for the linear system arising in the numerical discretization of a two-dimensional space-fractional diffusion equation. Our approach is based on a formulation of the discrete problem that is shown to be the sum of two Kronecker products. By making use of an alternating Kronecker product splitting iteration technique we establish a class of fixed-point iteration methods. Theoretical analysis shows that the new method converges to the unique solution of the linear system. Moreover, the optimal choice of the involved iteration parameters and the corresponding asymptotic convergence rate are computed exactly when the eigenvalues of the system matrix are all real. The basic iteration is accelerated by a Krylov subspace method like GMRES. The corresponding preconditioner is in a form of a Kronecker product structure and requires at each iteration the solution of a set of discrete one-dimensional fractional diffusion equations. We use structure preserving approximations to the discrete one-dimensional fractional diffusion operators in the action of the preconditioning matrix. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of this approach.

  3. High-order Div- and Quasi Curl-Conforming Basis Functions for Calderón Multiplicative Preconditioning of the EFIE

    KAUST Repository

    Valdes, Felipe; Andriulli, Francesco P.; Cools, Kristof; Michielssen, Eric

    2011-01-01

    A new high-order Calderón multiplicative preconditioner (HO-CMP) for the electric field integral equation (EFIE) is presented. In contrast to previous CMPs, the proposed preconditioner allows for high-order surface representations and current expansions by using a novel set of high-order quasi curl-conforming basis functions. Like its predecessors, the HO-CMP can be seamlessly integrated into existing EFIE codes. Numerical results demonstrate that the linear systems of equations obtained using the proposed HO-CMP converge rapidly, regardless of the mesh density and of the order of the current expansion. © 2006 IEEE.

  4. High-order Div- and Quasi Curl-Conforming Basis Functions for Calderón Multiplicative Preconditioning of the EFIE

    KAUST Repository

    Valdes, Felipe

    2011-04-01

    A new high-order Calderón multiplicative preconditioner (HO-CMP) for the electric field integral equation (EFIE) is presented. In contrast to previous CMPs, the proposed preconditioner allows for high-order surface representations and current expansions by using a novel set of high-order quasi curl-conforming basis functions. Like its predecessors, the HO-CMP can be seamlessly integrated into existing EFIE codes. Numerical results demonstrate that the linear systems of equations obtained using the proposed HO-CMP converge rapidly, regardless of the mesh density and of the order of the current expansion. © 2006 IEEE.

  5. Iterative convergence acceleration of neutral particle transport methods via adjacent-cell preconditioners

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Azmy, Y.Y.

    1999-01-01

    The author proposes preconditioning as a viable acceleration scheme for the inner iterations of transport calculations in slab geometry. In particular he develops Adjacent-Cell Preconditioners (AP) that have the same coupling stencil as cell-centered diffusion schemes. For lowest order methods, e.g., Diamond Difference, Step, and 0-order Nodal Integral Method (ONIM), cast in a Weighted Diamond Difference (WDD) form, he derives AP for thick (KAP) and thin (NAP) cells that for model problems are unconditionally stable and efficient. For the First-Order Nodal Integral Method (INIM) he derives a NAP that possesses similarly excellent spectral properties for model problems. The two most attractive features of the new technique are:(1) its cell-centered coupling stencil, which makes it more adequate for extension to multidimensional, higher order situations than the standard edge-centered or point-centered Diffusion Synthetic Acceleration (DSA) methods; and (2) its decreasing spectral radius with increasing cell thickness to the extent that immediate pointwise convergence, i.e., in one iteration, can be achieved for problems with sufficiently thick cells. He implemented these methods, augmented with appropriate boundary conditions and mixing formulas for material heterogeneities, in the test code APID that he uses to successfully verify the analytical spectral properties for homogeneous problems. Furthermore, he conducts numerical tests to demonstrate the robustness of the KAP and NAP in the presence of sharp mesh or material discontinuities. He shows that the AP for WDD is highly resilient to such discontinuities, but for INIM a few cases occur in which the scheme does not converge; however, when it converges, AP greatly reduces the number of iterations required to achieve convergence

  6. On conjugate gradient type methods and polynomial preconditioners for a class of complex non-Hermitian matrices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freund, Roland

    1988-01-01

    Conjugate gradient type methods are considered for the solution of large linear systems Ax = b with complex coefficient matrices of the type A = T + i(sigma)I where T is Hermitian and sigma, a real scalar. Three different conjugate gradient type approaches with iterates defined by a minimal residual property, a Galerkin type condition, and an Euclidian error minimization, respectively, are investigated. In particular, numerically stable implementations based on the ideas behind Paige and Saunder's SYMMLQ and MINRES for real symmetric matrices are proposed. Error bounds for all three methods are derived. It is shown how the special shift structure of A can be preserved by using polynomial preconditioning. Results on the optimal choice of the polynomial preconditioner are given. Also, some numerical experiments for matrices arising from finite difference approximations to the complex Helmholtz equation are reported.

  7. The multigrid preconditioned conjugate gradient method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tatebe, Osamu

    1993-01-01

    A multigrid preconditioned conjugate gradient method (MGCG method), which uses the multigrid method as a preconditioner of the PCG method, is proposed. The multigrid method has inherent high parallelism and improves convergence of long wavelength components, which is important in iterative methods. By using this method as a preconditioner of the PCG method, an efficient method with high parallelism and fast convergence is obtained. First, it is considered a necessary condition of the multigrid preconditioner in order to satisfy requirements of a preconditioner of the PCG method. Next numerical experiments show a behavior of the MGCG method and that the MGCG method is superior to both the ICCG method and the multigrid method in point of fast convergence and high parallelism. This fast convergence is understood in terms of the eigenvalue analysis of the preconditioned matrix. From this observation of the multigrid preconditioner, it is realized that the MGCG method converges in very few iterations and the multigrid preconditioner is a desirable preconditioner of the conjugate gradient method.

  8. Spectral analysis and multigrid preconditioners for two-dimensional space-fractional diffusion equations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moghaderi, Hamid; Dehghan, Mehdi; Donatelli, Marco; Mazza, Mariarosa

    2017-12-01

    Fractional diffusion equations (FDEs) are a mathematical tool used for describing some special diffusion phenomena arising in many different applications like porous media and computational finance. In this paper, we focus on a two-dimensional space-FDE problem discretized by means of a second order finite difference scheme obtained as combination of the Crank-Nicolson scheme and the so-called weighted and shifted Grünwald formula. By fully exploiting the Toeplitz-like structure of the resulting linear system, we provide a detailed spectral analysis of the coefficient matrix at each time step, both in the case of constant and variable diffusion coefficients. Such a spectral analysis has a very crucial role, since it can be used for designing fast and robust iterative solvers. In particular, we employ the obtained spectral information to define a Galerkin multigrid method based on the classical linear interpolation as grid transfer operator and damped-Jacobi as smoother, and to prove the linear convergence rate of the corresponding two-grid method. The theoretical analysis suggests that the proposed grid transfer operator is strong enough for working also with the V-cycle method and the geometric multigrid. On this basis, we introduce two computationally favourable variants of the proposed multigrid method and we use them as preconditioners for Krylov methods. Several numerical results confirm that the resulting preconditioning strategies still keep a linear convergence rate.

  9. Efficient solvers for coupled models in respiratory mechanics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verdugo, Francesc; Roth, Christian J; Yoshihara, Lena; Wall, Wolfgang A

    2017-02-01

    We present efficient preconditioners for one of the most physiologically relevant pulmonary models currently available. Our underlying motivation is to enable the efficient simulation of such a lung model on high-performance computing platforms in order to assess mechanical ventilation strategies and contributing to design more protective patient-specific ventilation treatments. The system of linear equations to be solved using the proposed preconditioners is essentially the monolithic system arising in fluid-structure interaction (FSI) extended by additional algebraic constraints. The introduction of these constraints leads to a saddle point problem that cannot be solved with usual FSI preconditioners available in the literature. The key ingredient in this work is to use the idea of the semi-implicit method for pressure-linked equations (SIMPLE) for getting rid of the saddle point structure, resulting in a standard FSI problem that can be treated with available techniques. The numerical examples show that the resulting preconditioners approach the optimal performance of multigrid methods, even though the lung model is a complex multiphysics problem. Moreover, the preconditioners are robust enough to deal with physiologically relevant simulations involving complex real-world patient-specific lung geometries. The same approach is applicable to other challenging biomedical applications where coupling between flow and tissue deformations is modeled with additional algebraic constraints. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  10. The Cost of Continuity: Performance of Iterative Solvers on Isogeometric Finite Elements

    KAUST Repository

    Collier, Nathan; Dalcin, Lisandro; Pardo, David; Calo, Victor M.

    2013-01-01

    In this paper we study how the use of a more continuous set of basis functions affects the cost of solving systems of linear equations resulting from a discretized Galerkin weak form. Specifically, we compare performance of linear solvers when discretizing using Co B-splines, which span traditional finite element spaces, and Cp-1 B-splines, which represent maximum continuity We provide theoretical estimates for the increase in cost of the matrix-vector product as well as for the construction and application of black-box preconditioners. We accompany these estimates with numerical results and study their sensitivity to various grid parameters such as element size h and polynomial order of approximation p in addition to the aforementioned continuity of the basis. Finally, we present timing results for a range of preconditioning options for the Laplace problem. We conclude that the matrix-vector product operation is at most 33p2/8 times more expensive for the more continuous space, although for moderately low p, this number is significantly reduced. Moreover, if static condensation is not employed, this number further reduces to at most a value of 8, even for high p. Preconditioning options can be up to p3 times more expensive to set up, although this difference significantly decreases for some popular preconditioners such as incomplete LU factorization. © 2013 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

  11. The Cost of Continuity: Performance of Iterative Solvers on Isogeometric Finite Elements

    KAUST Repository

    Collier, Nathan

    2013-03-19

    In this paper we study how the use of a more continuous set of basis functions affects the cost of solving systems of linear equations resulting from a discretized Galerkin weak form. Specifically, we compare performance of linear solvers when discretizing using Co B-splines, which span traditional finite element spaces, and Cp-1 B-splines, which represent maximum continuity We provide theoretical estimates for the increase in cost of the matrix-vector product as well as for the construction and application of black-box preconditioners. We accompany these estimates with numerical results and study their sensitivity to various grid parameters such as element size h and polynomial order of approximation p in addition to the aforementioned continuity of the basis. Finally, we present timing results for a range of preconditioning options for the Laplace problem. We conclude that the matrix-vector product operation is at most 33p2/8 times more expensive for the more continuous space, although for moderately low p, this number is significantly reduced. Moreover, if static condensation is not employed, this number further reduces to at most a value of 8, even for high p. Preconditioning options can be up to p3 times more expensive to set up, although this difference significantly decreases for some popular preconditioners such as incomplete LU factorization. © 2013 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

  12. Improving matrix-vector product performance and multi-level preconditioning for the parallel PCG package

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McLay, R.T.; Carey, G.F.

    1996-12-31

    In this study we consider parallel solution of sparse linear systems arising from discretized PDE`s. As part of our continuing work on our parallel PCG Solver package, we have made improvements in two areas. The first is improving the performance of the matrix-vector product. Here on regular finite-difference grids, we are able to use the cache memory more efficiently for smaller domains or where there are multiple degrees of freedom. The second problem of interest in the present work is the construction of preconditioners in the context of the parallel PCG solver we are developing. Here the problem is partitioned over a set of processors subdomains and the matrix-vector product for PCG is carried out in parallel for overlapping grid subblocks. For problems of scaled speedup, the actual rate of convergence of the unpreconditioned system deteriorates as the mesh is refined. Multigrid and subdomain strategies provide a logical approach to resolving the problem. We consider the parallel trade-offs between communication and computation and provide a complexity analysis of a representative algorithm. Some preliminary calculations using the parallel package and comparisons with other preconditioners are provided together with parallel performance results.

  13. A Combined Preconditioning Strategy for Nonsymmetric Systems

    KAUST Repository

    Ayuso Dios, Blanca

    2014-01-01

    We present and analyze a class of nonsymmetric preconditioners within a normal (weighted least-squares) matrix form for use in GMRES to solve nonsymmetric matrix problems that typically arise in finite element discretizations. An example of the additive Schwarz method applied to nonsymmetric but definite matrices is presented for which the abstract assumptions are verified. A variable preconditioner, combining the original nonsymmetric one and a weighted least-squares version of it, is shown to be convergent and provides a viable strategy for using nonsymmetric preconditioners in practice. Numerical results are included to assess the theory and the performance of the proposed preconditioners.

  14. A Combined Preconditioning Strategy for Nonsymmetric Systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    de Dios, B. Ayuso [Univ. of Bologna (Italy). Dept. of Mathematics; King Abdullah Univ. of Science and Technology, Thuwal (Saudi Arabia); Barker, A. T. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Vassilevski, P. S. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

    2014-11-04

    Here, we present and analyze a class of nonsymmetric preconditioners within a normal (weighted least-squares) matrix form for use in GMRES to solve nonsymmetric matrix problems that typically arise in finite element discretizations. An example of the additive Schwarz method applied to nonsymmetric but definite matrices is presented for which the abstract assumptions are verified. Variable preconditioner, which combines the original nonsymmetric one and a weighted least-squares version of it, and it is shown to be convergent and provides a viable strategy for using nonsymmetric preconditioners in practice. Numerical results are included to assess the theory and the performance of the proposed preconditioners.

  15. Solving Graph Laplacian Systems Through Recursive Bisections and Two-Grid Preconditioning

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ponce, Colin [Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States); Vassilevski, Panayot S. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

    2016-02-18

    We present a parallelizable direct method for computing the solution to graph Laplacian-based linear systems derived from graphs that can be hierarchically bipartitioned with small edge cuts. For a graph of size n with constant-size edge cuts, our method decomposes a graph Laplacian in time O(n log n), and then uses that decomposition to perform a linear solve in time O(n log n). We then use the developed technique to design a preconditioner for graph Laplacians that do not have this property. Finally, we augment this preconditioner with a two-grid method that accounts for much of the preconditioner's weaknesses. We present an analysis of this method, as well as a general theorem for the condition number of a general class of two-grid support graph-based preconditioners. Numerical experiments illustrate the performance of the studied methods.

  16. An accurate, fast, and scalable solver for high-frequency wave propagation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zepeda-Núñez, L.; Taus, M.; Hewett, R.; Demanet, L.

    2017-12-01

    In many science and engineering applications, solving time-harmonic high-frequency wave propagation problems quickly and accurately is of paramount importance. For example, in geophysics, particularly in oil exploration, such problems can be the forward problem in an iterative process for solving the inverse problem of subsurface inversion. It is important to solve these wave propagation problems accurately in order to efficiently obtain meaningful solutions of the inverse problems: low order forward modeling can hinder convergence. Additionally, due to the volume of data and the iterative nature of most optimization algorithms, the forward problem must be solved many times. Therefore, a fast solver is necessary to make solving the inverse problem feasible. For time-harmonic high-frequency wave propagation, obtaining both speed and accuracy is historically challenging. Recently, there have been many advances in the development of fast solvers for such problems, including methods which have linear complexity with respect to the number of degrees of freedom. While most methods scale optimally only in the context of low-order discretizations and smooth wave speed distributions, the method of polarized traces has been shown to retain optimal scaling for high-order discretizations, such as hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin methods and for highly heterogeneous (and even discontinuous) wave speeds. The resulting fast and accurate solver is consequently highly attractive for geophysical applications. To date, this method relies on a layered domain decomposition together with a preconditioner applied in a sweeping fashion, which has limited straight-forward parallelization. In this work, we introduce a new version of the method of polarized traces which reveals more parallel structure than previous versions while preserving all of its other advantages. We achieve this by further decomposing each layer and applying the preconditioner to these new components separately and

  17. Exploring the interplay of resilience and energy consumption for a task-based partial differential equations preconditioner

    KAUST Repository

    Rizzi, F.

    2017-05-25

    We discuss algorithm-based resilience to silent data corruptions (SDCs) in a task-based domain-decomposition preconditioner for partial differential equations (PDEs). The algorithm exploits a reformulation of the PDE as a sampling problem, followed by a solution update through data manipulation that is resilient to SDCs. The implementation is based on a server-client model where all state information is held by the servers, while clients are designed solely as computational units. Scalability tests run up to ∼ 51K cores show a parallel efficiency greater than 90%. We use a 2D elliptic PDE and a fault model based on random single and double bit-flip to demonstrate the resilience of the application to synthetically injected SDC. We discuss two fault scenarios: one based on the corruption of all data of a target task, and the other involving the corruption of a single data point. We show that for our application, given the test problem considered, a four-fold increase in the number of faults only yields a 2% change in the overhead to overcome their presence, from 7% to 9%. We then discuss potential savings in energy consumption via dynamic voltage/frequency scaling, and its interplay with fault-rates, and application overhead.

  18. Exploring the interplay of resilience and energy consumption for a task-based partial differential equations preconditioner

    KAUST Repository

    Rizzi, F.; Morris, K.; Sargsyan, K.; Mycek, P.; Safta, C.; Le Maî tre, O.; Knio, Omar; Debusschere, B.J.

    2017-01-01

    We discuss algorithm-based resilience to silent data corruptions (SDCs) in a task-based domain-decomposition preconditioner for partial differential equations (PDEs). The algorithm exploits a reformulation of the PDE as a sampling problem, followed by a solution update through data manipulation that is resilient to SDCs. The implementation is based on a server-client model where all state information is held by the servers, while clients are designed solely as computational units. Scalability tests run up to ∼ 51K cores show a parallel efficiency greater than 90%. We use a 2D elliptic PDE and a fault model based on random single and double bit-flip to demonstrate the resilience of the application to synthetically injected SDC. We discuss two fault scenarios: one based on the corruption of all data of a target task, and the other involving the corruption of a single data point. We show that for our application, given the test problem considered, a four-fold increase in the number of faults only yields a 2% change in the overhead to overcome their presence, from 7% to 9%. We then discuss potential savings in energy consumption via dynamic voltage/frequency scaling, and its interplay with fault-rates, and application overhead.

  19. On the Robustness and Prospects of Adaptive BDDC Methods for Finite Element Discretizations of Elliptic PDEs with High-Contrast Coefficients

    KAUST Repository

    Zampini, Stefano

    2016-06-02

    Balancing Domain Decomposition by Constraints (BDDC) methods have proven to be powerful preconditioners for large and sparse linear systems arising from the finite element discretization of elliptic PDEs. Condition number bounds can be theoretically established that are independent of the number of subdomains of the decomposition. The core of the methods resides in the design of a larger and partially discontinuous finite element space that allows for fast application of the preconditioner, where Cholesky factorizations of the subdomain finite element problems are additively combined with a coarse, global solver. Multilevel and highly-scalable algorithms can be obtained by replacing the coarse Cholesky solver with a coarse BDDC preconditioner. BDDC methods have the remarkable ability to control the condition number, since the coarse space of the preconditioner can be adaptively enriched at the cost of solving local eigenproblems. The proper identification of these eigenproblems extends the robustness of the methods to any heterogeneity in the distribution of the coefficients of the PDEs, not only when the coefficients jumps align with the subdomain boundaries or when the high contrast regions are confined to lie in the interior of the subdomains. The specific adaptive technique considered in this paper does not depend upon any interaction of discretization and partition; it relies purely on algebraic operations. Coarse space adaptation in BDDC methods has attractive algorithmic properties, since the technique enhances the concurrency and the arithmetic intensity of the preconditioning step of the sparse implicit solver with the aim of controlling the number of iterations of the Krylov method in a black-box fashion, thus reducing the number of global synchronization steps and matrix vector multiplications needed by the iterative solver; data movement and memory bound kernels in the solve phase can be thus limited at the expense of extra local ops during the setup of

  20. StagBL : A Scalable, Portable, High-Performance Discretization and Solver Layer for Geodynamic Simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanan, P.; Tackley, P. J.; Gerya, T.; Kaus, B. J. P.; May, D.

    2017-12-01

    StagBL is an open-source parallel solver and discretization library for geodynamic simulation,encapsulating and optimizing operations essential to staggered-grid finite volume Stokes flow solvers.It provides a parallel staggered-grid abstraction with a high-level interface in C and Fortran.On top of this abstraction, tools are available to define boundary conditions and interact with particle systems.Tools and examples to efficiently solve Stokes systems defined on the grid are provided in small (direct solver), medium (simple preconditioners), and large (block factorization and multigrid) model regimes.By working directly with leading application codes (StagYY, I3ELVIS, and LaMEM) and providing an API and examples to integrate with others, StagBL aims to become a community tool supplying scalable, portable, reproducible performance toward novel science in regional- and planet-scale geodynamics and planetary science.By implementing kernels used by many research groups beneath a uniform abstraction layer, the library will enable optimization for modern hardware, thus reducing community barriers to large- or extreme-scale parallel simulation on modern architectures. In particular, the library will include CPU-, Manycore-, and GPU-optimized variants of matrix-free operators and multigrid components.The common layer provides a framework upon which to introduce innovative new tools.StagBL will leverage p4est to provide distributed adaptive meshes, and incorporate a multigrid convergence analysis tool.These options, in addition to a wealth of solver options provided by an interface to PETSc, will make the most modern solution techniques available from a common interface. StagBL in turn provides a PETSc interface, DMStag, to its central staggered grid abstraction.We present public version 0.5 of StagBL, including preliminary integration with application codes and demonstrations with its own demonstration application, StagBLDemo. Central to StagBL is the notion of an

  1. Conjugate-gradient preconditioning methods for shift-variant PET image reconstruction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fessler, J A; Booth, S D

    1999-01-01

    Gradient-based iterative methods often converge slowly for tomographic image reconstruction and image restoration problems, but can be accelerated by suitable preconditioners. Diagonal preconditioners offer some improvement in convergence rate, but do not incorporate the structure of the Hessian matrices in imaging problems. Circulant preconditioners can provide remarkable acceleration for inverse problems that are approximately shift-invariant, i.e., for those with approximately block-Toeplitz or block-circulant Hessians. However, in applications with nonuniform noise variance, such as arises from Poisson statistics in emission tomography and in quantum-limited optical imaging, the Hessian of the weighted least-squares objective function is quite shift-variant, and circulant preconditioners perform poorly. Additional shift-variance is caused by edge-preserving regularization methods based on nonquadratic penalty functions. This paper describes new preconditioners that approximate more accurately the Hessian matrices of shift-variant imaging problems. Compared to diagonal or circulant preconditioning, the new preconditioners lead to significantly faster convergence rates for the unconstrained conjugate-gradient (CG) iteration. We also propose a new efficient method for the line-search step required by CG methods. Applications to positron emission tomography (PET) illustrate the method.

  2. Fully implicit solution of large-scale non-equilibrium radiation diffusion with high order time integration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, Peter N.; Shumaker, Dana E.; Woodward, Carol S.

    2005-01-01

    We present a solution method for fully implicit radiation diffusion problems discretized on meshes having millions of spatial zones. This solution method makes use of high order in time integration techniques, inexact Newton-Krylov nonlinear solvers, and multigrid preconditioners. We explore the advantages and disadvantages of high order time integration methods for the fully implicit formulation on both two- and three-dimensional problems with tabulated opacities and highly nonlinear fusion source terms

  3. Primal Domain Decomposition Method with Direct and Iterative Solver for Circuit-Field-Torque Coupled Parallel Finite Element Method to Electric Machine Modelling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Marcsa

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The analysis and design of electromechanical devices involve the solution of large sparse linear systems, and require therefore high performance algorithms. In this paper, the primal Domain Decomposition Method (DDM with parallel forward-backward and with parallel Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient (PCG solvers are introduced in two-dimensional parallel time-stepping finite element formulation to analyze rotating machine considering the electromagnetic field, external circuit and rotor movement. The proposed parallel direct and the iterative solver with two preconditioners are analyzed concerning its computational efficiency and number of iterations of the solver with different preconditioners. Simulation results of a rotating machine is also presented.

  4. High-Order Calderón Preconditioned Time Domain Integral Equation Solvers

    KAUST Repository

    Valdes, Felipe; Ghaffari-Miab, Mohsen; Andriulli, Francesco P.; Cools, Kristof; Michielssen,

    2013-01-01

    Two high-order accurate Calderón preconditioned time domain electric field integral equation (TDEFIE) solvers are presented. In contrast to existing Calderón preconditioned time domain solvers, the proposed preconditioner allows for high-order surface representations and current expansions by using a novel set of fully-localized high-order div-and quasi curl-conforming (DQCC) basis functions. Numerical results demonstrate that the linear systems of equations obtained using the proposed basis functions converge rapidly, regardless of the mesh density and of the order of the current expansion. © 1963-2012 IEEE.

  5. High-Order Calderón Preconditioned Time Domain Integral Equation Solvers

    KAUST Repository

    Valdes, Felipe

    2013-05-01

    Two high-order accurate Calderón preconditioned time domain electric field integral equation (TDEFIE) solvers are presented. In contrast to existing Calderón preconditioned time domain solvers, the proposed preconditioner allows for high-order surface representations and current expansions by using a novel set of fully-localized high-order div-and quasi curl-conforming (DQCC) basis functions. Numerical results demonstrate that the linear systems of equations obtained using the proposed basis functions converge rapidly, regardless of the mesh density and of the order of the current expansion. © 1963-2012 IEEE.

  6. Algebraic multigrid preconditioning within parallel finite-element solvers for 3-D electromagnetic modelling problems in geophysics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koldan, Jelena; Puzyrev, Vladimir; de la Puente, Josep; Houzeaux, Guillaume; Cela, José María

    2014-06-01

    We present an elaborate preconditioning scheme for Krylov subspace methods which has been developed to improve the performance and reduce the execution time of parallel node-based finite-element (FE) solvers for 3-D electromagnetic (EM) numerical modelling in exploration geophysics. This new preconditioner is based on algebraic multigrid (AMG) that uses different basic relaxation methods, such as Jacobi, symmetric successive over-relaxation (SSOR) and Gauss-Seidel, as smoothers and the wave front algorithm to create groups, which are used for a coarse-level generation. We have implemented and tested this new preconditioner within our parallel nodal FE solver for 3-D forward problems in EM induction geophysics. We have performed series of experiments for several models with different conductivity structures and characteristics to test the performance of our AMG preconditioning technique when combined with biconjugate gradient stabilized method. The results have shown that, the more challenging the problem is in terms of conductivity contrasts, ratio between the sizes of grid elements and/or frequency, the more benefit is obtained by using this preconditioner. Compared to other preconditioning schemes, such as diagonal, SSOR and truncated approximate inverse, the AMG preconditioner greatly improves the convergence of the iterative solver for all tested models. Also, when it comes to cases in which other preconditioners succeed to converge to a desired precision, AMG is able to considerably reduce the total execution time of the forward-problem code-up to an order of magnitude. Furthermore, the tests have confirmed that our AMG scheme ensures grid-independent rate of convergence, as well as improvement in convergence regardless of how big local mesh refinements are. In addition, AMG is designed to be a black-box preconditioner, which makes it easy to use and combine with different iterative methods. Finally, it has proved to be very practical and efficient in the

  7. Algorithms for parallel and vector computations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortega, James M.

    1995-01-01

    This is a final report on work performed under NASA grant NAG-1-1112-FOP during the period March, 1990 through February 1995. Four major topics are covered: (1) solution of nonlinear poisson-type equations; (2) parallel reduced system conjugate gradient method; (3) orderings for conjugate gradient preconditioners, and (4) SOR as a preconditioner.

  8. Fast Solutions of Maxwell's Equation for High Resolution Electromagnetic Imaging of Transport Pathways; TOPICAL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    DAY, DAVID M.; NEWMAN, GREGORY A.

    1999-01-01

    A fast precondition technique has been developed which accelerates the finite difference solutions of the 3D Maxwell's equations for geophysical modeling. The technique splits the electric field into its curl free and divergence free projections, and allows for the construction of an inverse operator. Test examples show an order of magnitude speed up compared with a simple Jacobi preconditioner. Using this preconditioner a low frequency Neumann series expansion is developed and used to compute responses at multiple frequencies very efficiently. Simulations requiring responses at multiple frequencies, show that the Neumann series is faster than the preconditioned solution, which must compute solutions at each discrete frequency. A Neumann series expansion has also been developed in the high frequency limit along with spectral Lanczos methods in both the high and low frequency cases for simulating multiple frequency responses with maximum efficiency. The research described in this report was to have been carried out over a two-year period. Because of communication difficulties, the project was funded for first year only. Thus the contents of this report are incomplete with respect to the original project objectives

  9. On preconditioning techniques for dense linear systems arising from singular boundary integral equations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, Ke [Univ. of Liverpool (United Kingdom)

    1996-12-31

    We study various preconditioning techniques for the iterative solution of boundary integral equations, and aim to provide a theory for a class of sparse preconditioners. Two related ideas are explored here: singularity separation and inverse approximation. Our preliminary conclusion is that singularity separation based preconditioners perform better than approximate inverse based while it is desirable to have both features.

  10. High performance homes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Beim, Anne; Vibæk, Kasper Sánchez

    2014-01-01

    Can prefabrication contribute to the development of high performance homes? To answer this question, this chapter defines high performance in more broadly inclusive terms, acknowledging the technical, architectural, social and economic conditions under which energy consumption and production occur....... Consideration of all these factors is a precondition for a truly integrated practice and as this chapter demonstrates, innovative project delivery methods founded on the manufacturing of prefabricated buildings contribute to the production of high performance homes that are cost effective to construct, energy...

  11. Scalable multi-grid preconditioning techniques for the even-parity S_N solver in UNIC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mahadevan, Vijay S.; Smith, Michael A.

    2011-01-01

    The Even-parity neutron transport equation with FE-S_N discretization is solved traditionally using SOR preconditioned CG method at the lowest level of iterations in order to compute the criticality in reactor analysis problems. The use of high order isoparametric finite elements prohibits the formation of the discrete operator explicitly due to memory constraints in peta scale architectures. Hence, a h-p multi-grid preconditioner based on linear tessellation of the higher order mesh is introduced here for the space-angle system and compared against SOR and Algebraic MG black-box solvers. The performance and scalability of the multi-grid scheme was determined for two test problems and found to be competitive in terms of both computational time and memory requirements. The implementation of this preconditioner in an even-parity solver like UNIC from ANL can further enable high fidelity calculations in a scalable manner on peta flop machines. (author)

  12. Aplicação do pré-condicionador Multigrid Algébrico baseado em Wavelet no cálculo de campos magnéticos não lineares

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabio Henrique Pereira

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available In this work the performance of ¿-cycle wavelet-based algebraic multigrid preconditioner for iterative methods is investigated. The method is applied as a preconditioner for the classical iterative methods Bi-Conjugate Gradient Stabilized (BiCGStab, Generalized Minimum Residual (GMRes and Conjugate Gradient (CG to the solution of non-linear system of algebraic equations from the analysis of a switched reluctance motor with ferromagnetic material the steel S45C and nonlinear magnetization curve, associated with the Newton-Raphson algorithm. Particular attention has been focused in both V- and W-cycle convergence factors, as well as the CPU time. Numerical results show the efficiency of the proposed techniques when compared with classical preconditioner, such as Incomplete Cholesky and Incomplete LU decomposition.

  13. Survey on efficient linear solvers for porous media flow models on recent hardware architectures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anciaux-Sedrakian, Ani; Gratien, Jean-Marc; Guignon, Thomas; Gottschling, Peter

    2014-01-01

    In the past few years, High Performance Computing (HPC) technologies led to General Purpose Processing on Graphics Processing Units (GPGPU) and many-core architectures. These emerging technologies offer massive processing units and are interesting for porous media flow simulators may used for CO 2 geological sequestration or Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) simulation. However the crucial point is 'are current algorithms and software able to use these new technologies efficiently?' The resolution of large sparse linear systems, almost ill-conditioned, constitutes the most CPU-consuming part of such simulators. This paper proposes a survey on various solver and pre-conditioner algorithms, analyzes their efficiency and performance regarding these distinct architectures. Furthermore it proposes a novel approach based on a hybrid programming model for both GPU and many-core clusters. The proposed optimization techniques are validated through a Krylov subspace solver; BiCGStab and some pre-conditioners like ILU0 on GPU, multi-core and many-core architectures, on various large real study cases in EOR simulation. (authors)

  14. Hierarchical Matrices Method and Its Application in Electromagnetic Integral Equations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Han Guo

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Hierarchical (H- matrices method is a general mathematical framework providing a highly compact representation and efficient numerical arithmetic. When applied in integral-equation- (IE- based computational electromagnetics, H-matrices can be regarded as a fast algorithm; therefore, both the CPU time and memory requirement are reduced significantly. Its kernel independent feature also makes it suitable for any kind of integral equation. To solve H-matrices system, Krylov iteration methods can be employed with appropriate preconditioners, and direct solvers based on the hierarchical structure of H-matrices are also available along with high efficiency and accuracy, which is a unique advantage compared to other fast algorithms. In this paper, a novel sparse approximate inverse (SAI preconditioner in multilevel fashion is proposed to accelerate the convergence rate of Krylov iterations for solving H-matrices system in electromagnetic applications, and a group of parallel fast direct solvers are developed for dealing with multiple right-hand-side cases. Finally, numerical experiments are given to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed multilevel preconditioner compared to conventional “single level” preconditioners and the practicability of the fast direct solvers for arbitrary complex structures.

  15. Statistical physics of fracture: scientific discovery through high-performance computing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kumar, Phani; Nukala, V V; Simunovic, Srdan; Mills, Richard T

    2006-01-01

    The paper presents the state-of-the-art algorithmic developments for simulating the fracture of disordered quasi-brittle materials using discrete lattice systems. Large scale simulations are often required to obtain accurate scaling laws; however, due to computational complexity, the simulations using the traditional algorithms were limited to small system sizes. We have developed two algorithms: a multiple sparse Cholesky downdating scheme for simulating 2D random fuse model systems, and a block-circulant preconditioner for simulating 2D random fuse model systems. Using these algorithms, we were able to simulate fracture of largest ever lattice system sizes (L = 1024 in 2D, and L = 64 in 3D) with extensive statistical sampling. Our recent simulations on 1024 processors of Cray-XT3 and IBM Blue-Gene/L have further enabled us to explore fracture of 3D lattice systems of size L = 200, which is a significant computational achievement. These largest ever numerical simulations have enhanced our understanding of physics of fracture; in particular, we analyze damage localization and its deviation from percolation behavior, scaling laws for damage density, universality of fracture strength distribution, size effect on the mean fracture strength, and finally the scaling of crack surface roughness

  16. Performance optimization of Sparse Matrix-Vector Multiplication for multi-component PDE-based applications using GPUs

    KAUST Repository

    Abdelfattah, Ahmad

    2016-05-23

    Simulations of many multi-component PDE-based applications, such as petroleum reservoirs or reacting flows, are dominated by the solution, on each time step and within each Newton step, of large sparse linear systems. The standard solver is a preconditioned Krylov method. Along with application of the preconditioner, memory-bound Sparse Matrix-Vector Multiplication (SpMV) is the most time-consuming operation in such solvers. Multi-species models produce Jacobians with a dense block structure, where the block size can be as large as a few dozen. Failing to exploit this dense block structure vastly underutilizes hardware capable of delivering high performance on dense BLAS operations. This paper presents a GPU-accelerated SpMV kernel for block-sparse matrices. Dense matrix-vector multiplications within the sparse-block structure leverage optimization techniques from the KBLAS library, a high performance library for dense BLAS kernels. The design ideas of KBLAS can be applied to block-sparse matrices. Furthermore, a technique is proposed to balance the workload among thread blocks when there are large variations in the lengths of nonzero rows. Multi-GPU performance is highlighted. The proposed SpMV kernel outperforms existing state-of-the-art implementations using matrices with real structures from different applications. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  17. Performance optimization of Sparse Matrix-Vector Multiplication for multi-component PDE-based applications using GPUs

    KAUST Repository

    Abdelfattah, Ahmad; Ltaief, Hatem; Keyes, David E.; Dongarra, Jack

    2016-01-01

    Simulations of many multi-component PDE-based applications, such as petroleum reservoirs or reacting flows, are dominated by the solution, on each time step and within each Newton step, of large sparse linear systems. The standard solver is a preconditioned Krylov method. Along with application of the preconditioner, memory-bound Sparse Matrix-Vector Multiplication (SpMV) is the most time-consuming operation in such solvers. Multi-species models produce Jacobians with a dense block structure, where the block size can be as large as a few dozen. Failing to exploit this dense block structure vastly underutilizes hardware capable of delivering high performance on dense BLAS operations. This paper presents a GPU-accelerated SpMV kernel for block-sparse matrices. Dense matrix-vector multiplications within the sparse-block structure leverage optimization techniques from the KBLAS library, a high performance library for dense BLAS kernels. The design ideas of KBLAS can be applied to block-sparse matrices. Furthermore, a technique is proposed to balance the workload among thread blocks when there are large variations in the lengths of nonzero rows. Multi-GPU performance is highlighted. The proposed SpMV kernel outperforms existing state-of-the-art implementations using matrices with real structures from different applications. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  18. High Performance Marine Vessels

    CERN Document Server

    Yun, Liang

    2012-01-01

    High Performance Marine Vessels (HPMVs) range from the Fast Ferries to the latest high speed Navy Craft, including competition power boats and hydroplanes, hydrofoils, hovercraft, catamarans and other multi-hull craft. High Performance Marine Vessels covers the main concepts of HPMVs and discusses historical background, design features, services that have been successful and not so successful, and some sample data of the range of HPMVs to date. Included is a comparison of all HPMVs craft and the differences between them and descriptions of performance (hydrodynamics and aerodynamics). Readers will find a comprehensive overview of the design, development and building of HPMVs. In summary, this book: Focuses on technology at the aero-marine interface Covers the full range of high performance marine vessel concepts Explains the historical development of various HPMVs Discusses ferries, racing and pleasure craft, as well as utility and military missions High Performance Marine Vessels is an ideal book for student...

  19. Robust Multiscale Iterative Solvers for Nonlinear Flows in Highly Heterogeneous Media

    KAUST Repository

    Efendiev, Y.; Galvis, J.; Kang, S. Ki; Lazarov, R.D.

    2012-01-01

    needs to be solved. This linear system is solved iteratively (called inner iterations), and since it can have large variations in the coefficients, a robust preconditioner is needed. First, we show that under some assumptions the number of outer

  20. High performance systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vigil, M.B. [comp.

    1995-03-01

    This document provides a written compilation of the presentations and viewgraphs from the 1994 Conference on High Speed Computing given at the High Speed Computing Conference, {open_quotes}High Performance Systems,{close_quotes} held at Gleneden Beach, Oregon, on April 18 through 21, 1994.

  1. Domain decomposition methods and deflated Krylov subspace iterations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nabben, R.; Vuik, C.

    2006-01-01

    The balancing Neumann-Neumann (BNN) and the additive coarse grid correction (BPS) preconditioner are fast and successful preconditioners within domain decomposition methods for solving partial differential equations. For certain elliptic problems these preconditioners lead to condition numbers which

  2. Approximate Schur complement preconditioning of the lowest order nodal discretizations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moulton, J.D.; Ascher, U.M. [Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada); Morel, J.E. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)

    1996-12-31

    Particular classes of nodal methods and mixed hybrid finite element methods lead to equivalent, robust and accurate discretizations of 2nd order elliptic PDEs. However, widespread popularity of these discretizations has been hindered by the awkward linear systems which result. The present work exploits this awkwardness, which provides a natural partitioning of the linear system, by defining two optimal preconditioners based on approximate Schur complements. Central to the optimal performance of these preconditioners is their sparsity structure which is compatible with Dendy`s black box multigrid code.

  3. Nonlinear Multiplicative Schwarz Preconditioning in Natural Convection Cavity Flow

    KAUST Repository

    Liu, Lulu

    2017-03-17

    A natural convection cavity flow problem is solved using nonlinear multiplicative Schwarz preconditioners, as a Gauss-Seidel-like variant of additive Schwarz preconditioned inexact Newton (ASPIN). The nonlinear preconditioning extends the domain of convergence of Newton’s method to high Rayleigh numbers. Convergence performance varies widely with respect to different groupings of the fields of this multicomponent problem, and with respect to different orderings of the groupings.

  4. Nonlinear Multiplicative Schwarz Preconditioning in Natural Convection Cavity Flow

    KAUST Repository

    Liu, Lulu; Zhang, Wei; Keyes, David E.

    2017-01-01

    A natural convection cavity flow problem is solved using nonlinear multiplicative Schwarz preconditioners, as a Gauss-Seidel-like variant of additive Schwarz preconditioned inexact Newton (ASPIN). The nonlinear preconditioning extends the domain of convergence of Newton’s method to high Rayleigh numbers. Convergence performance varies widely with respect to different groupings of the fields of this multicomponent problem, and with respect to different orderings of the groupings.

  5. On the solution of high order stable time integration methods

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Axelsson, Owe; Blaheta, Radim; Sysala, Stanislav; Ahmad, B.

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 108, č. 1 (2013), s. 1-22 ISSN 1687-2770 Institutional support: RVO:68145535 Keywords : evolution equations * preconditioners for quadratic matrix polynomials * a stiffly stable time integration method Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 0.836, year: 2013 http://www.boundaryvalueproblems.com/content/2013/1/108

  6. Fast isogeometric solvers for explicit dynamics

    KAUST Repository

    Gao, Longfei

    2014-06-01

    In finite element analysis, solving time-dependent partial differential equations with explicit time marching schemes requires repeatedly applying the inverse of the mass matrix. For mass matrices that can be expressed as tensor products of lower dimensional matrices, we present a direct method that has linear computational complexity, i.e., O(N), where N is the total number of degrees of freedom in the system. We refer to these matrices as separable matrices. For non-separable mass matrices, we present a preconditioned conjugate gradient method with carefully designed preconditioners as an alternative. We demonstrate that these preconditioners, which are easy to construct and cheap to apply (O(N)), can deliver significant convergence acceleration. The performances of these preconditioners are independent of the polynomial order (p independence) and mesh resolution (h independence) for maximum continuity B-splines, as verified by various numerical tests. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.

  7. On optimal improvements of classical iterative schemes for Z-matrices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noutsos, D.; Tzoumas, M.

    2006-04-01

    Many researchers have considered preconditioners, applied to linear systems, whose matrix coefficient is a Z- or an M-matrix, that make the associated Jacobi and Gauss-Seidel methods converge asymptotically faster than the unpreconditioned ones. Such preconditioners are chosen so that they eliminate the off-diagonal elements of the same column or the elements of the first upper diagonal [Milaszewicz, LAA 93 (1987) 161-170], Gunawardena et al. [LAA 154-156 (1991) 123-143]. In this work we generalize the previous preconditioners to obtain optimal methods. "Good" Jacobi and Gauss-Seidel algorithms are given and preconditioners, that eliminate more than one entry per row, are also proposed and analyzed. Moreover, the behavior of the above preconditioners to the Krylov subspace methods is studied.

  8. High performance work practices, innovation and performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Frances; Newton, Cameron; Johnston, Kim

    2013-01-01

    Research spanning nearly 20 years has provided considerable empirical evidence for relationships between High Performance Work Practices (HPWPs) and various measures of performance including increased productivity, improved customer service, and reduced turnover. What stands out from......, and Africa to examine these various questions relating to the HPWP-innovation-performance relationship. Each paper discusses a practice that has been identified in HPWP literature and potential variables that can facilitate or hinder the effects of these practices of innovation- and performance...

  9. Improving the Efficiency of the Nodal Integral Method With the Portable, Extensible Tool-kit for Scientific Computation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toreja, Allen J.; Uddin, Rizwan

    2002-01-01

    An existing implementation of the nodal integral method for the time-dependent convection-diffusion equation is modified to incorporate various PETSc (Portable, Extensible Tool-kit for Scientific Computation) solver and pre-conditioner routines. In the modified implementation, the default iterative Gauss-Seidel solver is replaced with one of the following PETSc iterative linear solver routines: Generalized Minimal Residuals, Stabilized Bi-conjugate Gradients, or Transpose-Free Quasi-Minimal Residuals. For each solver, a Jacobi or a Successive Over-Relaxation pre-conditioner is used. Two sample problems, one with a low Peclet number and one with a high Peclet number, are solved using the new implementation. In all the cases tested, the new implementation with the PETSc solver routines outperforms the original Gauss-Seidel implementation. Moreover, the PETSc Stabilized Bi-conjugate Gradients routine performs the best on the two sample problems leading to CPU times that are less than half the CPU times of the original implementation. (authors)

  10. Cosmic Microwave Background Mapmaking with a Messenger Field

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huffenberger, Kevin M.; Næss, Sigurd K.

    2018-01-01

    We apply a messenger field method to solve the linear minimum-variance mapmaking equation in the context of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) observations. In simulations, the method produces sky maps that converge significantly faster than those from a conjugate gradient descent algorithm with a diagonal preconditioner, even though the computational cost per iteration is similar. The messenger method recovers large scales in the map better than conjugate gradient descent, and yields a lower overall χ2. In the single, pencil beam approximation, each iteration of the messenger mapmaking procedure produces an unbiased map, and the iterations become more optimal as they proceed. A variant of the method can handle differential data or perform deconvolution mapmaking. The messenger method requires no preconditioner, but a high-quality solution needs a cooling parameter to control the convergence. We study the convergence properties of this new method and discuss how the algorithm is feasible for the large data sets of current and future CMB experiments.

  11. RavenDB high performance

    CERN Document Server

    Ritchie, Brian

    2013-01-01

    RavenDB High Performance is comprehensive yet concise tutorial that developers can use to.This book is for developers & software architects who are designing systems in order to achieve high performance right from the start. A basic understanding of RavenDB is recommended, but not required. While the book focuses on advanced topics, it does not assume that the reader has a great deal of prior knowledge of working with RavenDB.

  12. On the Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors of Block Triangular Preconditioned Block Matrices

    KAUST Repository

    Pestana, Jennifer

    2014-01-01

    Block lower triangular matrices and block upper triangular matrices are popular preconditioners for 2×2 block matrices. In this note we show that a block lower triangular preconditioner gives the same spectrum as a block upper triangular preconditioner and that the eigenvectors of the two preconditioned matrices are related. © 2014 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

  13. High-performance computing using FPGAs

    CERN Document Server

    Benkrid, Khaled

    2013-01-01

    This book is concerned with the emerging field of High Performance Reconfigurable Computing (HPRC), which aims to harness the high performance and relative low power of reconfigurable hardware–in the form Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs)–in High Performance Computing (HPC) applications. It presents the latest developments in this field from applications, architecture, and tools and methodologies points of view. We hope that this work will form a reference for existing researchers in the field, and entice new researchers and developers to join the HPRC community.  The book includes:  Thirteen application chapters which present the most important application areas tackled by high performance reconfigurable computers, namely: financial computing, bioinformatics and computational biology, data search and processing, stencil computation e.g. computational fluid dynamics and seismic modeling, cryptanalysis, astronomical N-body simulation, and circuit simulation.     Seven architecture chapters which...

  14. Two new modified Gauss-Seidel methods for linear system with M-matrices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Bing; Miao, Shu-Xin

    2009-12-01

    In 2002, H. Kotakemori et al. proposed the modified Gauss-Seidel (MGS) method for solving the linear system with the preconditioner [H. Kotakemori, K. Harada, M. Morimoto, H. Niki, A comparison theorem for the iterative method with the preconditioner () J. Comput. Appl. Math. 145 (2002) 373-378]. Since this preconditioner is constructed by only the largest element on each row of the upper triangular part of the coefficient matrix, the preconditioning effect is not observed on the nth row. In the present paper, to deal with this drawback, we propose two new preconditioners. The convergence and comparison theorems of the modified Gauss-Seidel methods with these two preconditioners for solving the linear system are established. The convergence rates of the new proposed preconditioned methods are compared. In addition, numerical experiments are used to show the effectiveness of the new MGS methods.

  15. High-Performance Networking

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2003-01-01

    The series will start with an historical introduction about what people saw as high performance message communication in their time and how that developed to the now to day known "standard computer network communication". It will be followed by a far more technical part that uses the High Performance Computer Network standards of the 90's, with 1 Gbit/sec systems as introduction for an in depth explanation of the three new 10 Gbit/s network and interconnect technology standards that exist already or emerge. If necessary for a good understanding some sidesteps will be included to explain important protocols as well as some necessary details of concerned Wide Area Network (WAN) standards details including some basics of wavelength multiplexing (DWDM). Some remarks will be made concerning the rapid expanding applications of networked storage.

  16. High Performance Concrete

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Traian Oneţ

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents the last studies and researches accomplished in Cluj-Napoca related to high performance concrete, high strength concrete and self compacting concrete. The purpose of this paper is to raid upon the advantages and inconveniences when a particular concrete type is used. Two concrete recipes are presented, namely for the concrete used in rigid pavement for roads and another one for self-compacting concrete.

  17. On the Robustness and Prospects of Adaptive BDDC Methods for Finite Element Discretizations of Elliptic PDEs with High-Contrast Coefficients

    KAUST Repository

    Zampini, Stefano; Keyes, David E.

    2016-01-01

    Balancing Domain Decomposition by Constraints (BDDC) methods have proven to be powerful preconditioners for large and sparse linear systems arising from the finite element discretization of elliptic PDEs. Condition number bounds can be theoretically

  18. HPTA: High-Performance Text Analytics

    OpenAIRE

    Vandierendonck, Hans; Murphy, Karen; Arif, Mahwish; Nikolopoulos, Dimitrios S.

    2017-01-01

    One of the main targets of data analytics is unstructured data, which primarily involves textual data. High-performance processing of textual data is non-trivial. We present the HPTA library for high-performance text analytics. The library helps programmers to map textual data to a dense numeric representation, which can be handled more efficiently. HPTA encapsulates three performance optimizations: (i) efficient memory management for textual data, (ii) parallel computation on associative dat...

  19. Pressurized planar electrochromatography, high-performance thin-layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography--comparison of performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Płocharz, Paweł; Klimek-Turek, Anna; Dzido, Tadeusz H

    2010-07-16

    Kinetic performance, measured by plate height, of High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography (HPTLC), High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Pressurized Planar Electrochromatography (PPEC) was compared for the systems with adsorbent of the HPTLC RP18W plate from Merck as the stationary phase and the mobile phase composed of acetonitrile and buffer solution. The HPLC column was packed with the adsorbent, which was scrapped from the chromatographic plate mentioned. An additional HPLC column was also packed with adsorbent of 5 microm particle diameter, C18 type silica based (LiChrosorb RP-18 from Merck). The dependence of plate height of both HPLC and PPEC separating systems on flow velocity of the mobile phase and on migration distance of the mobile phase in TLC system was presented applying test solute (prednisolone succinate). The highest performance, amongst systems investigated, was obtained for the PPEC system. The separation efficiency of the systems investigated in the paper was additionally confirmed by the separation of test component mixture composed of six hormones. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering '15 : Transactions of the High Performance Computing Center

    CERN Document Server

    Kröner, Dietmar; Resch, Michael

    2016-01-01

    This book presents the state-of-the-art in supercomputer simulation. It includes the latest findings from leading researchers using systems from the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) in 2015. The reports cover all fields of computational science and engineering ranging from CFD to computational physics and from chemistry to computer science with a special emphasis on industrially relevant applications. Presenting findings of one of Europe’s leading systems, this volume covers a wide variety of applications that deliver a high level of sustained performance. The book covers the main methods in high-performance computing. Its outstanding results in achieving the best performance for production codes are of particular interest for both scientists and engineers. The book comes with a wealth of color illustrations and tables of results.

  1. High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering '17 : Transactions of the High Performance Computing Center

    CERN Document Server

    Kröner, Dietmar; Resch, Michael; HLRS 2017

    2018-01-01

    This book presents the state-of-the-art in supercomputer simulation. It includes the latest findings from leading researchers using systems from the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) in 2017. The reports cover all fields of computational science and engineering ranging from CFD to computational physics and from chemistry to computer science with a special emphasis on industrially relevant applications. Presenting findings of one of Europe’s leading systems, this volume covers a wide variety of applications that deliver a high level of sustained performance.The book covers the main methods in high-performance computing. Its outstanding results in achieving the best performance for production codes are of particular interest for both scientists and engineers. The book comes with a wealth of color illustrations and tables of results.

  2. High-Performance Operating Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sharp, Robin

    1999-01-01

    Notes prepared for the DTU course 49421 "High Performance Operating Systems". The notes deal with quantitative and qualitative techniques for use in the design and evaluation of operating systems in computer systems for which performance is an important parameter, such as real-time applications......, communication systems and multimedia systems....

  3. High performance fuel technology development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Koon, Yang Hyun; Kim, Keon Sik; Park, Jeong Yong; Yang, Yong Sik; In, Wang Kee; Kim, Hyung Kyu [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2012-01-15

    {omicron} Development of High Plasticity and Annular Pellet - Development of strong candidates of ultra high burn-up fuel pellets for a PCI remedy - Development of fabrication technology of annular fuel pellet {omicron} Development of High Performance Cladding Materials - Irradiation test of HANA claddings in Halden research reactor and the evaluation of the in-pile performance - Development of the final candidates for the next generation cladding materials. - Development of the manufacturing technology for the dual-cooled fuel cladding tubes. {omicron} Irradiated Fuel Performance Evaluation Technology Development - Development of performance analysis code system for the dual-cooled fuel - Development of fuel performance-proving technology {omicron} Feasibility Studies on Dual-Cooled Annular Fuel Core - Analysis on the property of a reactor core with dual-cooled fuel - Feasibility evaluation on the dual-cooled fuel core {omicron} Development of Design Technology for Dual-Cooled Fuel Structure - Definition of technical issues and invention of concept for dual-cooled fuel structure - Basic design and development of main structure components for dual- cooled fuel - Basic design of a dual-cooled fuel rod.

  4. High performance homes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Beim, Anne; Vibæk, Kasper Sánchez

    2014-01-01

    . Consideration of all these factors is a precondition for a truly integrated practice and as this chapter demonstrates, innovative project delivery methods founded on the manufacturing of prefabricated buildings contribute to the production of high performance homes that are cost effective to construct, energy...

  5. Strategy Guideline: High Performance Residential Lighting

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Holton, J.

    2012-02-01

    The Strategy Guideline: High Performance Residential Lighting has been developed to provide a tool for the understanding and application of high performance lighting in the home. The high performance lighting strategies featured in this guide are drawn from recent advances in commercial lighting for application to typical spaces found in residential buildings. This guide offers strategies to greatly reduce lighting energy use through the application of high quality fluorescent and light emitting diode (LED) technologies. It is important to note that these strategies not only save energy in the home but also serve to satisfy the homeowner's expectations for high quality lighting.

  6. High performance conductometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saha, B.

    2000-01-01

    Inexpensive but high performance systems have emerged progressively for basic and applied measurements in physical and analytical chemistry on one hand, and for on-line monitoring and leak detection in plants and facilities on the other. Salient features of the developments will be presented with specific examples

  7. A SEMI-LAGRANGIAN TWO-LEVEL PRECONDITIONED NEWTON-KRYLOV SOLVER FOR CONSTRAINED DIFFEOMORPHIC IMAGE REGISTRATION.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mang, Andreas; Biros, George

    2017-01-01

    We propose an efficient numerical algorithm for the solution of diffeomorphic image registration problems. We use a variational formulation constrained by a partial differential equation (PDE), where the constraints are a scalar transport equation. We use a pseudospectral discretization in space and second-order accurate semi-Lagrangian time stepping scheme for the transport equations. We solve for a stationary velocity field using a preconditioned, globalized, matrix-free Newton-Krylov scheme. We propose and test a two-level Hessian preconditioner. We consider two strategies for inverting the preconditioner on the coarse grid: a nested preconditioned conjugate gradient method (exact solve) and a nested Chebyshev iterative method (inexact solve) with a fixed number of iterations. We test the performance of our solver in different synthetic and real-world two-dimensional application scenarios. We study grid convergence and computational efficiency of our new scheme. We compare the performance of our solver against our initial implementation that uses the same spatial discretization but a standard, explicit, second-order Runge-Kutta scheme for the numerical time integration of the transport equations and a single-level preconditioner. Our improved scheme delivers significant speedups over our original implementation. As a highlight, we observe a 20 × speedup for a two dimensional, real world multi-subject medical image registration problem.

  8. Preconditioned iterative methods for space-time fractional advection-diffusion equations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Zhi; Jin, Xiao-Qing; Lin, Matthew M.

    2016-08-01

    In this paper, we propose practical numerical methods for solving a class of initial-boundary value problems of space-time fractional advection-diffusion equations. First, we propose an implicit method based on two-sided Grünwald formulae and discuss its stability and consistency. Then, we develop the preconditioned generalized minimal residual (preconditioned GMRES) method and preconditioned conjugate gradient normal residual (preconditioned CGNR) method with easily constructed preconditioners. Importantly, because resulting systems are Toeplitz-like, fast Fourier transform can be applied to significantly reduce the computational cost. We perform numerical experiments to demonstrate the efficiency of our preconditioners, even in cases with variable coefficients.

  9. Efficient parallel iterative solvers for the solution of large dense linear systems arising from the boundary element method in electromagnetism

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alleon, G.; Carpentieri, B.; Du, I.S.; Giraud, L.; Langou, J.; Martin, E.

    2003-01-01

    The boundary element method has become a popular tool for the solution of Maxwell's equations in electromagnetism. It discretizes only the surface of the radiating object and gives rise to linear systems that are smaller in size compared to those arising from finite element or finite difference discretizations. However, these systems are prohibitively demanding in terms of memory for direct methods and challenging to solve by iterative methods. In this paper we address the iterative solution via preconditioned Krylov methods of electromagnetic scattering problems expressed in an integral formulation, with main focus on the design of the pre-conditioner. We consider an approximate inverse method based on the Frobenius-norm minimization with a pattern prescribed in advance. The pre-conditioner is constructed from a sparse approximation of the dense coefficient matrix, and the patterns both for the pre-conditioner and for the coefficient matrix are computed a priori using geometric information from the mesh. We describe the implementation of the approximate inverse in an out-of-core parallel code that uses multipole techniques for the matrix-vector products, and show results on the numerical scalability of our method on systems of size up to one million unknowns. We propose an embedded iterative scheme based on the GMRES method and combined with multipole techniques, aimed at improving the robustness of the approximate inverse for large problems. We prove by numerical experiments that the proposed scheme enables the solution of very large and difficult problems efficiently at reduced computational and memory cost. Finally we perform a preliminary study on a spectral two-level pre-conditioner to enhance the robustness of our method. This numerical technique exploits spectral information of the preconditioned systems to build a low rank-update of the pre-conditioner. (authors)

  10. Efficient parallel iterative solvers for the solution of large dense linear systems arising from the boundary element method in electromagnetism

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alleon, G. [EADS-CCR, 31 - Blagnac (France); Carpentieri, B.; Du, I.S.; Giraud, L.; Langou, J.; Martin, E. [Cerfacs, 31 - Toulouse (France)

    2003-07-01

    The boundary element method has become a popular tool for the solution of Maxwell's equations in electromagnetism. It discretizes only the surface of the radiating object and gives rise to linear systems that are smaller in size compared to those arising from finite element or finite difference discretizations. However, these systems are prohibitively demanding in terms of memory for direct methods and challenging to solve by iterative methods. In this paper we address the iterative solution via preconditioned Krylov methods of electromagnetic scattering problems expressed in an integral formulation, with main focus on the design of the pre-conditioner. We consider an approximate inverse method based on the Frobenius-norm minimization with a pattern prescribed in advance. The pre-conditioner is constructed from a sparse approximation of the dense coefficient matrix, and the patterns both for the pre-conditioner and for the coefficient matrix are computed a priori using geometric information from the mesh. We describe the implementation of the approximate inverse in an out-of-core parallel code that uses multipole techniques for the matrix-vector products, and show results on the numerical scalability of our method on systems of size up to one million unknowns. We propose an embedded iterative scheme based on the GMRES method and combined with multipole techniques, aimed at improving the robustness of the approximate inverse for large problems. We prove by numerical experiments that the proposed scheme enables the solution of very large and difficult problems efficiently at reduced computational and memory cost. Finally we perform a preliminary study on a spectral two-level pre-conditioner to enhance the robustness of our method. This numerical technique exploits spectral information of the preconditioned systems to build a low rank-update of the pre-conditioner. (authors)

  11. INL High Performance Building Strategy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jennifer D. Morton

    2010-02-01

    High performance buildings, also known as sustainable buildings and green buildings, are resource efficient structures that minimize the impact on the environment by using less energy and water, reduce solid waste and pollutants, and limit the depletion of natural resources while also providing a thermally and visually comfortable working environment that increases productivity for building occupants. As Idaho National Laboratory (INL) becomes the nation’s premier nuclear energy research laboratory, the physical infrastructure will be established to help accomplish this mission. This infrastructure, particularly the buildings, should incorporate high performance sustainable design features in order to be environmentally responsible and reflect an image of progressiveness and innovation to the public and prospective employees. Additionally, INL is a large consumer of energy that contributes to both carbon emissions and resource inefficiency. In the current climate of rising energy prices and political pressure for carbon reduction, this guide will help new construction project teams to design facilities that are sustainable and reduce energy costs, thereby reducing carbon emissions. With these concerns in mind, the recommendations described in the INL High Performance Building Strategy (previously called the INL Green Building Strategy) are intended to form the INL foundation for high performance building standards. This revised strategy incorporates the latest federal and DOE orders (Executive Order [EO] 13514, “Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance” [2009], EO 13423, “Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management” [2007], and DOE Order 430.2B, “Departmental Energy, Renewable Energy, and Transportation Management” [2008]), the latest guidelines, trends, and observations in high performance building construction, and the latest changes to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

  12. High Performance Networks for High Impact Science

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Scott, Mary A.; Bair, Raymond A.

    2003-02-13

    This workshop was the first major activity in developing a strategic plan for high-performance networking in the Office of Science. Held August 13 through 15, 2002, it brought together a selection of end users, especially representing the emerging, high-visibility initiatives, and network visionaries to identify opportunities and begin defining the path forward.

  13. High performance fuel technology development : Development of high performance cladding materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Jeongyong; Jeong, Y. H.; Park, S. Y.

    2012-04-01

    The superior in-pile performance of the HANA claddings have been verified by the successful irradiation test and in the Halden research reactor up to the high burn-up of 67GWD/MTU. The in-pile corrosion and creep resistances of HANA claddings were improved by 40% and 50%, respectively, over Zircaloy-4. HANA claddings have been also irradiated in the commercial reactor up to 2 reactor cycles, showing the corrosion resistance 40% better than that of ZIRLO in the same fuel assembly. Long-term out-of-pile performance tests for the candidates of the next generation cladding materials have produced the highly reliable test results. The final candidate alloys were selected and they showed the corrosion resistance 50% better than the foreign advanced claddings, which is beyond the original target. The LOCA-related properties were also improved by 20% over the foreign advanced claddings. In order to establish the optimal manufacturing process for the inner and outer claddings of the dual-cooled fuel, 18 different kinds of specimens were fabricated with various cold working and annealing conditions. Based on the performance tests and various out-of-pile test results obtained from the specimens, the optimal manufacturing process was established for the inner and outer cladding tubes of the dual-cooled fuel

  14. Carbon nanomaterials for high-performance supercapacitors

    OpenAIRE

    Tao Chen; Liming Dai

    2013-01-01

    Owing to their high energy density and power density, supercapacitors exhibit great potential as high-performance energy sources for advanced technologies. Recently, carbon nanomaterials (especially, carbon nanotubes and graphene) have been widely investigated as effective electrodes in supercapacitors due to their high specific surface area, excellent electrical and mechanical properties. This article summarizes the recent progresses on the development of high-performance supercapacitors bas...

  15. Clojure high performance programming

    CERN Document Server

    Kumar, Shantanu

    2013-01-01

    This is a short, practical guide that will teach you everything you need to know to start writing high performance Clojure code.This book is ideal for intermediate Clojure developers who are looking to get a good grip on how to achieve optimum performance. You should already have some experience with Clojure and it would help if you already know a little bit of Java. Knowledge of performance analysis and engineering is not required. For hands-on practice, you should have access to Clojure REPL with Leiningen.

  16. Delivering high performance BWR fuel reliably

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schardt, J.F.

    1998-01-01

    Utilities are under intense pressure to reduce their production costs in order to compete in the increasingly deregulated marketplace. They need fuel, which can deliver high performance to meet demanding operating strategies. GE's latest BWR fuel design, GE14, provides that high performance capability. GE's product introduction process assures that this performance will be delivered reliably, with little risk to the utility. (author)

  17. High performance bio-integrated devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Dae-Hyeong; Lee, Jongha; Park, Minjoon

    2014-06-01

    In recent years, personalized electronics for medical applications, particularly, have attracted much attention with the rise of smartphones because the coupling of such devices and smartphones enables the continuous health-monitoring in patients' daily life. Especially, it is expected that the high performance biomedical electronics integrated with the human body can open new opportunities in the ubiquitous healthcare. However, the mechanical and geometrical constraints inherent in all standard forms of high performance rigid wafer-based electronics raise unique integration challenges with biotic entities. Here, we describe materials and design constructs for high performance skin-mountable bio-integrated electronic devices, which incorporate arrays of single crystalline inorganic nanomembranes. The resulting electronic devices include flexible and stretchable electrophysiology electrodes and sensors coupled with active electronic components. These advances in bio-integrated systems create new directions in the personalized health monitoring and/or human-machine interfaces.

  18. BDDC Algorithms with deluxe scaling and adaptive selection of primal constraints for Raviart-Thomas vector fields

    KAUST Repository

    Oh, Duk-Soon; Widlund, Olof B.; Zampini, Stefano; Dohrmann, Clark R.

    2017-01-01

    A BDDC domain decomposition preconditioner is defined by a coarse component, expressed in terms of primal constraints, a weighted average across the interface between the subdomains, and local components given in terms of solvers of local subdomain problems. BDDC methods for vector field problems discretized with Raviart-Thomas finite elements are introduced. The methods are based on a deluxe type of weighted average and an adaptive selection of primal constraints developed to deal with coefficients with high contrast even inside individual subdomains. For problems with very many subdomains, a third level of the preconditioner is introduced.

  19. BDDC Algorithms with deluxe scaling and adaptive selection of primal constraints for Raviart-Thomas vector fields

    KAUST Repository

    Oh, Duk-Soon

    2017-06-13

    A BDDC domain decomposition preconditioner is defined by a coarse component, expressed in terms of primal constraints, a weighted average across the interface between the subdomains, and local components given in terms of solvers of local subdomain problems. BDDC methods for vector field problems discretized with Raviart-Thomas finite elements are introduced. The methods are based on a deluxe type of weighted average and an adaptive selection of primal constraints developed to deal with coefficients with high contrast even inside individual subdomains. For problems with very many subdomains, a third level of the preconditioner is introduced.

  20. High Performance Macromolecular Material

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Forest, M

    2002-01-01

    .... In essence, most commercial high-performance polymers are processed through fiber spinning, following Nature and spider silk, which is still pound-for-pound the toughest liquid crystalline polymer...

  1. Delivering high performance BWR fuel reliably

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schardt, J.F. [GE Nuclear Energy, Wilmington, NC (United States)

    1998-07-01

    Utilities are under intense pressure to reduce their production costs in order to compete in the increasingly deregulated marketplace. They need fuel, which can deliver high performance to meet demanding operating strategies. GE's latest BWR fuel design, GE14, provides that high performance capability. GE's product introduction process assures that this performance will be delivered reliably, with little risk to the utility. (author)

  2. Carpet Aids Learning in High Performance Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hurd, Frank

    2009-01-01

    The Healthy and High Performance Schools Act of 2002 has set specific federal guidelines for school design, and developed a federal/state partnership program to assist local districts in their school planning. According to the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS), high-performance schools are, among other things, healthy, comfortable,…

  3. Kronecker Products on Preconditioning

    KAUST Repository

    Gao, Longfei

    2013-08-01

    Numerical techniques for linear systems arising from discretization of partial differential equations are nowadays essential for understanding the physical world. Among these techniques, iterative methods and the accompanying preconditioning techniques have become increasingly popular due to their great potential on large scale computation. In this work, we present preconditioning techniques for linear systems built with tensor product basis functions. Efficient algorithms are designed for various problems by exploiting the Kronecker product structure in the matrices, inherited from tensor product basis functions. Specifically, we design preconditioners for mass matrices to remove the complexity from the basis functions used in isogeometric analysis, obtaining numerical performance independent of mesh size, polynomial order and continuity order; we also present a compound iteration preconditioner for stiffness matrices in two dimensions, obtaining fast convergence speed; lastly, for the Helmholtz problem, we present a strategy to `hide\\' its indefiniteness from Krylov subspace methods by eliminating the part of initial error that corresponds to those negative generalized eigenvalues. For all three cases, the Kronecker product structure in the matrices is exploited to achieve high computational efficiency.

  4. High-performance-vehicle technology. [fighter aircraft propulsion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Povinelli, L. A.

    1979-01-01

    Propulsion needs of high performance military aircraft are discussed. Inlet performance, nozzle performance and cooling, and afterburner performance are covered. It is concluded that nonaxisymmetric nozzles provide cleaner external lines and enhanced maneuverability, but the internal flows are more complex. Swirl afterburners show promise for enhanced performance in the high altitude, low Mach number region.

  5. Academic performance in high school as factor associated to academic performance in college

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mileidy Salcedo Barragán

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available This study intends to find the relationship between academic performance in High School and College, focusing on Natural Sciences and Mathematics. It is a descriptive correlational study, and the variables were academic performance in High School, performance indicators and educational history. The correlations between variables were established with Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Results suggest that there is a positive relationship between academic performance in High School and Educational History, and a very weak relationship between performance in Science and Mathematics in High School and performance in College.

  6. High Performance Grinding and Advanced Cutting Tools

    CERN Document Server

    Jackson, Mark J

    2013-01-01

    High Performance Grinding and Advanced Cutting Tools discusses the fundamentals and advances in high performance grinding processes, and provides a complete overview of newly-developing areas in the field. Topics covered are grinding tool formulation and structure, grinding wheel design and conditioning and applications using high performance grinding wheels. Also included are heat treatment strategies for grinding tools, using grinding tools for high speed applications, laser-based and diamond dressing techniques, high-efficiency deep grinding, VIPER grinding, and new grinding wheels.

  7. Asymptotic expansions for high-contrast elliptic equations

    KAUST Repository

    Calo, Victor M.; Efendiev, Yalchin R.; Galvis, Juan

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we present a high-order expansion for elliptic equations in high-contrast media. The background conductivity is taken to be one and we assume the medium contains high (or low) conductivity inclusions. We derive an asymptotic expansion with respect to the contrast and provide a procedure to compute the terms in the expansion. The computation of the expansion does not depend on the contrast which is important for simulations. The latter allows avoiding increased mesh resolution around high conductivity features. This work is partly motivated by our earlier work in [Domain decomposition preconditioners for multiscale flows in high-contrast media, Multiscale Model Simul. 8 (2010) 1461-1483] where we design efficient numerical procedures for solving high-contrast problems. These multiscale approaches require local solutions and our proposed high-order expansion can be used to approximate these local solutions inexpensively. In the case of a large-number of inclusions, the proposed analysis can help to design localization techniques for computing the terms in the expansion. In the paper, we present a rigorous analysis of the proposed high-order expansion and estimate the remainder of it. We consider both high-and low-conductivity inclusions. © 2014 World Scientific Publishing Company.

  8. Asymptotic expansions for high-contrast elliptic equations

    KAUST Repository

    Calo, Victor M.

    2014-03-01

    In this paper, we present a high-order expansion for elliptic equations in high-contrast media. The background conductivity is taken to be one and we assume the medium contains high (or low) conductivity inclusions. We derive an asymptotic expansion with respect to the contrast and provide a procedure to compute the terms in the expansion. The computation of the expansion does not depend on the contrast which is important for simulations. The latter allows avoiding increased mesh resolution around high conductivity features. This work is partly motivated by our earlier work in [Domain decomposition preconditioners for multiscale flows in high-contrast media, Multiscale Model Simul. 8 (2010) 1461-1483] where we design efficient numerical procedures for solving high-contrast problems. These multiscale approaches require local solutions and our proposed high-order expansion can be used to approximate these local solutions inexpensively. In the case of a large-number of inclusions, the proposed analysis can help to design localization techniques for computing the terms in the expansion. In the paper, we present a rigorous analysis of the proposed high-order expansion and estimate the remainder of it. We consider both high-and low-conductivity inclusions. © 2014 World Scientific Publishing Company.

  9. Highlighting High Performance: Whitman Hanson Regional High School; Whitman, Massachusetts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    2006-06-01

    This brochure describes the key high-performance building features of the Whitman-Hanson Regional High School. The brochure was paid for by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative as part of their Green Schools Initiative. High-performance features described are daylighting and energy-efficient lighting, indoor air quality, solar and wind energy, building envelope, heating and cooling systems, water conservation, and acoustics. Energy cost savings are also discussed.

  10. High performance polymeric foams

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gargiulo, M.; Sorrentino, L.; Iannace, S.

    2008-01-01

    The aim of this work was to investigate the foamability of high-performance polymers (polyethersulfone, polyphenylsulfone, polyetherimide and polyethylenenaphtalate). Two different methods have been used to prepare the foam samples: high temperature expansion and two-stage batch process. The effects of processing parameters (saturation time and pressure, foaming temperature) on the densities and microcellular structures of these foams were analyzed by using scanning electron microscopy

  11. Responsive design high performance

    CERN Document Server

    Els, Dewald

    2015-01-01

    This book is ideal for developers who have experience in developing websites or possess minor knowledge of how responsive websites work. No experience of high-level website development or performance tweaking is required.

  12. Striving for Excellence Sometimes Hinders High Achievers: Performance-Approach Goals Deplete Arithmetical Performance in Students with High Working Memory Capacity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crouzevialle, Marie; Smeding, Annique; Butera, Fabrizio

    2015-01-01

    We tested whether the goal to attain normative superiority over other students, referred to as performance-approach goals, is particularly distractive for high-Working Memory Capacity (WMC) students—that is, those who are used to being high achievers. Indeed, WMC is positively related to high-order cognitive performance and academic success, a record of success that confers benefits on high-WMC as compared to low-WMC students. We tested whether such benefits may turn out to be a burden under performance-approach goal pursuit. Indeed, for high achievers, aiming to rise above others may represent an opportunity to reaffirm their positive status—a stake susceptible to trigger disruptive outcome concerns that interfere with task processing. Results revealed that with performance-approach goals—as compared to goals with no emphasis on social comparison—the higher the students’ WMC, the lower their performance at a complex arithmetic task (Experiment 1). Crucially, this pattern appeared to be driven by uncertainty regarding the chances to outclass others (Experiment 2). Moreover, an accessibility measure suggested the mediational role played by status-related concerns in the observed disruption of performance. We discuss why high-stake situations can paradoxically lead high-achievers to sub-optimally perform when high-order cognitive performance is at play. PMID:26407097

  13. High-performance ceramics. Fabrication, structure, properties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Petzow, G.; Tobolski, J.; Telle, R.

    1996-01-01

    The program ''Ceramic High-performance Materials'' pursued the objective to understand the chaining of cause and effect in the development of high-performance ceramics. This chain of problems begins with the chemical reactions for the production of powders, comprises the characterization, processing, shaping and compacting of powders, structural optimization, heat treatment, production and finishing, and leads to issues of materials testing and of a design appropriate to the material. The program ''Ceramic High-performance Materials'' has resulted in contributions to the understanding of fundamental interrelationships in terms of materials science, which are summarized in the present volume - broken down into eight special aspects. (orig./RHM)

  14. High performance data transfer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cottrell, R.; Fang, C.; Hanushevsky, A.; Kreuger, W.; Yang, W.

    2017-10-01

    The exponentially increasing need for high speed data transfer is driven by big data, and cloud computing together with the needs of data intensive science, High Performance Computing (HPC), defense, the oil and gas industry etc. We report on the Zettar ZX software. This has been developed since 2013 to meet these growing needs by providing high performance data transfer and encryption in a scalable, balanced, easy to deploy and use way while minimizing power and space utilization. In collaboration with several commercial vendors, Proofs of Concept (PoC) consisting of clusters have been put together using off-the- shelf components to test the ZX scalability and ability to balance services using multiple cores, and links. The PoCs are based on SSD flash storage that is managed by a parallel file system. Each cluster occupies 4 rack units. Using the PoCs, between clusters we have achieved almost 200Gbps memory to memory over two 100Gbps links, and 70Gbps parallel file to parallel file with encryption over a 5000 mile 100Gbps link.

  15. Strategy Guideline. Partnering for High Performance Homes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Prahl, Duncan [IBACOS, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

    2013-01-01

    High performance houses require a high degree of coordination and have significant interdependencies between various systems in order to perform properly, meet customer expectations, and minimize risks for the builder. Responsibility for the key performance attributes is shared across the project team and can be well coordinated through advanced partnering strategies. For high performance homes, traditional partnerships need to be matured to the next level and be expanded to all members of the project team including trades, suppliers, manufacturers, HERS raters, designers, architects, and building officials as appropriate. This guide is intended for use by all parties associated in the design and construction of high performance homes. It serves as a starting point and features initial tools and resources for teams to collaborate to continually improve the energy efficiency and durability of new houses.

  16. High performance parallel I/O

    CERN Document Server

    Prabhat

    2014-01-01

    Gain Critical Insight into the Parallel I/O EcosystemParallel I/O is an integral component of modern high performance computing (HPC), especially in storing and processing very large datasets to facilitate scientific discovery. Revealing the state of the art in this field, High Performance Parallel I/O draws on insights from leading practitioners, researchers, software architects, developers, and scientists who shed light on the parallel I/O ecosystem.The first part of the book explains how large-scale HPC facilities scope, configure, and operate systems, with an emphasis on choices of I/O har

  17. ADVANCED HIGH PERFORMANCE SOLID WALL BLANKET CONCEPTS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    WONG, CPC; MALANG, S; NISHIO, S; RAFFRAY, R; SAGARA, S

    2002-01-01

    OAK A271 ADVANCED HIGH PERFORMANCE SOLID WALL BLANKET CONCEPTS. First wall and blanket (FW/blanket) design is a crucial element in the performance and acceptance of a fusion power plant. High temperature structural and breeding materials are needed for high thermal performance. A suitable combination of structural design with the selected materials is necessary for D-T fuel sufficiency. Whenever possible, low afterheat, low chemical reactivity and low activation materials are desired to achieve passive safety and minimize the amount of high-level waste. Of course the selected fusion FW/blanket design will have to match the operational scenarios of high performance plasma. The key characteristics of eight advanced high performance FW/blanket concepts are presented in this paper. Design configurations, performance characteristics, unique advantages and issues are summarized. All reviewed designs can satisfy most of the necessary design goals. For further development, in concert with the advancement in plasma control and scrape off layer physics, additional emphasis will be needed in the areas of first wall coating material selection, design of plasma stabilization coils, consideration of reactor startup and transient events. To validate the projected performance of the advanced FW/blanket concepts the critical element is the need for 14 MeV neutron irradiation facilities for the generation of necessary engineering design data and the prediction of FW/blanket components lifetime and availability

  18. DOE research in utilization of high-performance computers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buzbee, B.L.; Worlton, W.J.; Michael, G.; Rodrigue, G.

    1980-12-01

    Department of Energy (DOE) and other Government research laboratories depend on high-performance computer systems to accomplish their programatic goals. As the most powerful computer systems become available, they are acquired by these laboratories so that advances can be made in their disciplines. These advances are often the result of added sophistication to numerical models whose execution is made possible by high-performance computer systems. However, high-performance computer systems have become increasingly complex; consequently, it has become increasingly difficult to realize their potential performance. The result is a need for research on issues related to the utilization of these systems. This report gives a brief description of high-performance computers, and then addresses the use of and future needs for high-performance computers within DOE, the growing complexity of applications within DOE, and areas of high-performance computer systems warranting research. 1 figure

  19. High-performance mass storage system for workstations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiang, T.; Tang, Y.; Gupta, L.; Cooperman, S.

    1993-01-01

    Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) workstations and Personnel Computers (PC) are very popular tools for office automation, command and control, scientific analysis, database management, and many other applications. However, when using Input/Output (I/O) intensive applications, the RISC workstations and PC's are often overburdened with the tasks of collecting, staging, storing, and distributing data. Also, by using standard high-performance peripherals and storage devices, the I/O function can still be a common bottleneck process. Therefore, the high-performance mass storage system, developed by Loral AeroSys' Independent Research and Development (IR&D) engineers, can offload a RISC workstation of I/O related functions and provide high-performance I/O functions and external interfaces. The high-performance mass storage system has the capabilities to ingest high-speed real-time data, perform signal or image processing, and stage, archive, and distribute the data. This mass storage system uses a hierarchical storage structure, thus reducing the total data storage cost, while maintaining high-I/O performance. The high-performance mass storage system is a network of low-cost parallel processors and storage devices. The nodes in the network have special I/O functions such as: SCSI controller, Ethernet controller, gateway controller, RS232 controller, IEEE488 controller, and digital/analog converter. The nodes are interconnected through high-speed direct memory access links to form a network. The topology of the network is easily reconfigurable to maximize system throughput for various applications. This high-performance mass storage system takes advantage of a 'busless' architecture for maximum expandability. The mass storage system consists of magnetic disks, a WORM optical disk jukebox, and an 8mm helical scan tape to form a hierarchical storage structure. Commonly used files are kept in the magnetic disk for fast retrieval. The optical disks are used as archive

  20. Ground Glass Pozzolan in Conventional, High, and Ultra-High Performance Concrete

    OpenAIRE

    Tagnit-Hamou Arezki; Zidol Ablam; Soliman Nancy; Deschamps Joris; Omran Ahmed

    2018-01-01

    Ground-glass pozzolan (G) obtained by grinding the mixed-waste glass to same fineness of cement can act as a supplementary-cementitious material (SCM), given that it is an amorphous and a pozzolanic material. The G showed promising performances in different concrete types such as conventional concrete (CC), high-performance concrete (HPC), and ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC). The current paper reports on the characteristics and performance of G in these concrete types. The use of G pro...

  1. PCBDDC: A Class of Robust Dual-Primal Methods in PETSc

    KAUST Repository

    Zampini, Stefano

    2016-10-27

    A class of preconditioners based on balancing domain decomposition by constraints methods is introduced in the Portable, Extensible Toolkit for Scientific Computation (PETSc). The algorithm and the underlying nonoverlapping domain decomposition framework are described with a specific focus on their current implementation in the library. Available user customizations are also presented, together with an experimental interface to the finite element tearing and interconnecting dual-primal methods within PETSc. Large-scale parallel numerical results are provided for the latest version of the code, which is able to tackle symmetric positive definite problems with highly heterogeneous distributions of the coefficients. Current limitations and future extensions of the preconditioner class are also discussed.

  2. PCBDDC: A Class of Robust Dual-Primal Methods in PETSc

    KAUST Repository

    Zampini, Stefano

    2016-01-01

    A class of preconditioners based on balancing domain decomposition by constraints methods is introduced in the Portable, Extensible Toolkit for Scientific Computation (PETSc). The algorithm and the underlying nonoverlapping domain decomposition framework are described with a specific focus on their current implementation in the library. Available user customizations are also presented, together with an experimental interface to the finite element tearing and interconnecting dual-primal methods within PETSc. Large-scale parallel numerical results are provided for the latest version of the code, which is able to tackle symmetric positive definite problems with highly heterogeneous distributions of the coefficients. Current limitations and future extensions of the preconditioner class are also discussed.

  3. Parallel Computing Characteristics of Two-Phase Thermal-Hydraulics code, CUPID

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Jae Ryong; Yoon, Han Young

    2013-01-01

    Parallelized CUPID code has proved to be able to reproduce multi-dimensional thermal hydraulic analysis by validating with various conceptual problems and experimental data. In this paper, the characteristics of the parallelized CUPID code were investigated. Both single- and two phase simulation are taken into account. Since the scalability of a parallel simulation is known to be better for fine mesh system, two types of mesh system are considered. In addition, the dependency of the preconditioner for matrix solver was also compared. The scalability for the single-phase flow is better than that for two-phase flow due to the less numbers of iterations for solving pressure matrix. The CUPID code was investigated the parallel performance in terms of scalability. The CUPID code was parallelized with domain decomposition method. The MPI library was adopted to communicate the information at the interface cells. As increasing the number of mesh, the scalability is improved. For a given mesh, single-phase flow simulation with diagonal preconditioner shows the best speedup. However, for the two-phase flow simulation, the ILU preconditioner is recommended since it reduces the overall simulation time

  4. Indoor Air Quality in High Performance Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    High performance schools are facilities that improve the learning environment while saving energy, resources, and money. The key is understanding the lifetime value of high performance schools and effectively managing priorities, time, and budget.

  5. Migration of vectorized iterative solvers to distributed memory architectures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pommerell, C. [AT& T Bell Labs., Murray Hill, NJ (United States); Ruehl, R. [CSCS-ETH, Manno (Switzerland)

    1994-12-31

    Both necessity and opportunity motivate the use of high-performance computers for iterative linear solvers. Necessity results from the size of the problems being solved-smaller problems are often better handled by direct methods. Opportunity arises from the formulation of the iterative methods in terms of simple linear algebra operations, even if this {open_quote}natural{close_quotes} parallelism is not easy to exploit in irregularly structured sparse matrices and with good preconditioners. As a result, high-performance implementations of iterative solvers have attracted a lot of interest in recent years. Most efforts are geared to vectorize or parallelize the dominating operation-structured or unstructured sparse matrix-vector multiplication, or to increase locality and parallelism by reformulating the algorithm-reducing global synchronization in inner products or local data exchange in preconditioners. Target architectures for iterative solvers currently include mostly vector supercomputers and architectures with one or few optimized (e.g., super-scalar and/or super-pipelined RISC) processors and hierarchical memory systems. More recently, parallel computers with physically distributed memory and a better price/performance ratio have been offered by vendors as a very interesting alternative to vector supercomputers. However, programming comfort on such distributed memory parallel processors (DMPPs) still lags behind. Here the authors are concerned with iterative solvers and their changing computing environment. In particular, they are considering migration from traditional vector supercomputers to DMPPs. Application requirements force one to use flexible and portable libraries. They want to extend the portability of iterative solvers rather than reimplementing everything for each new machine, or even for each new architecture.

  6. Advanced high performance solid wall blanket concepts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wong, C.P.C.; Malang, S.; Nishio, S.; Raffray, R.; Sagara, A.

    2002-01-01

    First wall and blanket (FW/blanket) design is a crucial element in the performance and acceptance of a fusion power plant. High temperature structural and breeding materials are needed for high thermal performance. A suitable combination of structural design with the selected materials is necessary for D-T fuel sufficiency. Whenever possible, low afterheat, low chemical reactivity and low activation materials are desired to achieve passive safety and minimize the amount of high-level waste. Of course the selected fusion FW/blanket design will have to match the operational scenarios of high performance plasma. The key characteristics of eight advanced high performance FW/blanket concepts are presented in this paper. Design configurations, performance characteristics, unique advantages and issues are summarized. All reviewed designs can satisfy most of the necessary design goals. For further development, in concert with the advancement in plasma control and scrape off layer physics, additional emphasis will be needed in the areas of first wall coating material selection, design of plasma stabilization coils, consideration of reactor startup and transient events. To validate the projected performance of the advanced FW/blanket concepts the critical element is the need for 14 MeV neutron irradiation facilities for the generation of necessary engineering design data and the prediction of FW/blanket components lifetime and availability

  7. An FMM based on dual tree traversal for many-core architectures

    KAUST Repository

    Yokota, Rio

    2013-01-01

    interest to use FMM as a preconditioner for sparse linear solvers. A direct comparison with other state-of-the-art fast N-body codes demonstrates that orders of magnitude increase in performance can be achieved by careful selection of the optimal algorithm

  8. High-performance OPCPA laser system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zuegel, J.D.; Bagnoud, V.; Bromage, J.; Begishev, I.A.; Puth, J.

    2006-01-01

    Optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) is ideally suited for amplifying ultra-fast laser pulses since it provides broadband gain across a wide range of wavelengths without many of the disadvantages of regenerative amplification. A high-performance OPCPA system has been demonstrated as a prototype for the front end of the OMEGA Extended Performance (EP) Laser System. (authors)

  9. High-performance OPCPA laser system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zuegel, J.D.; Bagnoud, V.; Bromage, J.; Begishev, I.A.; Puth, J. [Rochester Univ., Lab. for Laser Energetics, NY (United States)

    2006-06-15

    Optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) is ideally suited for amplifying ultra-fast laser pulses since it provides broadband gain across a wide range of wavelengths without many of the disadvantages of regenerative amplification. A high-performance OPCPA system has been demonstrated as a prototype for the front end of the OMEGA Extended Performance (EP) Laser System. (authors)

  10. BDDC Deluxe for Isogeometric Analysis

    KAUST Repository

    da Veiga, L. Beirão

    2016-01-01

    The main goal of this paper is to design, analyze, and test a BDDC (Balancing Domain Decomposition by Constraints, see [12, 23]) preconditioner for Isogeometric Analysis (IGA), based on a novel type of interface averaging, which we will denote by deluxe scaling, with either full or reduced set of primal constraints. IGA is an innovative numerical methodology, introduced in [17] and first analyzed in [1], where the geometry description of the PDE domain is adopted from a Computer Aided Design (CAD) parametrization usually based on Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS) and the same NURBS basis functions are also used as the PDEs discrete basis, following an isoparametric paradigm; see the monograph [10]. Recent works on IGA preconditioners have focused on overlapping Schwarz preconditioners [3, 5, 7, 9], multigrid methods [16], and non-overlapping preconditioners [4, 8, 20].

  11. High performance in software development

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva; Haapio, Petri; Liukkonen, Juha-Matti

    2015-01-01

    What are the ingredients of high-performing software? Software development, especially for large high-performance systems, is one the most complex tasks mankind has ever tried. Technological change leads to huge opportunities but challenges our old ways of working. Processing large data sets, possibly in real time or with other tight computational constraints, requires an efficient solution architecture. Efficiency requirements span from the distributed storage and large-scale organization of computation and data onto the lowest level of processor and data bus behavior. Integrating performance behavior over these levels is especially important when the computation is resource-bounded, as it is in numerics: physical simulation, machine learning, estimation of statistical models, etc. For example, memory locality and utilization of vector processing are essential for harnessing the computing power of modern processor architectures due to the deep memory hierarchies of modern general-purpose computers. As a r...

  12. High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering '16 : Transactions of the High Performance Computing Center, Stuttgart (HLRS) 2016

    CERN Document Server

    Kröner, Dietmar; Resch, Michael

    2016-01-01

    This book presents the state-of-the-art in supercomputer simulation. It includes the latest findings from leading researchers using systems from the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) in 2016. The reports cover all fields of computational science and engineering ranging from CFD to computational physics and from chemistry to computer science with a special emphasis on industrially relevant applications. Presenting findings of one of Europe’s leading systems, this volume covers a wide variety of applications that deliver a high level of sustained performance. The book covers the main methods in high-performance computing. Its outstanding results in achieving the best performance for production codes are of particular interest for both scientists and engineers. The book comes with a wealth of color illustrations and tables of results.

  13. High-performance computing — an overview

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marksteiner, Peter

    1996-08-01

    An overview of high-performance computing (HPC) is given. Different types of computer architectures used in HPC are discussed: vector supercomputers, high-performance RISC processors, various parallel computers like symmetric multiprocessors, workstation clusters, massively parallel processors. Software tools and programming techniques used in HPC are reviewed: vectorizing compilers, optimization and vector tuning, optimization for RISC processors; parallel programming techniques like shared-memory parallelism, message passing and data parallelism; and numerical libraries.

  14. Team Development for High Performance Management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schermerhorn, John R., Jr.

    1986-01-01

    The author examines a team development approach to management that creates shared commitments to performance improvement by focusing the attention of managers on individual workers and their task accomplishments. It uses the "high-performance equation" to help managers confront shared beliefs and concerns about performance and develop realistic…

  15. High Performance Walls in Hot-Dry Climates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hoeschele, Marc [Alliance for Residential Building Innovation (ARBI), Davis, CA (United States); Springer, David [Alliance for Residential Building Innovation (ARBI), Davis, CA (United States); Dakin, Bill [Alliance for Residential Building Innovation (ARBI), Davis, CA (United States); German, Alea [Alliance for Residential Building Innovation (ARBI), Davis, CA (United States)

    2015-01-01

    High performance walls represent a high priority measure for moving the next generation of new homes to the Zero Net Energy performance level. The primary goal in improving wall thermal performance revolves around increasing the wall framing from 2x4 to 2x6, adding more cavity and exterior rigid insulation, achieving insulation installation criteria meeting ENERGY STAR's thermal bypass checklist. To support this activity, in 2013 the Pacific Gas & Electric Company initiated a project with Davis Energy Group (lead for the Building America team, Alliance for Residential Building Innovation) to solicit builder involvement in California to participate in field demonstrations of high performance wall systems. Builders were given incentives and design support in exchange for providing site access for construction observation, cost information, and builder survey feedback. Information from the project was designed to feed into the 2016 Title 24 process, but also to serve as an initial mechanism to engage builders in more high performance construction strategies. This Building America project utilized information collected in the California project.

  16. Flexible nanoscale high-performance FinFETs

    KAUST Repository

    Sevilla, Galo T.

    2014-10-28

    With the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), flexible high-performance nanoscale electronics are more desired. At the moment, FinFET is the most advanced transistor architecture used in the state-of-the-art microprocessors. Therefore, we show a soft-etch based substrate thinning process to transform silicon-on-insulator (SOI) based nanoscale FinFET into flexible FinFET and then conduct comprehensive electrical characterization under various bending conditions to understand its electrical performance. Our study shows that back-etch based substrate thinning process is gentler than traditional abrasive back-grinding process; it can attain ultraflexibility and the electrical characteristics of the flexible nanoscale FinFET show no performance degradation compared to its rigid bulk counterpart indicating its readiness to be used for flexible high-performance electronics.

  17. The Role of Performance Management in Creating and Maintaining a High-Performance Organization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    André A. de Waal

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available There is still a good deal of confusion in the literature about how the use of a performance management system affects overall organizational performance. Some researchers find that performance management enhances both the financial and non-financial results of an organization, while others do not find any positive effects or, at most, ambiguous effects. An important step toward getting more clarity in this relationship is to investigate the role performance management plays in creating and maintaining a high-performance organization (HPO. The purpose of this study is to integrate performance management analysis (PMA and high-performance organization (HPO. A questionnaire combining questions on PMA dimensions and HPO factors was administered to two European-based multinational firms. Based on 468 valid questionnaires, a correlation analysis was performed on the PMA dimensions and the HPO factors in order to test the impact of performance management on the factors of high organizational performance. The results show strong and significant correlations between all the PMA dimensions and all the HPO factors, indicating that a performance management system that fosters performance-driven behavior in the organization is of critical importance to strengthen overall financial and non-financial performance.

  18. Development of new high-performance stainless steels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Yong Soo

    2002-01-01

    This paper focused on high-performance stainless steels and their development status. Effect of nitrogen addition on super-stainless steel was discussed. Research activities at Yonsei University, on austenitic and martensitic high-performance stainless, steels, and the next-generation duplex stainless steels were introduced

  19. vSphere high performance cookbook

    CERN Document Server

    Sarkar, Prasenjit

    2013-01-01

    vSphere High Performance Cookbook is written in a practical, helpful style with numerous recipes focusing on answering and providing solutions to common, and not-so common, performance issues and problems.The book is primarily written for technical professionals with system administration skills and some VMware experience who wish to learn about advanced optimization and the configuration features and functions for vSphere 5.1.

  20. High Burnup Fuel Performance and Safety Research

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bang, Je Keun; Lee, Chan Bok; Kim, Dae Ho (and others)

    2007-03-15

    The worldwide trend of nuclear fuel development is to develop a high burnup and high performance nuclear fuel with high economies and safety. Because the fuel performance evaluation code, INFRA, has a patent, and the superiority for prediction of fuel performance was proven through the IAEA CRP FUMEX-II program, the INFRA code can be utilized with commercial purpose in the industry. The INFRA code was provided and utilized usefully in the universities and relevant institutes domesticallly and it has been used as a reference code in the industry for the development of the intrinsic fuel rod design code.

  1. Danish High Performance Concretes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, M. P.; Christoffersen, J.; Frederiksen, J.

    1994-01-01

    In this paper the main results obtained in the research program High Performance Concretes in the 90's are presented. This program was financed by the Danish government and was carried out in cooperation between The Technical University of Denmark, several private companies, and Aalborg University...... concretes, workability, ductility, and confinement problems....

  2. Local multiplicative Schwarz algorithms for convection-diffusion equations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Xiao-Chuan; Sarkis, Marcus

    1995-01-01

    We develop a new class of overlapping Schwarz type algorithms for solving scalar convection-diffusion equations discretized by finite element or finite difference methods. The preconditioners consist of two components, namely, the usual two-level additive Schwarz preconditioner and the sum of some quadratic terms constructed by using products of ordered neighboring subdomain preconditioners. The ordering of the subdomain preconditioners is determined by considering the direction of the flow. We prove that the algorithms are optimal in the sense that the convergence rates are independent of the mesh size, as well as the number of subdomains. We show by numerical examples that the new algorithms are less sensitive to the direction of the flow than either the classical multiplicative Schwarz algorithms, and converge faster than the additive Schwarz algorithms. Thus, the new algorithms are more suitable for fluid flow applications than the classical additive or multiplicative Schwarz algorithms.

  3. Promising high monetary rewards for future task performance increases intermediate task performance.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claire M Zedelius

    Full Text Available In everyday life contexts and work settings, monetary rewards are often contingent on future performance. Based on research showing that the anticipation of rewards causes improved task performance through enhanced task preparation, the present study tested the hypothesis that the promise of monetary rewards for future performance would not only increase future performance, but also performance on an unrewarded intermediate task. Participants performed an auditory Simon task in which they responded to two consecutive tones. While participants could earn high vs. low monetary rewards for fast responses to every second tone, their responses to the first tone were not rewarded. Moreover, we compared performance under conditions in which reward information could prompt strategic performance adjustments (i.e., when reward information was presented for a relatively long duration to conditions preventing strategic performance adjustments (i.e., when reward information was presented very briefly. Results showed that high (vs. low rewards sped up both rewarded and intermediate, unrewarded responses, and the effect was independent of the duration of reward presentation. Moreover, long presentation led to a speed-accuracy trade-off for both rewarded and unrewarded tones, whereas short presentation sped up responses to rewarded and unrewarded tones without this trade-off. These results suggest that high rewards for future performance boost intermediate performance due to enhanced task preparation, and they do so regardless whether people respond to rewards in a strategic or non-strategic manner.

  4. Promising high monetary rewards for future task performance increases intermediate task performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zedelius, Claire M; Veling, Harm; Bijleveld, Erik; Aarts, Henk

    2012-01-01

    In everyday life contexts and work settings, monetary rewards are often contingent on future performance. Based on research showing that the anticipation of rewards causes improved task performance through enhanced task preparation, the present study tested the hypothesis that the promise of monetary rewards for future performance would not only increase future performance, but also performance on an unrewarded intermediate task. Participants performed an auditory Simon task in which they responded to two consecutive tones. While participants could earn high vs. low monetary rewards for fast responses to every second tone, their responses to the first tone were not rewarded. Moreover, we compared performance under conditions in which reward information could prompt strategic performance adjustments (i.e., when reward information was presented for a relatively long duration) to conditions preventing strategic performance adjustments (i.e., when reward information was presented very briefly). Results showed that high (vs. low) rewards sped up both rewarded and intermediate, unrewarded responses, and the effect was independent of the duration of reward presentation. Moreover, long presentation led to a speed-accuracy trade-off for both rewarded and unrewarded tones, whereas short presentation sped up responses to rewarded and unrewarded tones without this trade-off. These results suggest that high rewards for future performance boost intermediate performance due to enhanced task preparation, and they do so regardless whether people respond to rewards in a strategic or non-strategic manner.

  5. Comparison of ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography, ultra high performance liquid chromatography, and gas chromatography for the separation of synthetic cathinones.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carnes, Stephanie; O'Brien, Stacey; Szewczak, Angelica; Tremeau-Cayel, Lauriane; Rowe, Walter F; McCord, Bruce; Lurie, Ira S

    2017-09-01

    A comparison of ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography, ultra high performance liquid chromatography, and gas chromatography for the separation of synthetic cathinones has been conducted. Nine different mixtures of bath salts were analyzed in this study. The three different chromatographic techniques were examined using a general set of controlled synthetic cathinones as well as a variety of other synthetic cathinones that exist as positional isomers. Overall 35 different synthetic cathinones were analyzed. A variety of column types and chromatographic modes were examined for developing each separation. For the ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography separations, analyses were performed using a series of Torus and Trefoil columns with either ammonium formate or ammonium hydroxide as additives, and methanol, ethanol or isopropanol organic solvents as modifiers. Ultra high performance liquid chromatographic separations were performed in both reversed phase and hydrophilic interaction chromatographic modes using SPP C18 and SPP HILIC columns. Gas chromatography separations were performed using an Elite-5MS capillary column. The orthogonality of ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography, ultra high performance liquid chromatography, and gas chromatography was examined using principal component analysis. For the best overall separation of synthetic cathinones, the use of ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography in combination with gas chromatography is recommended. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  6. High Performance Electronics on Flexible Silicon

    KAUST Repository

    Sevilla, Galo T.

    2016-09-01

    Over the last few years, flexible electronic systems have gained increased attention from researchers around the world because of their potential to create new applications such as flexible displays, flexible energy harvesters, artificial skin, and health monitoring systems that cannot be integrated with conventional wafer based complementary metal oxide semiconductor processes. Most of the current efforts to create flexible high performance devices are based on the use of organic semiconductors. However, inherent material\\'s limitations make them unsuitable for big data processing and high speed communications. The objective of my doctoral dissertation is to develop integration processes that allow the transformation of rigid high performance electronics into flexible ones while maintaining their performance and cost. In this work, two different techniques to transform inorganic complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor electronics into flexible ones have been developed using industry compatible processes. Furthermore, these techniques were used to realize flexible discrete devices and circuits which include metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors, the first demonstration of flexible Fin-field-effect-transistors, and metal-oxide-semiconductors-based circuits. Finally, this thesis presents a new technique to package, integrate, and interconnect flexible high performance electronics using low cost additive manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing and inkjet printing. This thesis contains in depth studies on electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties of the fabricated devices.

  7. High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering '02 : Transactions of the High Performance Computing Center

    CERN Document Server

    Jäger, Willi

    2003-01-01

    This book presents the state-of-the-art in modeling and simulation on supercomputers. Leading German research groups present their results achieved on high-end systems of the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) for the year 2002. Reports cover all fields of supercomputing simulation ranging from computational fluid dynamics to computer science. Special emphasis is given to industrially relevant applications. Moreover, by presenting results for both vector sytems and micro-processor based systems the book allows to compare performance levels and usability of a variety of supercomputer architectures. It therefore becomes an indispensable guidebook to assess the impact of the Japanese Earth Simulator project on supercomputing in the years to come.

  8. Critical Factors Explaining the Leadership Performance of High-Performing Principals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hutton, Disraeli M.

    2018-01-01

    The study explored critical factors that explain leadership performance of high-performing principals and examined the relationship between these factors based on the ratings of school constituents in the public school system. The principal component analysis with the use of Varimax Rotation revealed that four components explain 51.1% of the…

  9. High Performance Walls in Hot-Dry Climates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hoeschele, Marc [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Springer, David [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Dakin, Bill [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); German, Alea [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2015-01-01

    High performance walls represent a high priority measure for moving the next generation of new homes to the Zero Net Energy performance level. The primary goal in improving wall thermal performance revolves around increasing the wall framing from 2x4 to 2x6, adding more cavity and exterior rigid insulation, achieving insulation installation criteria meeting ENERGY STAR's thermal bypass checklist, and reducing the amount of wood penetrating the wall cavity.

  10. High-performance liquid chromatography of oligoguanylates at high pH

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stribling, R.; Deamer, D. (Principal Investigator)

    1991-01-01

    Because of the stable self-structures formed by oligomers of guanosine, standard high-performance liquid chromatography techniques for oligonucleotide fractionation are not applicable. Previously, oligoguanylate separations have been carried out at pH 12 using RPC-5 as the packing material. While RPC-5 provides excellent separations, there are several limitations, including the lack of a commercially available source. This report describes a new anion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography method using HEMA-IEC BIO Q, which successfully separates different forms of the guanosine monomer as well as longer oligoguanylates. The reproducibility and stability at high pH suggests a versatile role for this material.

  11. Physics-Based Preconditioning of a Compressible Flow Solver for Large-Scale Simulations of Additive Manufacturing Processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weston, Brian; Nourgaliev, Robert; Delplanque, Jean-Pierre

    2017-11-01

    We present a new block-based Schur complement preconditioner for simulating all-speed compressible flow with phase change. The conservation equations are discretized with a reconstructed Discontinuous Galerkin method and integrated in time with fully implicit time discretization schemes. The resulting set of non-linear equations is converged using a robust Newton-Krylov framework. Due to the stiffness of the underlying physics associated with stiff acoustic waves and viscous material strength effects, we solve for the primitive-variables (pressure, velocity, and temperature). To enable convergence of the highly ill-conditioned linearized systems, we develop a physics-based preconditioner, utilizing approximate block factorization techniques to reduce the fully-coupled 3×3 system to a pair of reduced 2×2 systems. We demonstrate that our preconditioned Newton-Krylov framework converges on very stiff multi-physics problems, corresponding to large CFL and Fourier numbers, with excellent algorithmic and parallel scalability. Results are shown for the classic lid-driven cavity flow problem as well as for 3D laser-induced phase change. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

  12. Methods to Load Balance a GCR Pressure Solver Using a Stencil Framework on Multi- and Many-Core Architectures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milosz Ciznicki

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The recent advent of novel multi- and many-core architectures forces application programmers to deal with hardware-specific implementation details and to be familiar with software optimisation techniques to benefit from new high-performance computing machines. Extra care must be taken for communication-intensive algorithms, which may be a bottleneck for forthcoming era of exascale computing. This paper aims to present a high-level stencil framework implemented for the EULerian or LAGrangian model (EULAG that efficiently utilises multi- and many-cores architectures. Only an efficient usage of both many-core processors (CPUs and graphics processing units (GPUs with the flexible data decomposition method can lead to the maximum performance that scales the communication-intensive Generalized Conjugate Residual (GCR elliptic solver with preconditioner.

  13. A Newton-Krylov method with an approximate analytical Jacobian for implicit solution of Navier-Stokes equations on staggered overset-curvilinear grids with immersed boundaries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asgharzadeh, Hafez; Borazjani, Iman

    2017-02-15

    The explicit and semi-implicit schemes in flow simulations involving complex geometries and moving boundaries suffer from time-step size restriction and low convergence rates. Implicit schemes can be used to overcome these restrictions, but implementing them to solve the Navier-Stokes equations is not straightforward due to their non-linearity. Among the implicit schemes for nonlinear equations, Newton-based techniques are preferred over fixed-point techniques because of their high convergence rate but each Newton iteration is more expensive than a fixed-point iteration. Krylov subspace methods are one of the most advanced iterative methods that can be combined with Newton methods, i.e., Newton-Krylov Methods (NKMs) to solve non-linear systems of equations. The success of NKMs vastly depends on the scheme for forming the Jacobian, e.g., automatic differentiation is very expensive, and matrix-free methods without a preconditioner slow down as the mesh is refined. A novel, computationally inexpensive analytical Jacobian for NKM is developed to solve unsteady incompressible Navier-Stokes momentum equations on staggered overset-curvilinear grids with immersed boundaries. Moreover, the analytical Jacobian is used to form preconditioner for matrix-free method in order to improve its performance. The NKM with the analytical Jacobian was validated and verified against Taylor-Green vortex, inline oscillations of a cylinder in a fluid initially at rest, and pulsatile flow in a 90 degree bend. The capability of the method in handling complex geometries with multiple overset grids and immersed boundaries is shown by simulating an intracranial aneurysm. It was shown that the NKM with an analytical Jacobian is 1.17 to 14.77 times faster than the fixed-point Runge-Kutta method, and 1.74 to 152.3 times (excluding an intensively stretched grid) faster than automatic differentiation depending on the grid (size) and the flow problem. In addition, it was shown that using only the

  14. A Newton–Krylov method with an approximate analytical Jacobian for implicit solution of Navier–Stokes equations on staggered overset-curvilinear grids with immersed boundaries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asgharzadeh, Hafez; Borazjani, Iman

    2016-01-01

    The explicit and semi-implicit schemes in flow simulations involving complex geometries and moving boundaries suffer from time-step size restriction and low convergence rates. Implicit schemes can be used to overcome these restrictions, but implementing them to solve the Navier-Stokes equations is not straightforward due to their non-linearity. Among the implicit schemes for nonlinear equations, Newton-based techniques are preferred over fixed-point techniques because of their high convergence rate but each Newton iteration is more expensive than a fixed-point iteration. Krylov subspace methods are one of the most advanced iterative methods that can be combined with Newton methods, i.e., Newton-Krylov Methods (NKMs) to solve non-linear systems of equations. The success of NKMs vastly depends on the scheme for forming the Jacobian, e.g., automatic differentiation is very expensive, and matrix-free methods without a preconditioner slow down as the mesh is refined. A novel, computationally inexpensive analytical Jacobian for NKM is developed to solve unsteady incompressible Navier-Stokes momentum equations on staggered overset-curvilinear grids with immersed boundaries. Moreover, the analytical Jacobian is used to form preconditioner for matrix-free method in order to improve its performance. The NKM with the analytical Jacobian was validated and verified against Taylor-Green vortex, inline oscillations of a cylinder in a fluid initially at rest, and pulsatile flow in a 90 degree bend. The capability of the method in handling complex geometries with multiple overset grids and immersed boundaries is shown by simulating an intracranial aneurysm. It was shown that the NKM with an analytical Jacobian is 1.17 to 14.77 times faster than the fixed-point Runge-Kutta method, and 1.74 to 152.3 times (excluding an intensively stretched grid) faster than automatic differentiation depending on the grid (size) and the flow problem. In addition, it was shown that using only the

  15. Development of high-performance concrete having high resistance to chloride penetration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oh, Byung Hwan; Cha, Soo Won; Jang, Bong Seok; Jang, Seung Yup

    2002-01-01

    The resistance to chloride penetration is one of the simplest measures to determine the durability of concrete, e.g. resistance to freezing and thawing, corrosion of steel in concrete and other chemical attacks. Thus, high-performance concrete may be defined as the concrete having high resistance to chloride penetration as well as high strength. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the resistance to chloride penetration of different types of concrete and to develop high-performance concrete that has very high resistance to chloride penetration, and thus, can guarantee high durability. A large number of concrete specimens have been tested by the rapid chloride permeability test method as designated in AASHTO T 277 and ASTM C 1202. The major test variables include water-to-binder ratios, type of cement, type and amount of mineral admixtures (silica fume, fly ash and blast-furnace slag), maximum size of aggregates and air-entrainment. Test results show that concrete containing optimal amount of silica fume shows very high resistance to chloride penetration, and high-performance concrete developed in this study can be efficiently employed to enhance the durability of concrete structures in severe environments such as nuclear power plants, water-retaining structures and other offshore structures

  16. Identifying High Performance ERP Projects

    OpenAIRE

    Stensrud, Erik; Myrtveit, Ingunn

    2002-01-01

    Learning from high performance projects is crucial for software process improvement. Therefore, we need to identify outstanding projects that may serve as role models. It is common to measure productivity as an indicator of performance. It is vital that productivity measurements deal correctly with variable returns to scale and multivariate data. Software projects generally exhibit variable returns to scale, and the output from ERP projects is multivariate. We propose to use Data Envelopment ...

  17. Integrated plasma control for high performance tokamaks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Humphreys, D.A.; Deranian, R.D.; Ferron, J.R.; Johnson, R.D.; LaHaye, R.J.; Leuer, J.A.; Penaflor, B.G.; Walker, M.L.; Welander, A.S.; Jayakumar, R.J.; Makowski, M.A.; Khayrutdinov, R.R.

    2005-01-01

    Sustaining high performance in a tokamak requires controlling many equilibrium shape and profile characteristics simultaneously with high accuracy and reliability, while suppressing a variety of MHD instabilities. Integrated plasma control, the process of designing high-performance tokamak controllers based on validated system response models and confirming their performance in detailed simulations, provides a systematic method for achieving and ensuring good control performance. For present-day devices, this approach can greatly reduce the need for machine time traditionally dedicated to control optimization, and can allow determination of high-reliability controllers prior to ever producing the target equilibrium experimentally. A full set of tools needed for this approach has recently been completed and applied to present-day devices including DIII-D, NSTX and MAST. This approach has proven essential in the design of several next-generation devices including KSTAR, EAST, JT-60SC, and ITER. We describe the method, results of design and simulation tool development, and recent research producing novel approaches to equilibrium and MHD control in DIII-D. (author)

  18. Highlighting High Performance: Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School; Upton, Massachusetts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    2006-10-01

    This brochure describes the key high-performance building features of the Blackstone Valley High School. The brochure was paid for by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative as part of their Green Schools Initiative. High-performance features described are daylighting and energy-efficient lighting, indoor air quality, solar energy, building envelope, heating and cooling systems, and water conservation. Energy cost savings are also discussed.

  19. Ground Glass Pozzolan in Conventional, High, and Ultra-High Performance Concrete

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tagnit-Hamou Arezki

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Ground-glass pozzolan (G obtained by grinding the mixed-waste glass to same fineness of cement can act as a supplementary-cementitious material (SCM, given that it is an amorphous and a pozzolanic material. The G showed promising performances in different concrete types such as conventional concrete (CC, high-performance concrete (HPC, and ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC. The current paper reports on the characteristics and performance of G in these concrete types. The use of G provides several advantages (technological, economical, and environmental. It reduces the production cost of concrete and decrease the carbon footprint of a traditional concrete structures. The rheology of fresh concrete can be improved due to the replacement of cement by non-absorptive glass particles. Strength and rigidity improvements in the concrete containing G are due to the fact that glass particles act as inclusions having a very high strength and elastic modulus that have a strengthening effect on the overall hardened matrix.

  20. Scalable smoothing strategies for a geometric multigrid method for the immersed boundary equations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bhalla, Amneet Pal Singh [Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC (United States); Knepley, Matthew G. [Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States); Adams, Mark F. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Guy, Robert D. [Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States); Griffith, Boyce E. [Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC (United States)

    2016-12-20

    The immersed boundary (IB) method is a widely used approach to simulating fluid-structure interaction (FSI). Although explicit versions of the IB method can suffer from severe time step size restrictions, these methods remain popular because of their simplicity and generality. In prior work (Guy et al., Adv Comput Math, 2015), some of us developed a geometric multigrid preconditioner for a stable semi-implicit IB method under Stokes flow conditions; however, this solver methodology used a Vanka-type smoother that presented limited opportunities for parallelization. This work extends this Stokes-IB solver methodology by developing smoothing techniques that are suitable for parallel implementation. Specifically, we demonstrate that an additive version of the Vanka smoother can yield an effective multigrid preconditioner for the Stokes-IB equations, and we introduce an efficient Schur complement-based smoother that is also shown to be effective for the Stokes-IB equations. We investigate the performance of these solvers for a broad range of material stiffnesses, both for Stokes flows and flows at nonzero Reynolds numbers, and for thick and thin structural models. We show here that linear solver performance degrades with increasing Reynolds number and material stiffness, especially for thin interface cases. Nonetheless, the proposed approaches promise to yield effective solution algorithms, especially at lower Reynolds numbers and at modest-to-high elastic stiffnesses.

  1. Mood states and motor performance: a study with high performance voleybol athletes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lenamar Fiorese Vieira

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1980-0037.2008v10n1p62 The objective of this research was to investigate the relationship between the sporting performance and mood states of high performance volleyball athletes. Twenty-three adult athletes of both sexes were assessed. The measurement instrument adopted was the POMS questionnaire. Data collection was carried out individually during the state championships. Dada were analyzed using descriptive statistics; the Friedman test for analysis of variance and the Mann-Whitney test for differences between means. The results demonstrated that both teams exhibited the mood state profi le corresponding to the “iceberg” profile. In the male team, vigor remained constant throughout all phases of the competition, while in the female team this element was unstable. The male team’s fatigue began low, during the training phase, with rates that rose as the competition progressed, with statistically significant differences between the fi rst and last matches the team played. In the female team, the confusion factor, which was at a high level during training, reduced progressively throughout the competition, with a difference that was signifi cant to p ≤ 0.05. With relation to performance and mood profi le, the female team exhibited statistically significant differences between the mean vigor and fatigue factors of high and low performance athletes. It is therefore concluded that the mood state profi le is a factor that impacts on the motor performance of these high performance teams.

  2. High performance leadership in unusually challenging educational circumstances

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andy Hargreaves

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper draws on findings from the results of a study of leadership in high performing organizations in three sectors. Organizations were sampled and included on the basis of high performance in relation to no performance, past performance, performance among similar peers and performance in the face of limited resources or challenging circumstances. The paper concentrates on leadership in four schools that met the sample criteria.  It draws connections to explanations of the high performance ofEstoniaon the OECD PISA tests of educational achievement. The article argues that leadership in these four schools that performed above expectations comprised more than a set of competencies. Instead, leadership took the form of a narrative or quest that pursued an inspiring dream with relentless determination; took improvement pathways that were more innovative than comparable peers; built collaboration and community including with competing schools; and connected short-term success to long-term sustainability.

  3. High-performance computing in seismology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1996-09-01

    The scientific, technical, and economic importance of the issues discussed here presents a clear agenda for future research in computational seismology. In this way these problems will drive advances in high-performance computing in the field of seismology. There is a broad community that will benefit from this work, including the petroleum industry, research geophysicists, engineers concerned with seismic hazard mitigation, and governments charged with enforcing a comprehensive test ban treaty. These advances may also lead to new applications for seismological research. The recent application of high-resolution seismic imaging of the shallow subsurface for the environmental remediation industry is an example of this activity. This report makes the following recommendations: (1) focused efforts to develop validated documented software for seismological computations should be supported, with special emphasis on scalable algorithms for parallel processors; (2) the education of seismologists in high-performance computing technologies and methodologies should be improved; (3) collaborations between seismologists and computational scientists and engineers should be increased; (4) the infrastructure for archiving, disseminating, and processing large volumes of seismological data should be improved.

  4. High performance flexible CMOS SOI FinFETs

    KAUST Repository

    Fahad, Hossain M.

    2014-06-01

    We demonstrate the first ever CMOS compatible soft etch back based high performance flexible CMOS SOI FinFETs. The move from planar to non-planar FinFETs has enabled continued scaling down to the 14 nm technology node. This has been possible due to the reduction in off-state leakage and reduced short channel effects on account of the superior electrostatic charge control of multiple gates. At the same time, flexible electronics is an exciting expansion opportunity for next generation electronics. However, a fully integrated low-cost system will need to maintain ultra-large-scale-integration density, high performance and reliability - same as today\\'s traditional electronics. Up until recently, this field has been mainly dominated by very weak performance organic electronics enabled by low temperature processes, conducive to low melting point plastics. Now however, we show the world\\'s highest performing flexible version of 3D FinFET CMOS using a state-of-the-art CMOS compatible fabrication technique for high performance ultra-mobile consumer applications with stylish design. © 2014 IEEE.

  5. Architecting Web Sites for High Performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arun Iyengar

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available Web site applications are some of the most challenging high-performance applications currently being developed and deployed. The challenges emerge from the specific combination of high variability in workload characteristics and of high performance demands regarding the service level, scalability, availability, and costs. In recent years, a large body of research has addressed the Web site application domain, and a host of innovative software and hardware solutions have been proposed and deployed. This paper is an overview of recent solutions concerning the architectures and the software infrastructures used in building Web site applications. The presentation emphasizes three of the main functions in a complex Web site: the processing of client requests, the control of service levels, and the interaction with remote network caches.

  6. Library designs for generic C++ sparse matrix computations of iterative methods

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pozo, R.

    1996-12-31

    A new library design is presented for generic sparse matrix C++ objects for use in iterative algorithms and preconditioners. This design extends previous work on C++ numerical libraries by providing a framework in which efficient algorithms can be written *independent* of the matrix layout or format. That is, rather than supporting different codes for each (element type) / (matrix format) combination, only one version of the algorithm need be maintained. This not only reduces the effort for library developers, but also simplifies the calling interface seen by library users. Furthermore, the underlying matrix library can be naturally extended to support user-defined objects, such as hierarchical block-structured matrices, or application-specific preconditioners. Utilizing optimized kernels whenever possible, the resulting performance of such framework can be shown to be competitive with optimized Fortran programs.

  7. Solving groundwater flow problems by conjugate-gradient methods and the strongly implicit procedure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Mary C.

    1990-01-01

    The performance of the preconditioned conjugate-gradient method with three preconditioners is compared with the strongly implicit procedure (SIP) using a scalar computer. The preconditioners considered are the incomplete Cholesky (ICCG) and the modified incomplete Cholesky (MICCG), which require the same computer storage as SIP as programmed for a problem with a symmetric matrix, and a polynomial preconditioner (POLCG), which requires less computer storage than SIP. Although POLCG is usually used on vector computers, it is included here because of its small storage requirements. In this paper, published comparisons of the solvers are evaluated, all four solvers are compared for the first time, and new test cases are presented to provide a more complete basis by which the solvers can be judged for typical groundwater flow problems. Based on nine test cases, the following conclusions are reached: (1) SIP is actually as efficient as ICCG for some of the published, linear, two-dimensional test cases that were reportedly solved much more efficiently by ICCG; (2) SIP is more efficient than other published comparisons would indicate when common convergence criteria are used; and (3) for problems that are three-dimensional, nonlinear, or both, and for which common convergence criteria are used, SIP is often more efficient than ICCG, and is sometimes more efficient than MICCG.

  8. Development of a high performance liquid chromatography method ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Development of a high performance liquid chromatography method for simultaneous ... Purpose: To develop and validate a new low-cost high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for ..... Several papers have reported the use of ...

  9. Use of general purpose graphics processing units with MODFLOW

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hughes, Joseph D.; White, Jeremy T.

    2013-01-01

    To evaluate the use of general-purpose graphics processing units (GPGPUs) to improve the performance of MODFLOW, an unstructured preconditioned conjugate gradient (UPCG) solver has been developed. The UPCG solver uses a compressed sparse row storage scheme and includes Jacobi, zero fill-in incomplete, and modified-incomplete lower-upper (LU) factorization, and generalized least-squares polynomial preconditioners. The UPCG solver also includes options for sequential and parallel solution on the central processing unit (CPU) using OpenMP. For simulations utilizing the GPGPU, all basic linear algebra operations are performed on the GPGPU; memory copies between the central processing unit CPU and GPCPU occur prior to the first iteration of the UPCG solver and after satisfying head and flow criteria or exceeding a maximum number of iterations. The efficiency of the UPCG solver for GPGPU and CPU solutions is benchmarked using simulations of a synthetic, heterogeneous unconfined aquifer with tens of thousands to millions of active grid cells. Testing indicates GPGPU speedups on the order of 2 to 8, relative to the standard MODFLOW preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) solver, can be achieved when (1) memory copies between the CPU and GPGPU are optimized, (2) the percentage of time performing memory copies between the CPU and GPGPU is small relative to the calculation time, (3) high-performance GPGPU cards are utilized, and (4) CPU-GPGPU combinations are used to execute sequential operations that are difficult to parallelize. Furthermore, UPCG solver testing indicates GPGPU speedups exceed parallel CPU speedups achieved using OpenMP on multicore CPUs for preconditioners that can be easily parallelized.

  10. Toward a theory of high performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirby, Julia

    2005-01-01

    What does it mean to be a high-performance company? The process of measuring relative performance across industries and eras, declaring top performers, and finding the common drivers of their success is such a difficult one that it might seem a fool's errand to attempt. In fact, no one did for the first thousand or so years of business history. The question didn't even occur to many scholars until Tom Peters and Bob Waterman released In Search of Excellence in 1982. Twenty-three years later, we've witnessed several more attempts--and, just maybe, we're getting closer to answers. In this reported piece, HBR senior editor Julia Kirby explores why it's so difficult to study high performance and how various research efforts--including those from John Kotter and Jim Heskett; Jim Collins and Jerry Porras; Bill Joyce, Nitin Nohria, and Bruce Roberson; and several others outlined in a summary chart-have attacked the problem. The challenge starts with deciding which companies to study closely. Are the stars the ones with the highest market caps, the ones with the greatest sales growth, or simply the ones that remain standing at the end of the game? (And when's the end of the game?) Each major study differs in how it defines success, which companies it therefore declares to be worthy of emulation, and the patterns of activity and attitude it finds in common among them. Yet, Kirby concludes, as each study's method incrementally solves problems others have faced, we are progressing toward a consensus theory of high performance.

  11. Development of high performance cladding materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Jeong Yong; Jeong, Y. H.; Park, S. Y.

    2010-04-01

    The irradiation test for HANA claddings conducted and a series of evaluation for next-HANA claddings as well as their in-pile and out-of pile performances tests were also carried out at Halden research reactor. The 6th irradiation test have been completed successfully in Halden research reactor. As a result, HANA claddings showed high performance, such as corrosion resistance increased by 40% compared to Zircaloy-4. The high performance of HANA claddings in Halden test has enabled lead test rod program as the first step of the commercialization of HANA claddings. DB has been established for thermal and LOCA-related properties. It was confirmed from the thermal shock test that the integrity of HANA claddings was maintained in more expanded region than the criteria regulated by NRC. The manufacturing process of strips was established in order to apply HANA alloys, which were originally developed for the claddings, to the spacer grids. 250 kinds of model alloys for the next-generation claddings were designed and manufactured over 4 times and used to select the preliminary candidate alloys for the next-generation claddings. The selected candidate alloys showed 50% better corrosion resistance and 20% improved high temperature oxidation resistance compared to the foreign advanced claddings. We established the manufacturing condition controlling the performance of the dual-cooled claddings by changing the reduction rate in the cold working steps

  12. High performance computing in Windows Azure cloud

    OpenAIRE

    Ambruš, Dejan

    2013-01-01

    High performance, security, availability, scalability, flexibility and lower costs of maintenance have essentially contributed to the growing popularity of cloud computing in all spheres of life, especially in business. In fact cloud computing offers even more than this. With usage of virtual computing clusters a runtime environment for high performance computing can be efficiently implemented also in a cloud. There are many advantages but also some disadvantages of cloud computing, some ...

  13. High Performance Work System, HRD Climate and Organisational Performance: An Empirical Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muduli, Ashutosh

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: This paper aims to study the relationship between high-performance work system (HPWS) and organizational performance and to examine the role of human resource development (HRD) Climate in mediating the relationship between HPWS and the organizational performance in the context of the power sector of India. Design/methodology/approach: The…

  14. Application of preconditioned GMRES to the numerical solution of the neutron transport equation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Patton, B.W.; Holloway, J.P.

    2002-01-01

    The generalized minimal residual (GMRES) method with right preconditioning is examined as an alternative to both standard and accelerated transport sweeps for the iterative solution of the diamond differenced discrete ordinates neutron transport equation. Incomplete factorization (ILU) type preconditioners are used to determine their effectiveness in accelerating GMRES for this application. ILU(τ), which requires the specification of a dropping criteria τ, proves to be a good choice for the types of problems examined in this paper. The combination of ILU(τ) and GMRES is compared with both DSA and unaccelerated transport sweeps for several model problems. It is found that the computational workload of the ILU(τ)-GMRES combination scales nonlinearly with the number of energy groups and quadrature order, making this technique most effective for problems with a small number of groups and discrete ordinates. However, the cost of preconditioner construction can be amortized over several calculations with different source and/or boundary values. Preconditioners built upon standard transport sweep algorithms are also evaluated as to their effectiveness in accelerating the convergence of GMRES. These preconditioners show better scaling with such problem parameters as the scattering ratio, the number of discrete ordinates, and the number of spatial meshes. These sweeps based preconditioners can also be cast in a matrix free form that greatly reduces storage requirements

  15. Governance among Malaysian high performing companies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Asri Marsidi

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Well performed companies have always been linked with effective governance which is generally reflected through effective board of directors. However many issues concerning the attributes for effective board of directors remained unresolved. Nowadays diversity has been perceived as able to influence the corporate performance due to the likelihood of meeting variety of needs and demands from diverse customers and clients. The study therefore aims to provide a fundamental understanding on governance among high performing companies in Malaysia.

  16. Powder metallurgical high performance materials. Proceedings. Volume 1: high performance P/M metals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kneringer, G.; Roedhammer, P.; Wildner, H.

    2001-01-01

    The proceedings of this sequence of seminars form an impressive chronicle of the continued progress in the understanding of refractory metals and cemented carbides and in their manufacture and application. There the ingenuity and assiduous work of thousands of scientists and engineers striving for progress in the field of powder metallurgy is documented in more than 2000 contributions covering some 30000 pages. The 15th Plansee Seminar was convened under the general theme 'Powder Metallurgical High Performance Materials'. Under this broadened perspective the seminar will strive to look beyond the refractory metals and cemented carbides, which remain at its focus, to novel classes of materials, such as intermetallic compounds, with potential for high temperature applications. (author)

  17. Powder metallurgical high performance materials. Proceedings. Volume 1: high performance P/M metals

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kneringer, G; Roedhammer, P; Wildner, H [eds.

    2001-07-01

    The proceedings of this sequence of seminars form an impressive chronicle of the continued progress in the understanding of refractory metals and cemented carbides and in their manufacture and application. There the ingenuity and assiduous work of thousands of scientists and engineers striving for progress in the field of powder metallurgy is documented in more than 2000 contributions covering some 30000 pages. The 15th Plansee Seminar was convened under the general theme 'Powder Metallurgical High Performance Materials'. Under this broadened perspective the seminar will strive to look beyond the refractory metals and cemented carbides, which remain at its focus, to novel classes of materials, such as intermetallic compounds, with potential for high temperature applications. (author)

  18. High-Speed, High-Performance DQPSK Optical Links with Reduced Complexity VDFE Equalizers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maki Nanou

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Optical transmission technologies optimized for optical network segments sensitive to power consumption and cost, comprise modulation formats with direct detection technologies. Specifically, non-return to zero differential quaternary phase shift keying (NRZ-DQPSK in deployed fiber plants, combined with high-performance, low-complexity electronic equalizers to compensate residual impairments at the receiver end, can be proved as a viable solution for high-performance, high-capacity optical links. Joint processing of the constructive and the destructive signals at the single-ended DQPSK receiver provides improved performance compared to the balanced configuration, however, at the expense of higher hardware requirements, a fact that may not be neglected especially in the case of high-speed optical links. To overcome this bottleneck, the use of partially joint constructive/destructive DQPSK equalization is investigated in this paper. Symbol-by-symbol equalization is performed by means of Volterra decision feedback-type equalizers, driven by a reduced subset of signals selected from the constructive and the destructive ports of the optical detectors. The proposed approach offers a low-complexity alternative for electronic equalization, without sacrificing much of the performance compared to the fully-deployed counterpart. The efficiency of the proposed equalizers is demonstrated by means of computer simulation in a typical optical transmission scenario.

  19. The dry heat exchanger calorimeter system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Renz, D.P.; Wetzel, J.R.; James, S.J.; Kasperski, P.W.; Duff, M.F.

    1991-01-01

    A radiometric isothermal heat flow calorimeter and preconditioner system that uses air instead of water as the heat exchange medium has been developed at Mound. The dry heat exchanger calorimeter is 42 inches high by 18 inches in diameter and the preconditioner is a 22 inch cube, making it extremely compact compared to existing units. The new system is ideally suited for transportable, stand-alone, or glovebox applications. Preliminary tests of the system have produced sample measurements with standard deviations less than 0.25% and sample errors less than 0.50%. These tests have shown that the dry heat exchanger system will yield acceptance data with an accuracy comparable to those of Mound water bath systems now in use. 4 figs., 1 tab

  20. Design of JMTR high-performance fuel element

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakurai, Fumio; Shimakawa, Satoshi; Komori, Yoshihiro; Tsuchihashi, Keiichiro; Kaminaga, Fumito

    1999-01-01

    For test and research reactors, the core conversion to low-enriched uranium fuel is required from the viewpoint of non-proliferation of nuclear weapon material. Improvements of core performance are also required in order to respond to recent advanced utilization needs. In order to meet both requirements, a high-performance fuel element of high uranium density with Cd wires as burnable absorbers was adopted for JMTR core conversion to low-enriched uranium fuel. From the result of examination of an adaptability of a few group constants generated by a conventional transport-theory calculation with an isotropic scattering approximation to a few group diffusion-theory core calculation for design of the JMTR high-performance fuel element, it was clear that the depletion of Cd wires was not able to be predicted accurately using group constants generated by the conventional method. Therefore, a new generation method of a few group constants in consideration of an incident neutron spectrum at Cd wire was developed. As the result, the most suitable high-performance fuel element for JMTR was designed successfully, and that allowed extension of operation duration without refueling to almost twice as long and offer of irradiation field with constant neutron flux. (author)

  1. ELMs IN DIII-D HIGH PERFORMANCE DISCHARGES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    TURNBULL, A.D; LAO, L.L; OSBORNE, T.H; SAUTER, O; STRAIT, E.J; TAYLOR, T.S; CHU, M.S; FERRON, J.R; GREENFIELD, C.M; LEONARD, A.W; MILLER, R.L; SNYDER, P.B; WILSON, H.R; ZOHM, H

    2003-01-01

    A new understanding of edge localized modes (ELMs) in tokamak discharges is emerging [P.B. Snyder, et al., Phys. Plasmas, 9, 2037 (2002)], in which the ELM is an essentially ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instability and the ELM severity is determined by the radial width of the linearly unstable MHD kink modes. A detailed, comparative study of the penetration into the core of the respective linear instabilities in a standard DIII-D ELMing, high confinement mode (H-mode) discharge, with that for two relatively high performance discharges shows that these are also encompassed within the framework of the new model. These instabilities represent the key, limiting factor in extending the high performance of these discharges. In the standard ELMing H-mode, the MHD instabilities are highly localized in the outer few percent flux surfaces and the ELM is benign, causing only a small temporary drop in the energy confinement. In contrast, for both a very high confinement mode (VH-mode) and an H-mode with a broad internal transport barrier (ITB) extending over the entire core and coalesced with the edge transport barrier, the linearly unstable modes penetrate well into the mid radius and the corresponding consequences for global confinement are significantly more severe. The ELM accordingly results in an irreversible loss of the high performance

  2. The path toward HEP High Performance Computing

    CERN Document Server

    Apostolakis, John; Carminati, Federico; Gheata, Andrei; Wenzel, Sandro

    2014-01-01

    High Energy Physics code has been known for making poor use of high performance computing architectures. Efforts in optimising HEP code on vector and RISC architectures have yield limited results and recent studies have shown that, on modern architectures, it achieves a performance between 10% and 50% of the peak one. Although several successful attempts have been made to port selected codes on GPUs, no major HEP code suite has a 'High Performance' implementation. With LHC undergoing a major upgrade and a number of challenging experiments on the drawing board, HEP cannot any longer neglect the less-than-optimal performance of its code and it has to try making the best usage of the hardware. This activity is one of the foci of the SFT group at CERN, which hosts, among others, the Root and Geant4 project. The activity of the experiments is shared and coordinated via a Concurrency Forum, where the experience in optimising HEP code is presented and discussed. Another activity is the Geant-V project, centred on th...

  3. 3D printed high performance strain sensors for high temperature applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahman, Md Taibur; Moser, Russell; Zbib, Hussein M.; Ramana, C. V.; Panat, Rahul

    2018-01-01

    Realization of high temperature physical measurement sensors, which are needed in many of the current and emerging technologies, is challenging due to the degradation of their electrical stability by drift currents, material oxidation, thermal strain, and creep. In this paper, for the first time, we demonstrate that 3D printed sensors show a metamaterial-like behavior, resulting in superior performance such as high sensitivity, low thermal strain, and enhanced thermal stability. The sensors were fabricated using silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs), using an advanced Aerosol Jet based additive printing method followed by thermal sintering. The sensors were tested under cyclic strain up to a temperature of 500 °C and showed a gauge factor of 3.15 ± 0.086, which is about 57% higher than that of those available commercially. The sensor thermal strain was also an order of magnitude lower than that of commercial gages for operation up to a temperature of 500 °C. An analytical model was developed to account for the enhanced performance of such printed sensors based on enhanced lateral contraction of the NP films due to the porosity, a behavior akin to cellular metamaterials. The results demonstrate the potential of 3D printing technology as a pathway to realize highly stable and high-performance sensors for high temperature applications.

  4. High performance carbon nanocomposites for ultracapacitors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Wen

    2012-10-02

    The present invention relates to composite electrodes for electrochemical devices, particularly to carbon nanotube composite electrodes for high performance electrochemical devices, such as ultracapacitors.

  5. High-Performance Java Codes for Computational Fluid Dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riley, Christopher; Chatterjee, Siddhartha; Biswas, Rupak; Biegel, Bryan (Technical Monitor)

    2001-01-01

    The computational science community is reluctant to write large-scale computationally -intensive applications in Java due to concerns over Java's poor performance, despite the claimed software engineering advantages of its object-oriented features. Naive Java implementations of numerical algorithms can perform poorly compared to corresponding Fortran or C implementations. To achieve high performance, Java applications must be designed with good performance as a primary goal. This paper presents the object-oriented design and implementation of two real-world applications from the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD): a finite-volume fluid flow solver (LAURA, from NASA Langley Research Center), and an unstructured mesh adaptation algorithm (2D_TAG, from NASA Ames Research Center). This work builds on our previous experience with the design of high-performance numerical libraries in Java. We examine the performance of the applications using the currently available Java infrastructure and show that the Java version of the flow solver LAURA performs almost within a factor of 2 of the original procedural version. Our Java version of the mesh adaptation algorithm 2D_TAG performs within a factor of 1.5 of its original procedural version on certain platforms. Our results demonstrate that object-oriented software design principles are not necessarily inimical to high performance.

  6. Strategy Guideline: Partnering for High Performance Homes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Prahl, D.

    2013-01-01

    High performance houses require a high degree of coordination and have significant interdependencies between various systems in order to perform properly, meet customer expectations, and minimize risks for the builder. Responsibility for the key performance attributes is shared across the project team and can be well coordinated through advanced partnering strategies. For high performance homes, traditional partnerships need to be matured to the next level and be expanded to all members of the project team including trades, suppliers, manufacturers, HERS raters, designers, architects, and building officials as appropriate. In an environment where the builder is the only source of communication between trades and consultants and where relationships are, in general, adversarial as opposed to cooperative, the chances of any one building system to fail are greater. Furthermore, it is much harder for the builder to identify and capitalize on synergistic opportunities. Partnering can help bridge the cross-functional aspects of the systems approach and achieve performance-based criteria. Critical success factors for partnering include support from top management, mutual trust, effective and open communication, effective coordination around common goals, team building, appropriate use of an outside facilitator, a partnering charter progress toward common goals, an effective problem-solving process, long-term commitment, continuous improvement, and a positive experience for all involved.

  7. Quantum Accelerators for High-performance Computing Systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Humble, Travis S. [ORNL; Britt, Keith A. [ORNL; Mohiyaddin, Fahd A. [ORNL

    2017-11-01

    We define some of the programming and system-level challenges facing the application of quantum processing to high-performance computing. Alongside barriers to physical integration, prominent differences in the execution of quantum and conventional programs challenges the intersection of these computational models. Following a brief overview of the state of the art, we discuss recent advances in programming and execution models for hybrid quantum-classical computing. We discuss a novel quantum-accelerator framework that uses specialized kernels to offload select workloads while integrating with existing computing infrastructure. We elaborate on the role of the host operating system to manage these unique accelerator resources, the prospects for deploying quantum modules, and the requirements placed on the language hierarchy connecting these different system components. We draw on recent advances in the modeling and simulation of quantum computing systems with the development of architectures for hybrid high-performance computing systems and the realization of software stacks for controlling quantum devices. Finally, we present simulation results that describe the expected system-level behavior of high-performance computing systems composed from compute nodes with quantum processing units. We describe performance for these hybrid systems in terms of time-to-solution, accuracy, and energy consumption, and we use simple application examples to estimate the performance advantage of quantum acceleration.

  8. A Multiscale Enrichment Procedure for Nonlinear Monotone Operators

    KAUST Repository

    Efendiev, Yalchin R.; Galvis, J.; Presho, M.; Zhou, J.

    2014-01-01

    . Galvis, R. Lazarov, S. Margenov and J. Ren, Robust two-level domain decomposition preconditioners for high-contrast anisotropic flows in multiscale media. Submitted.; Y. Efendiev, J. Galvis and X. Wu, J. Comput. Phys. 230 (2011) 937–955; J. Galvis and Y

  9. Domain Decomposition for Computing Extremely Low Frequency Induced Current in the Human Body

    OpenAIRE

    Perrussel , Ronan; Voyer , Damien; Nicolas , Laurent; Scorretti , Riccardo; Burais , Noël

    2011-01-01

    International audience; Computation of electromagnetic fields in high resolution computational phantoms requires solving large linear systems. We present an application of Schwarz preconditioners with Krylov subspace methods for computing extremely low frequency induced fields in a phantom issued from the Visible Human.

  10. High Performance Commercial Fenestration Framing Systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mike Manteghi; Sneh Kumar; Joshua Early; Bhaskar Adusumalli

    2010-01-31

    A major objective of the U.S. Department of Energy is to have a zero energy commercial building by the year 2025. Windows have a major influence on the energy performance of the building envelope as they control over 55% of building energy load, and represent one important area where technologies can be developed to save energy. Aluminum framing systems are used in over 80% of commercial fenestration products (i.e. windows, curtain walls, store fronts, etc.). Aluminum framing systems are often required in commercial buildings because of their inherent good structural properties and long service life, which is required from commercial and architectural frames. At the same time, they are lightweight and durable, requiring very little maintenance, and offer design flexibility. An additional benefit of aluminum framing systems is their relatively low cost and easy manufacturability. Aluminum, being an easily recyclable material, also offers sustainable features. However, from energy efficiency point of view, aluminum frames have lower thermal performance due to the very high thermal conductivity of aluminum. Fenestration systems constructed of aluminum alloys therefore have lower performance in terms of being effective barrier to energy transfer (heat loss or gain). Despite the lower energy performance, aluminum is the choice material for commercial framing systems and dominates the commercial/architectural fenestration market because of the reasons mentioned above. In addition, there is no other cost effective and energy efficient replacement material available to take place of aluminum in the commercial/architectural market. Hence it is imperative to improve the performance of aluminum framing system to improve the energy performance of commercial fenestration system and in turn reduce the energy consumption of commercial building and achieve zero energy building by 2025. The objective of this project was to develop high performance, energy efficient commercial

  11. High-Performance Management Practices and Employee Outcomes in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cristini, Annalisa; Eriksson, Tor; Pozzoli, Dario

    High-performance work practices are frequently considered to have positive effects on corporate performance, but what do they do for employees? After showing that organizational innovation is indeed positively associated with firm performance, we investigate whether high-involvement work practices...

  12. Optical interconnection networks for high-performance computing systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Biberman, Aleksandr; Bergman, Keren

    2012-01-01

    Enabled by silicon photonic technology, optical interconnection networks have the potential to be a key disruptive technology in computing and communication industries. The enduring pursuit of performance gains in computing, combined with stringent power constraints, has fostered the ever-growing computational parallelism associated with chip multiprocessors, memory systems, high-performance computing systems and data centers. Sustaining these parallelism growths introduces unique challenges for on- and off-chip communications, shifting the focus toward novel and fundamentally different communication approaches. Chip-scale photonic interconnection networks, enabled by high-performance silicon photonic devices, offer unprecedented bandwidth scalability with reduced power consumption. We demonstrate that the silicon photonic platforms have already produced all the high-performance photonic devices required to realize these types of networks. Through extensive empirical characterization in much of our work, we demonstrate such feasibility of waveguides, modulators, switches and photodetectors. We also demonstrate systems that simultaneously combine many functionalities to achieve more complex building blocks. We propose novel silicon photonic devices, subsystems, network topologies and architectures to enable unprecedented performance of these photonic interconnection networks. Furthermore, the advantages of photonic interconnection networks extend far beyond the chip, offering advanced communication environments for memory systems, high-performance computing systems, and data centers. (review article)

  13. High-performance, stretchable, wire-shaped supercapacitors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Tao; Hao, Rui; Peng, Huisheng; Dai, Liming

    2015-01-07

    A general approach toward extremely stretchable and highly conductive electrodes was developed. The method involves wrapping a continuous carbon nanotube (CNT) thin film around pre-stretched elastic wires, from which high-performance, stretchable wire-shaped supercapacitors were fabricated. The supercapacitors were made by twisting two such CNT-wrapped elastic wires, pre-coated with poly(vinyl alcohol)/H3PO4 hydrogel, as the electrolyte and separator. The resultant wire-shaped supercapacitors exhibited an extremely high elasticity of up to 350% strain with a high device capacitance up to 30.7 F g(-1), which is two times that of the state-of-the-art stretchable supercapacitor under only 100% strain. The wire-shaped structure facilitated the integration of multiple supercapacitors into a single wire device to meet specific energy and power needs for various potential applications. These supercapacitors can be repeatedly stretched from 0 to 200% strain for hundreds of cycles with no change in performance, thus outperforming all the reported state-of-the-art stretchable electronics. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  14. High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering '14

    CERN Document Server

    Kröner, Dietmar; Resch, Michael

    2015-01-01

    This book presents the state-of-the-art in supercomputer simulation. It includes the latest findings from leading researchers using systems from the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS). The reports cover all fields of computational science and engineering ranging from CFD to computational physics and from chemistry to computer science with a special emphasis on industrially relevant applications. Presenting findings of one of Europe’s leading systems, this volume covers a wide variety of applications that deliver a high level of sustained performance. The book covers the main methods in high-performance computing. Its outstanding results in achieving the best performance for production codes are of particular interest for both scientists and   engineers. The book comes with a wealth of color illustrations and tables of results.  

  15. Department of Energy research in utilization of high-performance computers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buzbee, B.L.; Worlton, W.J.; Michael, G.; Rodrigue, G.

    1980-08-01

    Department of Energy (DOE) and other Government research laboratories depend on high-performance computer systems to accomplish their programmatic goals. As the most powerful computer systems become available, they are acquired by these laboratories so that advances can be made in their disciplines. These advances are often the result of added sophistication to numerical models, the execution of which is made possible by high-performance computer systems. However, high-performance computer systems have become increasingly complex, and consequently it has become increasingly difficult to realize their potential performance. The result is a need for research on issues related to the utilization of these systems. This report gives a brief description of high-performance computers, and then addresses the use of and future needs for high-performance computers within DOE, the growing complexity of applications within DOE, and areas of high-performance computer systems warranting research. 1 figure

  16. A scalable block-preconditioning strategy for divergence-conforming B-spline discretizations of the Stokes problem

    KAUST Repository

    Cortes, Adriano Mauricio

    2016-10-01

    The recently introduced divergence-conforming B-spline discretizations allow the construction of smooth discrete velocity-pressure pairs for viscous incompressible flows that are at the same time inf−supinf−sup stable and pointwise divergence-free. When applied to the discretized Stokes problem, these spaces generate a symmetric and indefinite saddle-point linear system. The iterative method of choice to solve such system is the Generalized Minimum Residual Method. This method lacks robustness, and one remedy is to use preconditioners. For linear systems of saddle-point type, a large family of preconditioners can be obtained by using a block factorization of the system. In this paper, we show how the nesting of “black-box” solvers and preconditioners can be put together in a block triangular strategy to build a scalable block preconditioner for the Stokes system discretized by divergence-conforming B-splines. Besides the known cavity flow problem, we used for benchmark flows defined on complex geometries: an eccentric annulus and hollow torus of an eccentric annular cross-section.

  17. Large capacity water and air bath calorimeters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    James, S.J.; Kasperski, P.W.; Renz, D.P.; Wetzel, J.R.

    1993-01-01

    EG and G Mound Applied Technologies has developed an 11 in. x 17 in. sample size water bath and an 11 in. x 17 in. sample size air bath calorimeter which both function under servo control mode of operation. The water bath calorimeter has four air bath preconditioners to increase sample throughput and the air bath calorimeter has two air bath preconditioners. The large capacity calorimeters and preconditioners were unique to Mound design which brought about unique design challenges. Both large capacity systems calculate the optimum set temperature for each preconditioner which is available to the operator. Each system is controlled by a personal computer under DOS which allows the operator to download data to commercial software packages when the calorimeter is idle. Qualification testing yielded a one standard deviation of 0.6% for 0.2W to 3.0W Pu-238 heat standard range in the water bath calorimeter and a one standard deviation of 0.3% for the 6.0W to 20.0W Pu-238 heat standard range in the air bath calorimeter

  18. Mechanical Properties of High Performance Cementitious Grout (II)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Eigil V.

    The present report is an update of the report “Mechanical Properties of High Performance Cementitious Grout (I)” [1] and describes tests carried out on the high performance grout MASTERFLOW 9500, marked “WMG 7145 FP”, developed by BASF Construction Chemicals A/S and designed for use in grouted...

  19. A Linux Workstation for High Performance Graphics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geist, Robert; Westall, James

    2000-01-01

    The primary goal of this effort was to provide a low-cost method of obtaining high-performance 3-D graphics using an industry standard library (OpenGL) on PC class computers. Previously, users interested in doing substantial visualization or graphical manipulation were constrained to using specialized, custom hardware most often found in computers from Silicon Graphics (SGI). We provided an alternative to expensive SGI hardware by taking advantage of third-party, 3-D graphics accelerators that have now become available at very affordable prices. To make use of this hardware our goal was to provide a free, redistributable, and fully-compatible OpenGL work-alike library so that existing bodies of code could simply be recompiled. for PC class machines running a free version of Unix. This should allow substantial cost savings while greatly expanding the population of people with access to a serious graphics development and viewing environment. This should offer a means for NASA to provide a spectrum of graphics performance to its scientists, supplying high-end specialized SGI hardware for high-performance visualization while fulfilling the requirements of medium and lower performance applications with generic, off-the-shelf components and still maintaining compatibility between the two.

  20. Strategies and Experiences Using High Performance Fortran

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Shires, Dale

    2001-01-01

    .... High performance Fortran (HPF) is a relative new addition to the Fortran dialect It is an attempt to provide an efficient high-level Fortran parallel programming language for the latest generation of been debatable...

  1. High performance anode for advanced Li batteries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lake, Carla [Applied Sciences, Inc., Cedarville, OH (United States)

    2015-11-02

    The overall objective of this Phase I SBIR effort was to advance the manufacturing technology for ASI’s Si-CNF high-performance anode by creating a framework for large volume production and utilization of low-cost Si-coated carbon nanofibers (Si-CNF) for the battery industry. This project explores the use of nano-structured silicon which is deposited on a nano-scale carbon filament to achieve the benefits of high cycle life and high charge capacity without the consequent fading of, or failure in the capacity resulting from stress-induced fracturing of the Si particles and de-coupling from the electrode. ASI’s patented coating process distinguishes itself from others, in that it is highly reproducible, readily scalable and results in a Si-CNF composite structure containing 25-30% silicon, with a compositionally graded interface at the Si-CNF interface that significantly improve cycling stability and enhances adhesion of silicon to the carbon fiber support. In Phase I, the team demonstrated the production of the Si-CNF anode material can successfully be transitioned from a static bench-scale reactor into a fluidized bed reactor. In addition, ASI made significant progress in the development of low cost, quick testing methods which can be performed on silicon coated CNFs as a means of quality control. To date, weight change, density, and cycling performance were the key metrics used to validate the high performance anode material. Under this effort, ASI made strides to establish a quality control protocol for the large volume production of Si-CNFs and has identified several key technical thrusts for future work. Using the results of this Phase I effort as a foundation, ASI has defined a path forward to commercialize and deliver high volume and low-cost production of SI-CNF material for anodes in Li-ion batteries.

  2. Evaluation of high-performance computing software

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Browne, S.; Dongarra, J. [Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Rowan, T. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)

    1996-12-31

    The absence of unbiased and up to date comparative evaluations of high-performance computing software complicates a user`s search for the appropriate software package. The National HPCC Software Exchange (NHSE) is attacking this problem using an approach that includes independent evaluations of software, incorporation of author and user feedback into the evaluations, and Web access to the evaluations. We are applying this approach to the Parallel Tools Library (PTLIB), a new software repository for parallel systems software and tools, and HPC-Netlib, a high performance branch of the Netlib mathematical software repository. Updating the evaluations with feed-back and making it available via the Web helps ensure accuracy and timeliness, and using independent reviewers produces unbiased comparative evaluations difficult to find elsewhere.

  3. High Performance Proactive Digital Forensics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alharbi, Soltan; Traore, Issa; Moa, Belaid; Weber-Jahnke, Jens

    2012-01-01

    With the increase in the number of digital crimes and in their sophistication, High Performance Computing (HPC) is becoming a must in Digital Forensics (DF). According to the FBI annual report, the size of data processed during the 2010 fiscal year reached 3,086 TB (compared to 2,334 TB in 2009) and the number of agencies that requested Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory assistance increasing from 689 in 2009 to 722 in 2010. Since most investigation tools are both I/O and CPU bound, the next-generation DF tools are required to be distributed and offer HPC capabilities. The need for HPC is even more evident in investigating crimes on clouds or when proactive DF analysis and on-site investigation, requiring semi-real time processing, are performed. Although overcoming the performance challenge is a major goal in DF, as far as we know, there is almost no research on HPC-DF except for few papers. As such, in this work, we extend our work on the need of a proactive system and present a high performance automated proactive digital forensic system. The most expensive phase of the system, namely proactive analysis and detection, uses a parallel extension of the iterative z algorithm. It also implements new parallel information-based outlier detection algorithms to proactively and forensically handle suspicious activities. To analyse a large number of targets and events and continuously do so (to capture the dynamics of the system), we rely on a multi-resolution approach to explore the digital forensic space. Data set from the Honeynet Forensic Challenge in 2001 is used to evaluate the system from DF and HPC perspectives.

  4. Sex Differences in Mathematics Performance among Senior High ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study explored sex differences in mathematics performance of students in the final year of high school and changes in these differences over a 3-year period in Ghana. A convenience sample of 182 students, 109 boys and 72 girls in three high schools in Ghana was used. Mathematics performance was assessed using ...

  5. Embedded High Performance Scalable Computing Systems

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Ngo, David

    2003-01-01

    The Embedded High Performance Scalable Computing Systems (EHPSCS) program is a cooperative agreement between Sanders, A Lockheed Martin Company and DARPA that ran for three years, from Apr 1995 - Apr 1998...

  6. A Numerical Study of Scalable Cardiac Electro-Mechanical Solvers on HPC Architectures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Piero Colli Franzone

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available We introduce and study some scalable domain decomposition preconditioners for cardiac electro-mechanical 3D simulations on parallel HPC (High Performance Computing architectures. The electro-mechanical model of the cardiac tissue is composed of four coupled sub-models: (1 the static finite elasticity equations for the transversely isotropic deformation of the cardiac tissue; (2 the active tension model describing the dynamics of the intracellular calcium, cross-bridge binding and myofilament tension; (3 the anisotropic Bidomain model describing the evolution of the intra- and extra-cellular potentials in the deforming cardiac tissue; and (4 the ionic membrane model describing the dynamics of ionic currents, gating variables, ionic concentrations and stretch-activated channels. This strongly coupled electro-mechanical model is discretized in time with a splitting semi-implicit technique and in space with isoparametric finite elements. The resulting scalable parallel solver is based on Multilevel Additive Schwarz preconditioners for the solution of the Bidomain system and on BDDC preconditioned Newton-Krylov solvers for the non-linear finite elasticity system. The results of several 3D parallel simulations show the scalability of both linear and non-linear solvers and their application to the study of both physiological excitation-contraction cardiac dynamics and re-entrant waves in the presence of different mechano-electrical feedbacks.

  7. High-performance vertical organic transistors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kleemann, Hans; Günther, Alrun A; Leo, Karl; Lüssem, Björn

    2013-11-11

    Vertical organic thin-film transistors (VOTFTs) are promising devices to overcome the transconductance and cut-off frequency restrictions of horizontal organic thin-film transistors. The basic physical mechanisms of VOTFT operation, however, are not well understood and VOTFTs often require complex patterning techniques using self-assembly processes which impedes a future large-area production. In this contribution, high-performance vertical organic transistors comprising pentacene for p-type operation and C60 for n-type operation are presented. The static current-voltage behavior as well as the fundamental scaling laws of such transistors are studied, disclosing a remarkable transistor operation with a behavior limited by injection of charge carriers. The transistors are manufactured by photolithography, in contrast to other VOTFT concepts using self-assembled source electrodes. Fluorinated photoresist and solvent compounds allow for photolithographical patterning directly and strongly onto the organic materials, simplifying the fabrication protocol and making VOTFTs a prospective candidate for future high-performance applications of organic transistors. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  8. High-performance non-volatile organic ferroelectric memory on banknotes

    KAUST Repository

    Khan, Yasser; Bhansali, Unnat Sampatraj; Alshareef, Husam N.

    2012-01-01

    High-performance non-volatile polymer ferroelectric memory are fabricated on banknotes using poly(vinylidene fluoride trifluoroethylene). The devices show excellent performance with high remnant polarization, low operating voltages, low leakage

  9. High-performance non-volatile organic ferroelectric memory on banknotes

    KAUST Repository

    Khan, Yasser

    2012-03-21

    High-performance non-volatile polymer ferroelectric memory are fabricated on banknotes using poly(vinylidene fluoride trifluoroethylene). The devices show excellent performance with high remnant polarization, low operating voltages, low leakage, high mobility, and long retention times. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  10. High-performance non-volatile organic ferroelectric memory on banknotes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, M A; Bhansali, Unnat S; Alshareef, H N

    2012-04-24

    High-performance non-volatile polymer ferroelectric memory are fabricated on banknotes using poly(vinylidene fluoride trifluoroethylene). The devices show excellent performance with high remnant polarization, low operating voltages, low leakage, high mobility, and long retention times. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  11. Weakly intrusive low-rank approximation method for nonlinear parameter-dependent equations

    KAUST Repository

    Giraldi, Loic; Nouy, Anthony

    2017-01-01

    This paper presents a weakly intrusive strategy for computing a low-rank approximation of the solution of a system of nonlinear parameter-dependent equations. The proposed strategy relies on a Newton-like iterative solver which only requires evaluations of the residual of the parameter-dependent equation and of a preconditioner (such as the differential of the residual) for instances of the parameters independently. The algorithm provides an approximation of the set of solutions associated with a possibly large number of instances of the parameters, with a computational complexity which can be orders of magnitude lower than when using the same Newton-like solver for all instances of the parameters. The reduction of complexity requires efficient strategies for obtaining low-rank approximations of the residual, of the preconditioner, and of the increment at each iteration of the algorithm. For the approximation of the residual and the preconditioner, weakly intrusive variants of the empirical interpolation method are introduced, which require evaluations of entries of the residual and the preconditioner. Then, an approximation of the increment is obtained by using a greedy algorithm for low-rank approximation, and a low-rank approximation of the iterate is finally obtained by using a truncated singular value decomposition. When the preconditioner is the differential of the residual, the proposed algorithm is interpreted as an inexact Newton solver for which a detailed convergence analysis is provided. Numerical examples illustrate the efficiency of the method.

  12. Weakly intrusive low-rank approximation method for nonlinear parameter-dependent equations

    KAUST Repository

    Giraldi, Loic

    2017-06-30

    This paper presents a weakly intrusive strategy for computing a low-rank approximation of the solution of a system of nonlinear parameter-dependent equations. The proposed strategy relies on a Newton-like iterative solver which only requires evaluations of the residual of the parameter-dependent equation and of a preconditioner (such as the differential of the residual) for instances of the parameters independently. The algorithm provides an approximation of the set of solutions associated with a possibly large number of instances of the parameters, with a computational complexity which can be orders of magnitude lower than when using the same Newton-like solver for all instances of the parameters. The reduction of complexity requires efficient strategies for obtaining low-rank approximations of the residual, of the preconditioner, and of the increment at each iteration of the algorithm. For the approximation of the residual and the preconditioner, weakly intrusive variants of the empirical interpolation method are introduced, which require evaluations of entries of the residual and the preconditioner. Then, an approximation of the increment is obtained by using a greedy algorithm for low-rank approximation, and a low-rank approximation of the iterate is finally obtained by using a truncated singular value decomposition. When the preconditioner is the differential of the residual, the proposed algorithm is interpreted as an inexact Newton solver for which a detailed convergence analysis is provided. Numerical examples illustrate the efficiency of the method.

  13. THE RELATION OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE WORK SYSTEMS WITH EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bilal AFSAR

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The basic aim of high performance work systems is to enable employees to exercise decision making, leading to flexibility, innovation, improvement and skill sharing. By facilitating the development of high performance work systems we help organizations make continuous improvement a way of life.The notion of a high-performance work system (HPWS constitutes a claim that there exists a system of work practices for core workers in an organisation that leads in some way to superior performance. This article will discuss the relation that HPWS has with the improvement of firms’ performance and high involvement of the employees.

  14. Contemporary high performance computing from petascale toward exascale

    CERN Document Server

    Vetter, Jeffrey S

    2013-01-01

    Contemporary High Performance Computing: From Petascale toward Exascale focuses on the ecosystems surrounding the world's leading centers for high performance computing (HPC). It covers many of the important factors involved in each ecosystem: computer architectures, software, applications, facilities, and sponsors. The first part of the book examines significant trends in HPC systems, including computer architectures, applications, performance, and software. It discusses the growth from terascale to petascale computing and the influence of the TOP500 and Green500 lists. The second part of the

  15. Pengaruh High Performance Work Practice (Hpwp) Terhadap Job Performance Pada Frontliner Bank

    OpenAIRE

    Ihdaryanti, Monica Amani; Panggabean, Mutiara S

    2014-01-01

    Generally High Performance Work Practice (HPWP) is a part of management human resources. The objectives of this research are getting and analyzing the effect of HPWPs with Job Satisfaction; HPWPs with Organizational Commitment; Job Satisfaction with Organizational Commitment; Job Satisfaction with Job Performance; and Organizational Commitment with Job Performance. The total of sample in this research is 100 respondents which are as Front liner BNI and Mandiri. The result of th...

  16. High performance liquid chromatographic determination of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    STORAGESEVER

    2010-02-08

    ) high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) grade .... applications. These are important requirements if the reagent is to be applicable to on-line pre or post column derivatisation in a possible automation of the analytical.

  17. Can Knowledge of the Characteristics of "High Performers" Be Generalised?

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKenna, Stephen

    2002-01-01

    Two managers described as high performing constructed complexity maps of their organization/world. The maps suggested that high performance is socially constructed and negotiated in specific contexts and management competencies associated with it are context specific. Development of high performers thus requires personalized coaching more than…

  18. Comparing Dutch and British high performing managers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Waal, A.A. de; Heijden, B.I.J.M. van der; Selvarajah, C.; Meyer, D.

    2016-01-01

    National cultures have a strong influence on the performance of organizations and should be taken into account when studying the traits of high performing managers. At the same time, many studies that focus upon the attributes of successful managers show that there are attributes that are similar

  19. Micromagnetics on high-performance workstation and mobile computational platforms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, S.; Chang, R.; Couture, S.; Menarini, M.; Escobar, M. A.; Kuteifan, M.; Lubarda, M.; Gabay, D.; Lomakin, V.

    2015-05-01

    The feasibility of using high-performance desktop and embedded mobile computational platforms is presented, including multi-core Intel central processing unit, Nvidia desktop graphics processing units, and Nvidia Jetson TK1 Platform. FastMag finite element method-based micromagnetic simulator is used as a testbed, showing high efficiency on all the platforms. Optimization aspects of improving the performance of the mobile systems are discussed. The high performance, low cost, low power consumption, and rapid performance increase of the embedded mobile systems make them a promising candidate for micromagnetic simulations. Such architectures can be used as standalone systems or can be built as low-power computing clusters.

  20. Robust Solvers for Symmetric Positive Definite Operators and Weighted Poincaré Inequalities

    KAUST Repository

    Efendiev, Yalchin

    2012-01-01

    An abstract setting for robustly preconditioning symmetric positive definite (SPD) operators is presented. The term "robust" refers to the property of the condition numbers of the preconditioned systems being independent of mesh parameters and problem parameters. Important instances of such problem parameters are in particular (highly varying) coefficients. The method belongs to the class of additive Schwarz preconditioners. The paper gives an overview of the results obtained in a recent paper by the authors. It, furthermore, focuses on the importance of weighted Poincaré inequalities, whose notion is extended to general SPD operators, for the analysis of stable decompositions. To demonstrate the applicability of the abstract preconditioner the scalar elliptic equation and the stream function formulation of Brinkman\\'s equations in two spatial dimensions are considered. Several numerical examples are presented. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.

  1. Multilevel techniques for Reservoir Simulation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Max la Cour

    The subject of this thesis is the development, application and study of novel multilevel methods for the acceleration and improvement of reservoir simulation techniques. The motivation for addressing this topic is a need for more accurate predictions of porous media flow and the ability to carry...... Full Approximation Scheme) • Variational (Galerkin) upscaling • Linear solvers and preconditioners First, a nonlinear multigrid scheme in the form of the Full Approximation Scheme (FAS) is implemented and studied for a 3D three-phase compressible rock/fluids immiscible reservoir simulator...... is extended to include a hybrid strategy, where FAS is combined with Newton’s method to construct a multilevel nonlinear preconditioner. This method demonstrates high efficiency and robustness. Second, an improved IMPES formulated reservoir simulator is implemented using a novel variational upscaling approach...

  2. High performance light water reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Squarer, D.; Schulenberg, T.; Struwe, D.; Oka, Y.; Bittermann, D.; Aksan, N.; Maraczy, C.; Kyrki-Rajamaeki, R.; Souyri, A.; Dumaz, P.

    2003-01-01

    The objective of the high performance light water reactor (HPLWR) project is to assess the merit and economic feasibility of a high efficiency LWR operating at thermodynamically supercritical regime. An efficiency of approximately 44% is expected. To accomplish this objective, a highly qualified team of European research institutes and industrial partners together with the University of Tokyo is assessing the major issues pertaining to a new reactor concept, under the co-sponsorship of the European Commission. The assessment has emphasized the recent advancement achieved in this area by Japan. Additionally, it accounts for advanced European reactor design requirements, recent improvements, practical design aspects, availability of plant components and the availability of high temperature materials. The final objective of this project is to reach a conclusion on the potential of the HPLWR to help sustain the nuclear option, by supplying competitively priced electricity, as well as to continue the nuclear competence in LWR technology. The following is a brief summary of the main project achievements:-A state-of-the-art review of supercritical water-cooled reactors has been performed for the HPLWR project.-Extensive studies have been performed in the last 10 years by the University of Tokyo. Therefore, a 'reference design', developed by the University of Tokyo, was selected in order to assess the available technological tools (i.e. computer codes, analyses, advanced materials, water chemistry, etc.). Design data and results of the analysis were supplied by the University of Tokyo. A benchmark problem, based on the 'reference design' was defined for neutronics calculations and several partners of the HPLWR project carried out independent analyses. The results of these analyses, which in addition help to 'calibrate' the codes, have guided the assessment of the core and the design of an improved HPLWR fuel assembly. Preliminary selection was made for the HPLWR scale

  3. Strategy Guideline. High Performance Residential Lighting

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Holton, J. [IBACOS, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

    2012-02-01

    This report has been developed to provide a tool for the understanding and application of high performance lighting in the home. The strategies featured in this guide are drawn from recent advances in commercial lighting for application to typical spaces found in residential buildings. This guide offers strategies to greatly reduce lighting energy use through the application of high quality fluorescent and light emitting diode (LED) technologies. It is important to note that these strategies not only save energy in the home but also serve to satisfy the homeowner’s expectations for high quality lighting.

  4. Improving UV Resistance of High Performance Fibers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hassanin, Ahmed

    High performance fibers are characterized by their superior properties compared to the traditional textile fibers. High strength fibers have high modules, high strength to weight ratio, high chemical resistance, and usually high temperature resistance. It is used in application where superior properties are needed such as bulletproof vests, ropes and cables, cut resistant products, load tendons for giant scientific balloons, fishing rods, tennis racket strings, parachute cords, adhesives and sealants, protective apparel and tire cords. Unfortunately, Ultraviolet (UV) radiation causes serious degradation to the most of high performance fibers. UV lights, either natural or artificial, cause organic compounds to decompose and degrade, because the energy of the photons of UV light is high enough to break chemical bonds causing chain scission. This work is aiming at achieving maximum protection of high performance fibers using sheathing approaches. The sheaths proposed are of lightweight to maintain the advantage of the high performance fiber that is the high strength to weight ratio. This study involves developing three different types of sheathing. The product of interest that need be protected from UV is braid from PBO. First approach is extruding a sheath from Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) loaded with different rutile TiO2 % nanoparticles around the braid from the PBO. The results of this approach showed that LDPE sheath loaded with 10% TiO2 by weight achieved the highest protection compare to 0% and 5% TiO2. The protection here is judged by strength loss of PBO. This trend noticed in different weathering environments, where the sheathed samples were exposed to UV-VIS radiations in different weatheromter equipments as well as exposure to high altitude environment using NASA BRDL balloon. The second approach is focusing in developing a protective porous membrane from polyurethane loaded with rutile TiO2 nanoparticles. Membrane from polyurethane loaded with 4

  5. High performance computing in linear control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Datta, B.N.

    1993-01-01

    Remarkable progress has been made in both theory and applications of all important areas of control. The theory is rich and very sophisticated. Some beautiful applications of control theory are presently being made in aerospace, biomedical engineering, industrial engineering, robotics, economics, power systems, etc. Unfortunately, the same assessment of progress does not hold in general for computations in control theory. Control Theory is lagging behind other areas of science and engineering in this respect. Nowadays there is a revolution going on in the world of high performance scientific computing. Many powerful computers with vector and parallel processing have been built and have been available in recent years. These supercomputers offer very high speed in computations. Highly efficient software, based on powerful algorithms, has been developed to use on these advanced computers, and has also contributed to increased performance. While workers in many areas of science and engineering have taken great advantage of these hardware and software developments, control scientists and engineers, unfortunately, have not been able to take much advantage of these developments

  6. High Performance Bulk Thermoelectric Materials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ren, Zhifeng [Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States)

    2013-03-31

    Over 13 plus years, we have carried out research on electron pairing symmetry of superconductors, growth and their field emission property studies on carbon nanotubes and semiconducting nanowires, high performance thermoelectric materials and other interesting materials. As a result of the research, we have published 104 papers, have educated six undergraduate students, twenty graduate students, nine postdocs, nine visitors, and one technician.

  7. Performance characterization of solid oxide cells under high pressure

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sun, Xiufu; Bonaccorso, Alfredo Damiano; Graves, Christopher R.

    2014-01-01

    in both fuel cell mode and electrolysis mode. In electrolysis mode at low current density, the performance improvement was counteracted by the increase in open circuit voltage, but it has to be born in mind that the pressurised gas contains higher molar free energy. Operating at high current density...... hydrocarbon fuels, which is normally performed at high pressure to achieve a high yield. Operation of SOECs at elevated pressure will therefore facilitate integration with the downstream fuel synthesis and is furthermore advantageous as it increases the cell performance. In this work, recent pressurised test...... results of a planar Ni-YSZ (YSZ: Yttria stabilized Zirconia) supported solid oxide cell are presented. The test was performed at 800 °C at pressures up to 15 bar. A comparison of the electrochemical performance of the cell at 1 and 3 bar shows a significant and equal performance gain at higher pressure...

  8. Design practice and operational experience of highly irradiated, high-performance normal magnets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schultz, J.H.

    1982-09-01

    The limitations of high performance magnets are discussed in terms of mechanical, temperature, and electrical limits. The limitations of magnets that are highly irradiated by neutrons, gamma radiation, or x radiation are discussed

  9. Construction, classification and parametrization of complex Hadamard matrices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szöllősi, Ferenc

    To improve the design of nuclear systems, high-fidelity neutron fluxes are required. Leadership-class machines provide platforms on which very large problems can be solved. Computing such fluxes efficiently requires numerical methods with good convergence properties and algorithms that can scale to hundreds of thousands of cores. Many 3-D deterministic transport codes are decomposable in space and angle only, limiting them to tens of thousands of cores. Most codes rely on methods such as Gauss Seidel for fixed source problems and power iteration for eigenvalue problems, which can be slow to converge for challenging problems like those with highly scattering materials or high dominance ratios. Three methods have been added to the 3-D SN transport code Denovo that are designed to improve convergence and enable the full use of cutting-edge computers. The first is a multigroup Krylov solver that converges more quickly than Gauss Seidel and parallelizes the code in energy such that Denovo can use hundreds of thousand of cores effectively. The second is Rayleigh quotient iteration (RQI), an old method applied in a new context. This eigenvalue solver finds the dominant eigenvalue in a mathematically optimal way and should converge in fewer iterations than power iteration. RQI creates energy-block-dense equations that the new Krylov solver treats efficiently. However, RQI can have convergence problems because it creates poorly conditioned systems. This can be overcome with preconditioning. The third method is a multigrid-in-energy preconditioner. The preconditioner takes advantage of the new energy decomposition because the grids are in energy rather than space or angle. The preconditioner greatly reduces iteration count for many problem types and scales well in energy. It also allows RQI to be successful for problems it could not solve otherwise. The methods added to Denovo accomplish the goals of this work. They converge in fewer iterations than traditional methods and

  10. Gradient High Performance Liquid Chromatography Method ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Purpose: To develop a gradient high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the simultaneous determination of phenylephrine (PHE) and ibuprofen (IBU) in solid ..... nimesulide, phenylephrine. Hydrochloride, chlorpheniramine maleate and caffeine anhydrous in pharmaceutical dosage form. Acta Pol.

  11. High performance sapphire windows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bates, Stephen C.; Liou, Larry

    1993-02-01

    High-quality, wide-aperture optical access is usually required for the advanced laser diagnostics that can now make a wide variety of non-intrusive measurements of combustion processes. Specially processed and mounted sapphire windows are proposed to provide this optical access to extreme environment. Through surface treatments and proper thermal stress design, single crystal sapphire can be a mechanically equivalent replacement for high strength steel. A prototype sapphire window and mounting system have been developed in a successful NASA SBIR Phase 1 project. A large and reliable increase in sapphire design strength (as much as 10x) has been achieved, and the initial specifications necessary for these gains have been defined. Failure testing of small windows has conclusively demonstrated the increased sapphire strength, indicating that a nearly flawless surface polish is the primary cause of strengthening, while an unusual mounting arrangement also significantly contributes to a larger effective strength. Phase 2 work will complete specification and demonstration of these windows, and will fabricate a set for use at NASA. The enhanced capabilities of these high performance sapphire windows will lead to many diagnostic capabilities not previously possible, as well as new applications for sapphire.

  12. S2SA preconditioning for the Sn equations with strictly non negative spatial discretization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bruss, D. E.; Morel, J. E.; Ragusa, J. C.

    2013-01-01

    Preconditioners based upon sweeps and diffusion-synthetic acceleration have been constructed and applied to the zeroth and first spatial moments of the 1-D S n transport equation using a strictly non negative nonlinear spatial closure. Linear and nonlinear preconditioners have been analyzed. The effectiveness of various combinations of these preconditioners are compared. In one dimension, nonlinear sweep preconditioning is shown to be superior to linear sweep preconditioning, and DSA preconditioning using nonlinear sweeps in conjunction with a linear diffusion equation is found to be essentially equivalent to nonlinear sweeps in conjunction with a nonlinear diffusion equation. The ability to use a linear diffusion equation has important implications for preconditioning the S n equations with a strictly non negative spatial discretization in multiple dimensions. (authors)

  13. Stretchable and High-Performance Supercapacitors with Crumpled Graphene Papers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zang, Jianfeng; Cao, Changyong; Feng, Yaying; Liu, Jie; Zhao, Xuanhe

    2014-01-01

    Fabrication of unconventional energy storage devices with high stretchability and performance is challenging, but critical to practical operations of fully power-independent stretchable electronics. While supercapacitors represent a promising candidate for unconventional energy-storage devices, existing stretchable supercapacitors are limited by their low stretchability, complicated fabrication process, and high cost. Here, we report a simple and low-cost method to fabricate extremely stretchable and high-performance electrodes for supercapacitors based on new crumpled-graphene papers. Electrolyte-mediated-graphene paper bonded on a compliant substrate can be crumpled into self-organized patterns by harnessing mechanical instabilities in the graphene paper. As the substrate is stretched, the crumpled patterns unfold, maintaining high reliability of the graphene paper under multiple cycles of large deformation. Supercapacitor electrodes based on the crumpled graphene papers exhibit a unique combination of high stretchability (e.g., linear strain ~300%, areal strain ~800%), high electrochemical performance (e.g., specific capacitance ~196 F g−1), and high reliability (e.g., over 1000 stretch/relax cycles). An all-solid-state supercapacitor capable of large deformation is further fabricated to demonstrate practical applications of the crumpled-graphene-paper electrodes. Our method and design open a wide range of opportunities for manufacturing future energy-storage devices with desired deformability together with high performance. PMID:25270673

  14. Stretchable and High-Performance Supercapacitors with Crumpled Graphene Papers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zang, Jianfeng; Cao, Changyong; Feng, Yaying; Liu, Jie; Zhao, Xuanhe

    2014-10-01

    Fabrication of unconventional energy storage devices with high stretchability and performance is challenging, but critical to practical operations of fully power-independent stretchable electronics. While supercapacitors represent a promising candidate for unconventional energy-storage devices, existing stretchable supercapacitors are limited by their low stretchability, complicated fabrication process, and high cost. Here, we report a simple and low-cost method to fabricate extremely stretchable and high-performance electrodes for supercapacitors based on new crumpled-graphene papers. Electrolyte-mediated-graphene paper bonded on a compliant substrate can be crumpled into self-organized patterns by harnessing mechanical instabilities in the graphene paper. As the substrate is stretched, the crumpled patterns unfold, maintaining high reliability of the graphene paper under multiple cycles of large deformation. Supercapacitor electrodes based on the crumpled graphene papers exhibit a unique combination of high stretchability (e.g., linear strain ~300%, areal strain ~800%), high electrochemical performance (e.g., specific capacitance ~196 F g-1), and high reliability (e.g., over 1000 stretch/relax cycles). An all-solid-state supercapacitor capable of large deformation is further fabricated to demonstrate practical applications of the crumpled-graphene-paper electrodes. Our method and design open a wide range of opportunities for manufacturing future energy-storage devices with desired deformability together with high performance.

  15. High Performance Design of 100Gb/s DPSK Optical Transmitter

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Das, Bhagwan; Abdullah, M.F.L; Shah, Nor Shahihda Mohd

    2016-01-01

    and optical transmitter have taken plenty of time for transmitting signal. When proposed design is operated at 1 GHz, 5 GHz, 10 GHz and 20 GHz using time constraint technique, it is observed that among all these frequencies, at 10 GHz high performance output is achieved for designed optical transmitter....... This high performance design of optical transmitter has zero timing error, low timing score and high slack time due to synchronization between input data and clock frequency. It is also determined that 99% timing score is reduced in comparison with 1 GHz frequency that has high jitters, high timing error......, high time score and low slack time. The high performance design is realized without disturbing actual bandwidth, power consumption and other parameters of the design. The proposed high performance design of 100Gb/s optical transmitter can be used with existing optical communication system to develop...

  16. Engineering High-Energy Interfacial Structures for High-Performance Oxygen-Involving Electrocatalysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Chunxian; Zheng, Yao; Ran, Jingrun; Xie, Fangxi; Jaroniec, Mietek; Qiao, Shi-Zhang

    2017-07-10

    Engineering high-energy interfacial structures for high-performance electrocatalysis is achieved by chemical coupling of active CoO nanoclusters and high-index facet Mn 3 O 4 nano-octahedrons (hi-Mn 3 O 4 ). A thorough characterization, including synchrotron-based near edge X-ray absorption fine structure, reveals that strong interactions between both components promote the formation of high-energy interfacial Mn-O-Co species and high oxidation state CoO, from which electrons are drawn by Mn III -O present in hi-Mn 3 O 4 . The CoO/hi-Mn 3 O 4 demonstrates an excellent catalytic performance over the conventional metal oxide-based electrocatalysts, which is reflected by 1.2 times higher oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity than that of Ru/C and a comparable oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity to that of Pt/C as well as a better stability than that of Ru/C (95 % vs. 81 % retained OER activity) and Pt/C (92 % vs. 78 % retained ORR activity after 10 h running) in alkaline electrolyte. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  17. Flexible nanoscale high-performance FinFETs

    KAUST Repository

    Sevilla, Galo T.; Ghoneim, Mohamed T.; Fahad, Hossain M.; Rojas, Jhonathan Prieto; Hussain, Aftab M.; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

    2014-01-01

    With the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), flexible high-performance nanoscale electronics are more desired. At the moment, FinFET is the most advanced transistor architecture used in the state-of-the-art microprocessors. Therefore, we show

  18. Teacher Accountability at High Performing Charter Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aguirre, Moises G.

    2016-01-01

    This study will examine the teacher accountability and evaluation policies and practices at three high performing charter schools located in San Diego County, California. Charter schools are exempted from many laws, rules, and regulations that apply to traditional school systems. By examining the teacher accountability systems at high performing…

  19. Improvement of performance of ultra-high performance concrete based composite material added with nano materials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pang Jinchang

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC, a kind of composite material characterized by ultra high strength, high toughness and high durability. It has a wide application prospect in engineering practice. But there are some defects in concrete. How to improve strength and toughness of UHPC remains to be the target of researchers. To obtain UHPC with better performance, this study introduced nano-SiO2 and nano-CaCO3 into UHPC. Moreover, hydration heat analysis, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD, mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP and nanoindentation tests were used to explore hydration process and microstructure. Double-doped nanomaterials can further enhance various mechanical performances of materials. Nano-SiO2 can promote early progress of cement hydration due to its high reaction activity and C-S-H gel generates when it reacts with cement hydration product Ca(OH2. Nano-CaCO3 mainly plays the role of crystal nucleus effect and filling effect. Under the combined action of the two, the composite structure is denser, which provides a way to improve the performance of UHPC in practical engineering.

  20. Performance of high-rate gravel-packed oil wells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Unneland, Trond

    2001-05-01

    Improved methods for the prediction, evaluation, and monitoring of performance in high-rate cased-hole gravel-packed oil wells are presented in this thesis. The ability to predict well performance prior to the gravel-pack operations, evaluate the results after the operation, and monitor well performance over time has been improved. This lifetime approach to performance analysis of gravel-packed oil wells contributes to increase oil production and field profitability. First, analytical models available for prediction of performance in gravel-packed oil wells are reviewed, with particular emphasis on high-velocity flow effects. From the analysis of field data from three North Sea oil fields, improved and calibrated cased-hole gravel-pack performance prediction models are presented. The recommended model is based on serial flow through formation sand and gravel in the perforation tunnels. In addition, new correlations for high-velocity flow in high-rate gravel-packed oil wells are introduced. Combined, this improves the performance prediction for gravel-packed oil wells, and specific areas can be targeted for optimized well design. Next, limitations in the current methods and alternative methods for evaluation and comparison of well performance are presented. The most widely used parameter, the skin factor, remains a convenient and important parameter. However, using the skin concept in direct comparisons between wells with different reservoir properties may result in misleading or even invalid conclusions. A discussion of the parameters affecting the skin value, with a clarification of limitations, is included. A methodology for evaluation and comparison of gravel-packed well performance is presented, and this includes the use of results from production logs and the use of effective perforation tunnel permeability as a parameter. This contributes to optimized operational procedures from well to well and from field to field. Finally, the data sources available for

  1. High-Performance, Space-Storable, Bi-Propellant Program Status

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Steven J.

    2002-01-01

    Bipropellant propulsion systems currently represent the largest bus subsystem for many missions. These missions range from low Earth orbit satellite to geosynchronous communications and planetary exploration. The payoff of high performance bipropellant systems is illustrated by the fact that Aerojet Redmond has qualified a commercial NTO/MMH engine based on the high Isp technology recently delivered by this program. They are now qualifying a NTO/hydrazine version of this engine. The advanced rhenium thrust chambers recently provided by this program have raised the performance of earth storable propellants from 315 sec to 328 sec of specific impulse. The recently introduced rhenium technology is the first new technology introduced to satellite propulsion in 30 years. Typically, the lead time required to develop and qualify new chemical thruster technology is not compatible with program development schedules. These technology development programs must be supported by a long term, Base R&T Program, if the technology s to be matured. This technology program then addresses the need for high performance, storable, on-board chemical propulsion for planetary rendezvous and descent/ascent. The primary NASA customer for this technology is Space Science, which identifies this need for such programs as Mars Surface Return, Titan Explorer, Neptune Orbiter, and Europa Lander. High performance (390 sec) chemical propulsion is estimated to add 105% payload to the Mars Sample Return mission or alternatively reduce the launch mass by 33%. In many cases, the use of existing (flight heritage) propellant technology is accommodated by reducing mission objectives and/or increasing enroute travel times sacrificing the science value per unit cost of the program. Therefore, a high performance storable thruster utilizing fluorinated oxidizers with hydrazine is being developed.

  2. Acceleration of monte Carlo solution by conjugate gradient method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toshihisa, Yamamoto

    2005-01-01

    The conjugate gradient method (CG) was applied to accelerate Monte Carlo solutions in fixed source problems. The equilibrium model based formulation enables to use CG scheme as well as initial guess to maximize computational performance. This method is available to arbitrary geometry provided that the neutron source distribution in each subregion can be regarded as flat. Even if it is not the case, the method can still be used as a powerful tool to provide an initial guess very close to the converged solution. The major difference of Monte Carlo CG to deterministic CG is that residual error is estimated using Monte Carlo sampling, thus statistical error exists in the residual. This leads to a flow diagram specific to Monte Carlo-CG. Three pre-conditioners were proposed for CG scheme and the performance was compared with a simple 1-D slab heterogeneous test problem. One of them, Sparse-M option, showed an excellent performance in convergence. The performance per unit cost was improved by four times in the test problem. Although direct estimation of efficiency of the method is impossible mainly because of the strong problem-dependence of the optimized pre-conditioner in CG, the method seems to have efficient potential as a fast solution algorithm for Monte Carlo calculations. (author)

  3. WOMBAT: A Scalable and High-performance Astrophysical Magnetohydrodynamics Code

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mendygral, P. J.; Radcliffe, N.; Kandalla, K. [Cray Inc., St. Paul, MN 55101 (United States); Porter, D. [Minnesota Supercomputing Institute for Advanced Computational Research, Minneapolis, MN USA (United States); O’Neill, B. J.; Nolting, C.; Donnert, J. M. F.; Jones, T. W. [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States); Edmon, P., E-mail: pjm@cray.com, E-mail: nradclif@cray.com, E-mail: kkandalla@cray.com, E-mail: oneill@astro.umn.edu, E-mail: nolt0040@umn.edu, E-mail: donnert@ira.inaf.it, E-mail: twj@umn.edu, E-mail: dhp@umn.edu, E-mail: pedmon@cfa.harvard.edu [Institute for Theory and Computation, Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

    2017-02-01

    We present a new code for astrophysical magnetohydrodynamics specifically designed and optimized for high performance and scaling on modern and future supercomputers. We describe a novel hybrid OpenMP/MPI programming model that emerged from a collaboration between Cray, Inc. and the University of Minnesota. This design utilizes MPI-RMA optimized for thread scaling, which allows the code to run extremely efficiently at very high thread counts ideal for the latest generation of multi-core and many-core architectures. Such performance characteristics are needed in the era of “exascale” computing. We describe and demonstrate our high-performance design in detail with the intent that it may be used as a model for other, future astrophysical codes intended for applications demanding exceptional performance.

  4. WOMBAT: A Scalable and High-performance Astrophysical Magnetohydrodynamics Code

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mendygral, P. J.; Radcliffe, N.; Kandalla, K.; Porter, D.; O’Neill, B. J.; Nolting, C.; Donnert, J. M. F.; Jones, T. W.; Edmon, P.

    2017-01-01

    We present a new code for astrophysical magnetohydrodynamics specifically designed and optimized for high performance and scaling on modern and future supercomputers. We describe a novel hybrid OpenMP/MPI programming model that emerged from a collaboration between Cray, Inc. and the University of Minnesota. This design utilizes MPI-RMA optimized for thread scaling, which allows the code to run extremely efficiently at very high thread counts ideal for the latest generation of multi-core and many-core architectures. Such performance characteristics are needed in the era of “exascale” computing. We describe and demonstrate our high-performance design in detail with the intent that it may be used as a model for other, future astrophysical codes intended for applications demanding exceptional performance.

  5. Computational Biology and High Performance Computing 2000

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Simon, Horst D.; Zorn, Manfred D.; Spengler, Sylvia J.; Shoichet, Brian K.; Stewart, Craig; Dubchak, Inna L.; Arkin, Adam P.

    2000-10-19

    The pace of extraordinary advances in molecular biology has accelerated in the past decade due in large part to discoveries coming from genome projects on human and model organisms. The advances in the genome project so far, happening well ahead of schedule and under budget, have exceeded any dreams by its protagonists, let alone formal expectations. Biologists expect the next phase of the genome project to be even more startling in terms of dramatic breakthroughs in our understanding of human biology, the biology of health and of disease. Only today can biologists begin to envision the necessary experimental, computational and theoretical steps necessary to exploit genome sequence information for its medical impact, its contribution to biotechnology and economic competitiveness, and its ultimate contribution to environmental quality. High performance computing has become one of the critical enabling technologies, which will help to translate this vision of future advances in biology into reality. Biologists are increasingly becoming aware of the potential of high performance computing. The goal of this tutorial is to introduce the exciting new developments in computational biology and genomics to the high performance computing community.

  6. Control switching in high performance and fault tolerant control

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Niemann, Hans Henrik; Poulsen, Niels Kjølstad

    2010-01-01

    The problem of reliability in high performance control and in fault tolerant control is considered in this paper. A feedback controller architecture for high performance and fault tolerance is considered. The architecture is based on the Youla-Jabr-Bongiorno-Kucera (YJBK) parameterization. By usi...

  7. Design and Implementation of High-Performance GIS Dynamic Objects Rendering Engine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhong, Y.; Wang, S.; Li, R.; Yun, W.; Song, G.

    2017-12-01

    Spatio-temporal dynamic visualization is more vivid than static visualization. It important to use dynamic visualization techniques to reveal the variation process and trend vividly and comprehensively for the geographical phenomenon. To deal with challenges caused by dynamic visualization of both 2D and 3D spatial dynamic targets, especially for different spatial data types require high-performance GIS dynamic objects rendering engine. The main approach for improving the rendering engine with vast dynamic targets relies on key technologies of high-performance GIS, including memory computing, parallel computing, GPU computing and high-performance algorisms. In this study, high-performance GIS dynamic objects rendering engine is designed and implemented for solving the problem based on hybrid accelerative techniques. The high-performance GIS rendering engine contains GPU computing, OpenGL technology, and high-performance algorism with the advantage of 64-bit memory computing. It processes 2D, 3D dynamic target data efficiently and runs smoothly with vast dynamic target data. The prototype system of high-performance GIS dynamic objects rendering engine is developed based SuperMap GIS iObjects. The experiments are designed for large-scale spatial data visualization, the results showed that the high-performance GIS dynamic objects rendering engine have the advantage of high performance. Rendering two-dimensional and three-dimensional dynamic objects achieve 20 times faster on GPU than on CPU.

  8. High-performance carbon nanotube-reinforced bioplastic

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Ramontja, J

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available -1 High-Performance Carbon Nanotube-Reinforced Bioplastic 1. James Ramontja1,2, 2. Suprakas Sinha Ray1,*, 3. Sreejarani K. Pillai1, 4. Adriaan S. Luyt2 1. 1 DST/CSIR Nanotechnology Innovation Centre, National Centre for Nano-Structured Materials...

  9. High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vestal, Marvin L.

    1984-01-01

    Reviews techniques for online coupling of high-performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry, emphasizing those suitable for application to nonvolatile samples. Also summarizes the present status, strengths, and weaknesses of various techniques and discusses potential applications of recently developed techniques for combined liquid…

  10. High performance cloud auditing and applications

    CERN Document Server

    Choi, Baek-Young; Song, Sejun

    2014-01-01

    This book mainly focuses on cloud security and high performance computing for cloud auditing. The book discusses emerging challenges and techniques developed for high performance semantic cloud auditing, and presents the state of the art in cloud auditing, computing and security techniques with focus on technical aspects and feasibility of auditing issues in federated cloud computing environments.   In summer 2011, the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) CyberBAT Cloud Security and Auditing Team initiated the exploration of the cloud security challenges and future cloud auditing research directions that are covered in this book. This work was supported by the United States government funds from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the AFOSR Summer Faculty Fellowship Program (SFFP), the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Visiting Faculty Research Program (VFRP), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Health (NIH). All chapters were partially suppor...

  11. High-performance scientific computing in the cloud

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jorissen, Kevin; Vila, Fernando; Rehr, John

    2011-03-01

    Cloud computing has the potential to open up high-performance computational science to a much broader class of researchers, owing to its ability to provide on-demand, virtualized computational resources. However, before such approaches can become commonplace, user-friendly tools must be developed that hide the unfamiliar cloud environment and streamline the management of cloud resources for many scientific applications. We have recently shown that high-performance cloud computing is feasible for parallelized x-ray spectroscopy calculations. We now present benchmark results for a wider selection of scientific applications focusing on electronic structure and spectroscopic simulation software in condensed matter physics. These applications are driven by an improved portable interface that can manage virtual clusters and run various applications in the cloud. We also describe a next generation of cluster tools, aimed at improved performance and a more robust cluster deployment. Supported by NSF grant OCI-1048052.

  12. High-performance phase-field modeling

    KAUST Repository

    Vignal, Philippe; Sarmiento, Adel; Cortes, Adriano Mauricio; Dalcin, L.; Collier, N.; Calo, Victor M.

    2015-01-01

    and phase-field crystal equation will be presented, which corroborate the theoretical findings, and illustrate the robustness of the method. Results related to more challenging examples, namely the Navier-Stokes Cahn-Hilliard and a diusion-reaction Cahn-Hilliard system, will also be presented. The implementation was done in PetIGA and PetIGA-MF, high-performance Isogeometric Analysis frameworks [1, 3], designed to handle non-linear, time-dependent problems.

  13. High-calorie food-cues impair working memory performance in high and low food cravers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meule, Adrian; Skirde, Ann Kathrin; Freund, Rebecca; Vögele, Claus; Kübler, Andrea

    2012-10-01

    The experience of food craving can lead to cognitive impairments. Experimentally induced chocolate craving exhausts cognitive resources and, therefore, impacts working memory, particularly in trait chocolate cravers. In the current study, we investigated the effects of exposure to food-cues on working memory task performance in a group with frequent and intense (high cravers, n=28) and less pronounced food cravings (low cravers, n=28). Participants performed an n-back task that contained either pictures of high-calorie sweets, high-calorie savory foods, or neutral objects. Current subjective food craving was assessed before and after the task. All participants showed slower reaction times and made more omission errors in response to food-cues, particularly savory foods. There were no differences in task performance between groups. State cravings did not differ between groups before the task, but increased more in high cravers compared to low cravers during the task. Results support findings about food cravings impairing visuo-spatial working memory performance independent of trait cravings. They further show that this influence is not restricted to chocolate, but also applies to high-calorie savory foods. Limiting working memory capacity may be especially crucial in persons who are more prone to high-calorie food-cues and experience such cravings habitually. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. High-performance noncontact thermal diode via asymmetric nanostructures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Jiadong; Liu, Xianglei; He, Huan; Wu, Weitao; Liu, Baoan

    2018-05-01

    Electric diodes, though laying the foundation of modern electronics and information processing industries, suffer from ineffectiveness and even failure at high temperatures. Thermal diodes are promising alternatives to relieve above limitations, but usually possess low rectification ratios, and how to obtain a high-performance thermal rectification effect is still an open question. This paper proposes an efficient contactless thermal diode based on the near-field thermal radiation of asymmetric doped silicon nanostructures. The rectification ratio computed via exact scattering theories is demonstrated to be as high as 10 at a nanoscale gap distance and period, outperforming the counterpart flat-plate diode by more than one order of magnitude. This extraordinary performance mainly lies in the higher forward and lower reverse radiative heat flux within the low frequency band compared with the counterpart flat-plate diode, which is caused by a lower loss and smaller cut-off wavevector of nanostructures for the forward and reversed scheme, respectively. This work opens new routes to realize high performance thermal diodes, and may have wide applications in efficient thermal computing, thermal information processing, and thermal management.

  15. High Performance Computing Modernization Program Kerberos Throughput Test Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-10-26

    Naval Research Laboratory Washington, DC 20375-5320 NRL/MR/5524--17-9751 High Performance Computing Modernization Program Kerberos Throughput Test ...NUMBER 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 2. REPORT TYPE1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 6. AUTHOR(S) 8. PERFORMING...PAGE 18. NUMBER OF PAGES 17. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT High Performance Computing Modernization Program Kerberos Throughput Test Report Daniel G. Gdula* and

  16. High performance computing on vector systems

    CERN Document Server

    Roller, Sabine

    2008-01-01

    Presents the developments in high-performance computing and simulation on modern supercomputer architectures. This book covers trends in hardware and software development in general and specifically the vector-based systems and heterogeneous architectures. It presents innovative fields like coupled multi-physics or multi-scale simulations.

  17. A new high performance current transducer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tang Lijun; Lu Songlin; Li Deming

    2003-01-01

    A DC-100 kHz current transducer is developed using a new technique on zero-flux detecting principle. It was shown that the new current transducer is of high performance, its magnetic core need not be selected very stringently, and it is easy to manufacture

  18. Improved Solver Settings for 3D Exploding Wire Simulations in ALEGRA

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-08-01

    performance and rate of throughput of ALEGRA-MHD simulations. The algebraic multigrid algorithms in ML approximate the solution of a linear sys- tem on a fine...in the algebraic multigrid preconditioner, Trilinos/ML, as implemented in ALEGRA. Three parameters impacted performance with one dominating. We provide...option (RM << 1) is not quite applicable and not used in this study. ALEGRA uses explicit time integration to solve the solid-dynamic and nonresistive

  19. High-definition television evaluation for remote handling task performance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fujita, Y.; Omori, E.; Hayashi, S.; Draper, J.V.; Herndon, J.N.

    1986-01-01

    In a plant that employs remote handling techniques for equipment maintenance, operators perform maintenance tasks primarily by using the information from television systems. The efficiency of the television system has a significant impact on remote maintenance task performance. High-definition television (HDTV) transmits a video image with more than twice the number of horizontal scan lines as standard-resolution television (1125 for HDTV to 525 for standard-resolution NTSC television). The added scan lines dramatically improve the resolution of images on the HDTV monitors. This paper describes experiments designed to evaluate the impact of HDTV on the performance of typical remote tasks. The experiments described in this paper compared the performance of four operators using HDTV with their performance while using other television systems. The experiments included four television systems: (a) high-definition color television, (b) high-definition monochromatic television, (c) standard-resolution monochromatic television, and (d) standard-resolution stereoscopic monochromatic television

  20. High Performance Work Systems for Online Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Contacos-Sawyer, Jonna; Revels, Mark; Ciampa, Mark

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to identify the key elements of a High Performance Work System (HPWS) and explore the possibility of implementation in an online institution of higher learning. With the projected rapid growth of the demand for online education and its importance in post-secondary education, providing high quality curriculum, excellent…

  1. Performance concerns for high duty fuel cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Esposito, V.J.; Gutierrez, J.E.

    1999-01-01

    One of the goals of the nuclear industry is to achieve economic performance such that nuclear power plants are competitive in a de-regulated market. The manner in which nuclear fuel is designed and operated lies at the heart of economic viability. In this sense reliability, operating flexibility and low costs are the three major requirements of the NPP today. The translation of these three requirements to the design is part of our work. The challenge today is to produce a fuel design which will operate with long operating cycles, high discharge burnup, power up-rating and while still maintaining all design and safety margins. European Fuel Group (EFG) understands that to achieve the required performance high duty/energy fuel designs are needed. The concerns for high duty design includes, among other items, core design methods, advanced Safety Analysis methodologies, performance models, advanced material and operational strategies. The operational aspects require the trade-off and evaluation of various parameters including coolant chemistry control, material corrosion, boiling duty, boron level impacts, etc. In this environment MAEF is the design that EFG is now offering based on ZIRLO alloy and a robust skeleton. This new design is able to achieve 70 GWd/tU and Lead Test Programs are being executed to demonstrate this capability. A number of performance issues which have been a concern with current designs have been resolved such as cladding corrosion and incomplete RCCA insertion (IRI). As the core duty becomes more aggressive other new issues need to be addressed such as Axial Offset Anomaly. These new issues are being addressed by combination of the new design in concert with advanced methodologies to meet the demanding needs of NPP. The ability and strategy to meet high duty core requirements, flexibility of operation and maintain acceptable balance of all technical issues is the discussion in this paper. (authors)

  2. High performance separation of lanthanides and actinides

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sivaraman, N.; Vasudeva Rao, P.R.

    2011-01-01

    The major advantage of High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) is its ability to provide rapid and high performance separations. It is evident from Van Deemter curve for particle size versus resolution that packing materials with particle sizes less than 2 μm provide better resolution for high speed separations and resolving complex mixtures compared to 5 μm based supports. In the recent past, chromatographic support material using monolith has been studied extensively at our laboratory. Monolith column consists of single piece of porous, rigid material containing mesopores and micropores, which provide fast analyte mass transfer. Monolith support provides significantly higher separation efficiency than particle-packed columns. A clear advantage of monolith is that it could be operated at higher flow rates but with lower back pressure. Higher operating flow rate results in higher column permeability, which drastically reduces analysis time and provides high separation efficiency. The above developed fast separation methods were applied to assay the lanthanides and actinides from the dissolver solutions of nuclear reactor fuels

  3. High rate response of ultra-high-performance fiber-reinforced concretes under direct tension

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tran, Ngoc Thanh [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sejong University, 98 Gunja-Dong, Gwangjin-Gu, Seoul 143-747 (Korea, Republic of); Tran, Tuan Kiet [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sejong University, 98 Gunja-Dong, Gwangjin-Gu, Seoul 143-747 (Korea, Republic of); Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, 01 Vo Van Ngan, Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City (Viet Nam); Kim, Dong Joo, E-mail: djkim75@sejong.ac.kr [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sejong University, 98 Gunja-Dong, Gwangjin-Gu, Seoul 143-747 (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-03-15

    The tensile response of ultra-high-performance fiber-reinforced concretes (UHPFRCs) at high strain rates (5–24 s{sup −} {sup 1}) was investigated. Three types of steel fibers, including twisted, long and short smooth steel fibers, were added by 1.5% volume content in an ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) with a compressive strength of 180 MPa. Two different cross sections, 25 × 25 and 25 × 50 mm{sup 2}, of tensile specimens were used to investigate the effect of the cross section area on the measured tensile response of UHPFRCs. Although all the three fibers generated strain hardening behavior even at high strain rates, long smooth fibers produced the highest tensile resistance at high rates whereas twisted fiber did at static rate. The breakages of twisted fibers were observed from the specimens tested at high strain rates unlike smooth steel fibers. The tensile behavior of UHPFRCs at high strain rates was clearly influenced by the specimen size, especially in post-cracking strength.

  4. Turbostratic stacked CVD graphene for high-performance devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uemura, Kohei; Ikuta, Takashi; Maehashi, Kenzo

    2018-03-01

    We have fabricated turbostratic stacked graphene with high-transport properties by the repeated transfer of CVD monolayer graphene. The turbostratic stacked CVD graphene exhibited higher carrier mobility and conductivity than CVD monolayer graphene. The electron mobility for the three-layer turbostratic stacked CVD graphene surpassed 10,000 cm2 V-1 s-1 at room temperature, which is five times greater than that for CVD monolayer graphene. The results indicate that the high performance is derived from maintenance of the linear band dispersion, suppression of the carrier scattering, and parallel conduction. Therefore, turbostratic stacked CVD graphene is a superior material for high-performance devices.

  5. High performance parallel computers for science

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nash, T.; Areti, H.; Atac, R.; Biel, J.; Cook, A.; Deppe, J.; Edel, M.; Fischler, M.; Gaines, I.; Hance, R.

    1989-01-01

    This paper reports that Fermilab's Advanced Computer Program (ACP) has been developing cost effective, yet practical, parallel computers for high energy physics since 1984. The ACP's latest developments are proceeding in two directions. A Second Generation ACP Multiprocessor System for experiments will include $3500 RISC processors each with performance over 15 VAX MIPS. To support such high performance, the new system allows parallel I/O, parallel interprocess communication, and parallel host processes. The ACP Multi-Array Processor, has been developed for theoretical physics. Each $4000 node is a FORTRAN or C programmable pipelined 20 Mflops (peak), 10 MByte single board computer. These are plugged into a 16 port crossbar switch crate which handles both inter and intra crate communication. The crates are connected in a hypercube. Site oriented applications like lattice gauge theory are supported by system software called CANOPY, which makes the hardware virtually transparent to users. A 256 node, 5 GFlop, system is under construction

  6. High performance MEAs. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2012-07-15

    The aim of the present project is through modeling, material and process development to obtain significantly better MEA performance and to attain the technology necessary to fabricate stable catalyst materials thereby providing a viable alternative to current industry standard. This project primarily focused on the development and characterization of novel catalyst materials for the use in high temperature (HT) and low temperature (LT) proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). New catalysts are needed in order to improve fuel cell performance and reduce the cost of fuel cell systems. Additional tasks were the development of new, durable sealing materials to be used in PEMFC as well as the computational modeling of heat and mass transfer processes, predominantly in LT PEMFC, in order to improve fundamental understanding of the multi-phase flow issues and liquid water management in fuel cells. An improved fundamental understanding of these processes will lead to improved fuel cell performance and hence will also result in a reduced catalyst loading to achieve the same performance. The consortium have obtained significant research results and progress for new catalyst materials and substrates with promising enhanced performance and fabrication of the materials using novel methods. However, the new materials and synthesis methods explored are still in the early research and development phase. The project has contributed to improved MEA performance using less precious metal and has been demonstrated for both LT-PEM, DMFC and HT-PEM applications. New novel approach and progress of the modelling activities has been extremely satisfactory with numerous conference and journal publications along with two potential inventions concerning the catalyst layer. (LN)

  7. Optical Thermal Characterization Enables High-Performance Electronics Applications

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    2016-02-01

    NREL developed a modeling and experimental strategy to characterize thermal performance of materials. The technique provides critical data on thermal properties with relevance for electronics packaging applications. Thermal contact resistance and bulk thermal conductivity were characterized for new high-performance materials such as thermoplastics, boron-nitride nanosheets, copper nanowires, and atomically bonded layers. The technique is an important tool for developing designs and materials that enable power electronics packaging with small footprint, high power density, and low cost for numerous applications.

  8. Visualization and Data Analysis for High-Performance Computing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sewell, Christopher Meyer [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2016-09-27

    This is a set of slides from a guest lecture for a class at the University of Texas, El Paso on visualization and data analysis for high-performance computing. The topics covered are the following: trends in high-performance computing; scientific visualization, such as OpenGL, ray tracing and volume rendering, VTK, and ParaView; data science at scale, such as in-situ visualization, image databases, distributed memory parallelism, shared memory parallelism, VTK-m, "big data", and then an analysis example.

  9. Newton-Krylov-Schwarz methods in unstructured grid Euler flow

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Keyes, D.E. [Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA (United States)

    1996-12-31

    Newton-Krylov methods and Krylov-Schwarz (domain decomposition) methods have begun to become established in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) over the past decade. The former employ a Krylov method inside of Newton`s method in a Jacobian-free manner, through directional differencing. The latter employ an overlapping Schwarz domain decomposition to derive a preconditioner for the Krylov accelerator that relies primarily on local information, for data-parallel concurrency. They may be composed as Newton-Krylov-Schwarz (NKS) methods, which seem particularly well suited for solving nonlinear elliptic systems in high-latency, distributed-memory environments. We give a brief description of this family of algorithms, with an emphasis on domain decomposition iterative aspects. We then describe numerical simulations with Newton-Krylov-Schwarz methods on an aerodynamic application emphasizing comparisons with a standard defect-correction approach and subdomain preconditioner consistency.

  10. Designing a High Performance Parallel Personal Cluster

    OpenAIRE

    Kapanova, K. G.; Sellier, J. M.

    2016-01-01

    Today, many scientific and engineering areas require high performance computing to perform computationally intensive experiments. For example, many advances in transport phenomena, thermodynamics, material properties, computational chemistry and physics are possible only because of the availability of such large scale computing infrastructures. Yet many challenges are still open. The cost of energy consumption, cooling, competition for resources have been some of the reasons why the scientifi...

  11. High Performance Home Building Guide for Habitat for Humanity Affiliates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lindsey Marburger

    2010-10-01

    This guide covers basic principles of high performance Habitat construction, steps to achieving high performance Habitat construction, resources to help improve building practices, materials, etc., and affiliate profiles and recommendations.

  12. Progress on high-performance rapid prototype aluminum mirrors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woodard, Kenneth S.; Myrick, Bruce H.

    2017-05-01

    Near net shape parts can be produced using some very old processes (investment casting) and the relatively new direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) process. These processes have significant advantages for complex blank lightweighting and costs but are not inherently suited for producing high performance mirrors. The DMLS process can provide extremely complex lightweight structures but the high residual stresses left in the material results in unstable mirror figure retention. Although not to the extreme intricacy of DMLS, investment casting can also provide complex lightweight structures at considerably lower costs than DMLS and even conventional wrought mirror blanks but the less than 100% density for casting (and also DMLS) limits finishing quality. This paper will cover the progress that has been made to make both the DMLS and investment casting processes into viable near net shape blank options for high performance aluminum mirrors. Finish and figure results will be presented to show performance commensurate with existing conventional processes.

  13. Porous Graphene Microflowers for High-Performance Microwave Absorption

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Chen; Xi, Jiabin; Zhou, Erzhen; Peng, Li; Chen, Zichen; Gao, Chao

    2018-06-01

    Graphene has shown great potential in microwave absorption (MA) owing to its high surface area, low density, tunable electrical conductivity and good chemical stability. To fully realize graphene's MA ability, the microstructure of graphene should be carefully addressed. Here we prepared graphene microflowers (Gmfs) with highly porous structure for high-performance MA filler material. The efficient absorption bandwidth (reflection loss ≤ -10 dB) reaches 5.59 GHz and the minimum reflection loss is up to -42.9 dB, showing significant increment compared with stacked graphene. Such performance is higher than most graphene-based materials in the literature. Besides, the low filling content (10 wt%) and low density (40-50 mg cm-3) are beneficial for the practical applications. Without compounding with magnetic materials or conductive polymers, Gmfs show outstanding MA performance with the aid of rational microstructure design. Furthermore, Gmfs exhibit advantages in facile processibility and large-scale production compared with other porous graphene materials including aerogels and foams.

  14. High performance sealing - meeting nuclear and aerospace requirements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wensel, R.; Metcalfe, R.

    1994-11-01

    Although high performance sealing is required in many places, two industries lead all others in terms of their demand-nuclear and aerospace. The factors that govern the high reliability and integrity of seals, particularly elastomer seals, for both industries are discussed. Aerospace requirements include low structural weight and a broad range of conditions, from the cold vacuum of space to the hot, high pressures of rocket motors. It is shown, by example, how a seal can be made an integral part of a structure in order to improve performance, rather than using a conventional handbook design. Typical processes are then described for selection, specification and procurement of suitable elastomers, functional and accelerated performance testing, database development and service-life prediction. Methods for quality assurance of elastomer seals are summarized. Potentially catastrophic internal dejects are a particular problem for conventional non-destructive inspection techniques. A new method of elastodynamic testing for these is described. (author)

  15. Building Trust in High-Performing Teams

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aki Soudunsaari

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Facilitation of growth is more about good, trustworthy contacts than capital. Trust is a driving force for business creation, and to create a global business you need to build a team that is capable of meeting the challenge. Trust is a key factor in team building and a needed enabler for cooperation. In general, trust building is a slow process, but it can be accelerated with open interaction and good communication skills. The fast-growing and ever-changing nature of global business sets demands for cooperation and team building, especially for startup companies. Trust building needs personal knowledge and regular face-to-face interaction, but it also requires empathy, respect, and genuine listening. Trust increases communication, and rich and open communication is essential for the building of high-performing teams. Other building materials are a shared vision, clear roles and responsibilities, willingness for cooperation, and supporting and encouraging leadership. This study focuses on trust in high-performing teams. It asks whether it is possible to manage trust and which tools and operation models should be used to speed up the building of trust. In this article, preliminary results from the authors’ research are presented to highlight the importance of sharing critical information and having a high level of communication through constant interaction.

  16. Integrated Radiation Transport and Nuclear Fuel Performance for Assembly-Level Simulations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Clarno, Kevin T [ORNL; Hamilton, Steven P [ORNL; Philip, Bobby [ORNL; Berrill, Mark A [ORNL; Sampath, Rahul S [ORNL; Allu, Srikanth [ORNL; Pugmire, Dave [ORNL; Dilts, Gary [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL); Banfield, James E [ORNL

    2012-02-01

    The Advanced Multi-Physics (AMP) Nuclear Fuel Performance code (AMPFuel) is focused on predicting the temperature and strain within a nuclear fuel assembly to evaluate the performance and safety of existing and advanced nuclear fuel bundles within existing and advanced nuclear reactors. AMPFuel was extended to include an integrated nuclear fuel assembly capability for (one-way) coupled radiation transport and nuclear fuel assembly thermo-mechanics. This capability is the initial step toward incorporating an improved predictive nuclear fuel assembly modeling capability to accurately account for source-terms and boundary conditions of traditional (single-pin) nuclear fuel performance simulation, such as the neutron flux distribution, coolant conditions, and assembly mechanical stresses. A novel scheme is introduced for transferring the power distribution from the Scale/Denovo (Denovo) radiation transport code (structured, Cartesian mesh with smeared materials within each cell) to AMPFuel (unstructured, hexagonal mesh with a single material within each cell), allowing the use of a relatively coarse spatial mesh (10 million elements) for the radiation transport and a fine spatial mesh (3.3 billion elements) for thermo-mechanics with very little loss of accuracy. In addition, a new nuclear fuel-specific preconditioner was developed to account for the high aspect ratio of each fuel pin (12 feet axially, but 1 4 inches in diameter) with many individual fuel regions (pellets). With this novel capability, AMPFuel was used to model an entire 17 17 pressurized water reactor fuel assembly with many of the features resolved in three dimensions (for thermo-mechanics and/or neutronics), including the fuel, gap, and cladding of each of the 264 fuel pins; the 25 guide tubes; the top and bottom structural regions; and the upper and lower (neutron) reflector regions. The final, full assembly calculation was executed on Jaguar using 40,000 cores in under 10 hours to model over 162

  17. JT-60U high performance regimes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishida, S.

    1999-01-01

    High performance regimes of JT-60U plasmas are presented with an emphasis upon the results from the use of a semi-closed pumped divertor with W-shaped geometry. Plasma performance in transient and quasi steady states has been significantly improved in reversed shear and high- βp regimes. The reversed shear regime elevated an equivalent Q DT eq transiently up to 1.25 (n D (0)τ E T i (0)=8.6x10 20 m-3·s·keV) in a reactor-relevant thermonuclear dominant regime. Long sustainment of enhanced confinement with internal transport barriers (ITBs) with a fully non-inductive current drive in a reversed shear discharge was successfully demonstrated with LH wave injection. Performance sustainment has been extended in the high- bp regime with a high triangularity achieving a long sustainment of plasma conditions equivalent to Q DT eq ∼0.16 (n D (0)τ E T i (0)∼1.4x10 20 m -3 ·s·keV) for ∼4.5 s with a large non-inductive current drive fraction of 60-70% of the plasma current. Thermal and particle transport analyses show significant reduction of thermal and particle diffusivities around ITB resulting in a strong Er shear in the ITB region. The W-shaped divertor is effective for He ash exhaust demonstrating steady exhaust capability of τ He */τ E ∼3-10 in support of ITER. Suppression of neutral back flow and chemical sputtering effect have been observed while MARFE onset density is rather decreased. Negative-ion based neutral beam injection (N-NBI) experiments have created a clear H-mode transition. Enhanced ionization cross- section due to multi-step ionization processes was confirmed as theoretically predicted. A current density profile driven by N-NBI is measured in a good agreement with theoretical prediction. N-NBI induced TAE modes characterized as persistent and bursting oscillations have been observed from a low hot beta of h >∼0.1-0.2% without a significant loss of fast ions. (author)

  18. High performance light-colored nitrile-butadiene rubber nanocomposites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lei, Yanda; Guo, Baochun; Chen, Feng; Zhu, Lixin; Zhou, Wenyou; Jia, Demin

    2011-12-01

    High mechanical performance nitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) with light color was fabricated by the method of in situ formation of zinc disorbate (ZDS) or magnesium disorbate (MDS). The in situ formed ZDS and its polymerization via internal mixing was confirmed by X-ray diffaraction. The mechanical properties, ageing resistance, morphology and the dynamic mechanical analysis were fully studied. It was found that with increasing loading of metallic disorbate both the curing rate and the ionic crosslink density was largely increased. The modulus, tensile strength and tear strength were largely increased. With a comparison between internal mixing and opening mixing, the mechanical performance for the former one was obviously better than the latter one. The high performance was ascribed to the finely dispersion nano domains with irregular shape and obscure interfacial structures. Except for the NBR vulcanizate with a high loading of MDS, the others' ageing resistance with incorporation of these two metallic disorbate was found to be good. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) showed that, with increasing loading of metallic disorbate, the highly increased storage modulus above -20 degrees C, the up-shifted glass transition temperature (Tg) and the reduced mechanical loss were ascribed to strengthened interfacial interactions.

  19. High Performance Fiber Reinforced Cement Composites 6 HPFRCC 6

    CERN Document Server

    Reinhardt, Hans; Naaman, A

    2012-01-01

    High Performance Fiber Reinforced Cement Composites (HPFRCC) represent a class of cement composites whose stress-strain response in tension undergoes strain hardening behaviour accompanied by multiple cracking, leading to a high strain prior to failure. The primary objective of this International Workshop was to provide a compendium of up-to-date information on the most recent developments and research advances in the field of High Performance Fiber Reinforced Cement Composites. Approximately 65 contributions from leading world experts are assembled in these proceedings and provide an authoritative perspective on the subject. Special topics include fresh and hardening state properties; self-compacting mixtures; mechanical behavior under compressive, tensile, and shear loading; structural applications; impact, earthquake and fire resistance; durability issues; ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concrete; and textile reinforced concrete. Target readers: graduate students, researchers, fiber producers, desi...

  20. Debugging a high performance computing program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gooding, Thomas M.

    2013-08-20

    Methods, apparatus, and computer program products are disclosed for debugging a high performance computing program by gathering lists of addresses of calling instructions for a plurality of threads of execution of the program, assigning the threads to groups in dependence upon the addresses, and displaying the groups to identify defective threads.

  1. Playa: High-Performance Programmable Linear Algebra

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victoria E. Howle

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper introduces Playa, a high-level user interface layer for composing algorithms for complex multiphysics problems out of objects from other Trilinos packages. Among other features, Playa provides very high-performance overloaded operators implemented through an expression template mechanism. In this paper, we give an overview of the central Playa objects from a user's perspective, show application to a sequence of increasingly complex solver algorithms, provide timing results for Playa's overloaded operators and other functions, and briefly survey some of the implementation issues involved.

  2. Preconditioned conjugate-gradient methods for low-speed flow calculations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ajmani, Kumud; Ng, Wing-Fai; Liou, Meng-Sing

    1993-01-01

    An investigation is conducted into the viability of using a generalized Conjugate Gradient-like method as an iterative solver to obtain steady-state solutions of very low-speed fluid flow problems. Low-speed flow at Mach 0.1 over a backward-facing step is chosen as a representative test problem. The unsteady form of the two dimensional, compressible Navier-Stokes equations is integrated in time using discrete time-steps. The Navier-Stokes equations are cast in an implicit, upwind finite-volume, flux split formulation. The new iterative solver is used to solve a linear system of equations at each step of the time-integration. Preconditioning techniques are used with the new solver to enhance the stability and convergence rate of the solver and are found to be critical to the overall success of the solver. A study of various preconditioners reveals that a preconditioner based on the Lower-Upper Successive Symmetric Over-Relaxation iterative scheme is more efficient than a preconditioner based on Incomplete L-U factorizations of the iteration matrix. The performance of the new preconditioned solver is compared with a conventional Line Gauss-Seidel Relaxation (LGSR) solver. Overall speed-up factors of 28 (in terms of global time-steps required to converge to a steady-state solution) and 20 (in terms of total CPU time on one processor of a CRAY-YMP) are found in favor of the new preconditioned solver, when compared with the LGSR solver.

  3. Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient methods for low speed flow calculations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ajmani, Kumud; Ng, Wing-Fai; Liou, Meng-Sing

    1993-01-01

    An investigation is conducted into the viability of using a generalized Conjugate Gradient-like method as an iterative solver to obtain steady-state solutions of very low-speed fluid flow problems. Low-speed flow at Mach 0.1 over a backward-facing step is chosen as a representative test problem. The unsteady form of the two dimensional, compressible Navier-Stokes equations are integrated in time using discrete time-steps. The Navier-Stokes equations are cast in an implicit, upwind finite-volume, flux split formulation. The new iterative solver is used to solve a linear system of equations at each step of the time-integration. Preconditioning techniques are used with the new solver to enhance the stability and the convergence rate of the solver and are found to be critical to the overall success of the solver. A study of various preconditioners reveals that a preconditioner based on the lower-upper (L-U)-successive symmetric over-relaxation iterative scheme is more efficient than a preconditioner based on incomplete L-U factorizations of the iteration matrix. The performance of the new preconditioned solver is compared with a conventional line Gauss-Seidel relaxation (LGSR) solver. Overall speed-up factors of 28 (in terms of global time-steps required to converge to a steady-state solution) and 20 (in terms of total CPU time on one processor of a CRAY-YMP) are found in favor of the new preconditioned solver, when compared with the LGSR solver.

  4. High performance direct methanol fuel cell with thin electrolyte membrane

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wan, Nianfang

    2017-06-01

    A high performance direct methanol fuel cell is achieved with thin electrolyte membrane. 320 mW cm-2 of peak power density and over 260 mW cm-2 at 0.4 V are obtained when working at 90 °C with normal pressure air supply. It is revealed that the increased anode half-cell performance with temperature contributes primarily to the enhanced performance at elevated temperature. From the comparison of iR-compensated cathode potential of methanol/air with that of H2/air fuel cell, the impact of methanol crossover on cathode performance decreases with current density and becomes negligible at high current density. Current density is found to influence fuel efficiency and methanol crossover significantly from the measurement of fuel efficiency at different current density. At high current density, high fuel efficiency can be achieved even at high temperature, indicating decreased methanol crossover.

  5. Analog circuit design designing high performance amplifiers

    CERN Document Server

    Feucht, Dennis

    2010-01-01

    The third volume Designing High Performance Amplifiers applies the concepts from the first two volumes. It is an advanced treatment of amplifier design/analysis emphasizing both wideband and precision amplification.

  6. Distributed control software of high-performance control-loop algorithm

    CERN Document Server

    Blanc, D

    1999-01-01

    The majority of industrial cooling and ventilation plants require the control of complex processes. All these processes are highly important for the operation of the machines. The stability and reliability of these processes are leading factors identifying the quality of the service provided. The control system architecture and software structure, as well, are required to have high dynamical performance and robust behaviour. The intelligent systems based on PID or RST controllers are used for their high level of stability and accuracy. The design and tuning of these complex controllers require the dynamic model of the plant to be known (generally obtained by identification) and the desired performance of the various control loops to be specified for achieving good performances. The concept of having a distributed control algorithm software provides full automation facilities with well-adapted functionality and good performances, giving methodology, means and tools to master the dynamic process optimization an...

  7. Optimizing the design of very high power, high performance converters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Edwards, R.J.; Tiagha, E.A.; Ganetis, G.; Nawrocky, R.J.

    1980-01-01

    This paper describes how various technologies are used to achieve the desired performance in a high current magnet power converter system. It is hoped that the discussions of the design approaches taken will be applicable to other power supply systems where stringent requirements in stability, accuracy and reliability must be met

  8. Laser additive manufacturing of high-performance materials

    CERN Document Server

    Gu, Dongdong

    2015-01-01

    This book entitled “Laser Additive Manufacturing of High-Performance Materials” covers the specific aspects of laser additive manufacturing of high-performance new materials components based on an unconventional materials incremental manufacturing philosophy, in terms of materials design and preparation, process control and optimization, and theories of physical and chemical metallurgy. This book describes the capabilities and characteristics of the development of new metallic materials components by laser additive manufacturing process, including nanostructured materials, in situ composite materials, particle reinforced metal matrix composites, etc. The topics presented in this book, similar as laser additive manufacturing technology itself, show a significant interdisciplinary feature, integrating laser technology, materials science, metallurgical engineering, and mechanical engineering. This is a book for researchers, students, practicing engineers, and manufacturing industry professionals interested i...

  9. Monitoring SLAC High Performance UNIX Computing Systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lettsome, Annette K.

    2005-01-01

    Knowledge of the effectiveness and efficiency of computers is important when working with high performance systems. The monitoring of such systems is advantageous in order to foresee possible misfortunes or system failures. Ganglia is a software system designed for high performance computing systems to retrieve specific monitoring information. An alternative storage facility for Ganglia's collected data is needed since its default storage system, the round-robin database (RRD), struggles with data integrity. The creation of a script-driven MySQL database solves this dilemma. This paper describes the process took in the creation and implementation of the MySQL database for use by Ganglia. Comparisons between data storage by both databases are made using gnuplot and Ganglia's real-time graphical user interface

  10. Governing highly performing lean team behaviors : A mixed-methods longitudinal study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Dun, Desirée H.; Wilderom, Celeste P.M.

    2015-01-01

    Work teams go through multiple performance cycles; initially highly performing teams may experience a decline in subsequent performance and vice-versa. This inductive study focuses on team-behavioral and contextual predictors of high lean team performance. Rooted in both the IMOI model and reviewing

  11. Low-memory iterative density fitting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grajciar, Lukáš

    2015-07-30

    A new low-memory modification of the density fitting approximation based on a combination of a continuous fast multipole method (CFMM) and a preconditioned conjugate gradient solver is presented. Iterative conjugate gradient solver uses preconditioners formed from blocks of the Coulomb metric matrix that decrease the number of iterations needed for convergence by up to one order of magnitude. The matrix-vector products needed within the iterative algorithm are calculated using CFMM, which evaluates them with the linear scaling memory requirements only. Compared with the standard density fitting implementation, up to 15-fold reduction of the memory requirements is achieved for the most efficient preconditioner at a cost of only 25% increase in computational time. The potential of the method is demonstrated by performing density functional theory calculations for zeolite fragment with 2592 atoms and 121,248 auxiliary basis functions on a single 12-core CPU workstation. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  12. Principals' Perceptions of Professional Development in High- and Low-Performing High-Poverty Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Sheila; Kochan, Frances

    2013-01-01

    This is the second part of a two-part study examining issues related to professional development in high-poverty schools. The findings from the initial study indicated that principals in high-poverty, high-performing schools perceived higher levels of implementation of quality professional development standards in their schools than did principals…

  13. Neo4j high performance

    CERN Document Server

    Raj, Sonal

    2015-01-01

    If you are a professional or enthusiast who has a basic understanding of graphs or has basic knowledge of Neo4j operations, this is the book for you. Although it is targeted at an advanced user base, this book can be used by beginners as it touches upon the basics. So, if you are passionate about taming complex data with the help of graphs and building high performance applications, you will be able to get valuable insights from this book.

  14. Higher Order, Hybrid BEM/FEM Methods Applied to Antenna Modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fink, P. W.; Wilton, D. R.; Dobbins, J. A.

    2002-01-01

    In this presentation, the authors address topics relevant to higher order modeling using hybrid BEM/FEM formulations. The first of these is the limitation on convergence rates imposed by geometric modeling errors in the analysis of scattering by a dielectric sphere. The second topic is the application of an Incomplete LU Threshold (ILUT) preconditioner to solve the linear system resulting from the BEM/FEM formulation. The final tOpic is the application of the higher order BEM/FEM formulation to antenna modeling problems. The authors have previously presented work on the benefits of higher order modeling. To achieve these benefits, special attention is required in the integration of singular and near-singular terms arising in the surface integral equation. Several methods for handling these terms have been presented. It is also well known that achieving he high rates of convergence afforded by higher order bases may als'o require the employment of higher order geometry models. A number of publications have described the use of quadratic elements to model curved surfaces. The authors have shown in an EFIE formulation, applied to scattering by a PEC .sphere, that quadratic order elements may be insufficient to prevent the domination of modeling errors. In fact, on a PEC sphere with radius r = 0.58 Lambda(sub 0), a quartic order geometry representation was required to obtain a convergence benefi.t from quadratic bases when compared to the convergence rate achieved with linear bases. Initial trials indicate that, for a dielectric sphere of the same radius, - requirements on the geometry model are not as severe as for the PEC sphere. The authors will present convergence results for higher order bases as a function of the geometry model order in the hybrid BEM/FEM formulation applied to dielectric spheres. It is well known that the system matrix resulting from the hybrid BEM/FEM formulation is ill -conditioned. For many real applications, a good preconditioner is required

  15. High performance APCS conceptual design and evaluation scoping study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soelberg, N.; Liekhus, K.; Chambers, A.; Anderson, G.

    1998-02-01

    This Air Pollution Control System (APCS) Conceptual Design and Evaluation study was conducted to evaluate a high-performance (APC) system for minimizing air emissions from mixed waste thermal treatment systems. Seven variations of high-performance APCS designs were conceptualized using several design objectives. One of the system designs was selected for detailed process simulation using ASPEN PLUS to determine material and energy balances and evaluate performance. Installed system capital costs were also estimated. Sensitivity studies were conducted to evaluate the incremental cost and benefit of added carbon adsorber beds for mercury control, specific catalytic reduction for NO x control, and offgas retention tanks for holding the offgas until sample analysis is conducted to verify that the offgas meets emission limits. Results show that the high-performance dry-wet APCS can easily meet all expected emission limits except for possibly mercury. The capability to achieve high levels of mercury control (potentially necessary for thermally treating some DOE mixed streams) could not be validated using current performance data for mercury control technologies. The engineering approach and ASPEN PLUS modeling tool developed and used in this study identified APC equipment and system performance, size, cost, and other issues that are not yet resolved. These issues need to be addressed in feasibility studies and conceptual designs for new facilities or for determining how to modify existing facilities to meet expected emission limits. The ASPEN PLUS process simulation with current and refined input assumptions and calculations can be used to provide system performance information for decision-making, identifying best options, estimating costs, reducing the potential for emission violations, providing information needed for waste flow analysis, incorporating new APCS technologies in existing designs, or performing facility design and permitting activities

  16. A High Performance COTS Based Computer Architecture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patte, Mathieu; Grimoldi, Raoul; Trautner, Roland

    2014-08-01

    Using Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) electronic components for space applications is a long standing idea. Indeed the difference in processing performance and energy efficiency between radiation hardened components and COTS components is so important that COTS components are very attractive for use in mass and power constrained systems. However using COTS components in space is not straightforward as one must account with the effects of the space environment on the COTS components behavior. In the frame of the ESA funded activity called High Performance COTS Based Computer, Airbus Defense and Space and its subcontractor OHB CGS have developed and prototyped a versatile COTS based architecture for high performance processing. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: in a first section we will start by recapitulating the interests and constraints of using COTS components for space applications; then we will briefly describe existing fault mitigation architectures and present our solution for fault mitigation based on a component called the SmartIO; in the last part of the paper we will describe the prototyping activities executed during the HiP CBC project.

  17. Management issues for high performance storage systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Louis, S. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States); Burris, R. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)

    1995-03-01

    Managing distributed high-performance storage systems is complex and, although sharing common ground with traditional network and systems management, presents unique storage-related issues. Integration technologies and frameworks exist to help manage distributed network and system environments. Industry-driven consortia provide open forums where vendors and users cooperate to leverage solutions. But these new approaches to open management fall short addressing the needs of scalable, distributed storage. We discuss the motivation and requirements for storage system management (SSM) capabilities and describe how SSM manages distributed servers and storage resource objects in the High Performance Storage System (HPSS), a new storage facility for data-intensive applications and large-scale computing. Modem storage systems, such as HPSS, require many SSM capabilities, including server and resource configuration control, performance monitoring, quality of service, flexible policies, file migration, file repacking, accounting, and quotas. We present results of initial HPSS SSM development including design decisions and implementation trade-offs. We conclude with plans for follow-on work and provide storage-related recommendations for vendors and standards groups seeking enterprise-wide management solutions.

  18. High-performance nanostructured supercapacitors on a sponge

    KAUST Repository

    Chen, Wei

    2011-12-14

    A simple and scalable method has been developed to fabricate nanostructured MnO 2-carbon nanotube (CNT)-sponge hybrid electrodes. A novel supercapacitor, henceforth referred to as "sponge supercapacitor", has been fabricated using these hybrid electrodes with remarkable performance. A specific capacitance of 1230 F/g (based on the mass of MnO 2) can be reached. Capacitors based on CNT-sponge substrates (without MnO 2) can be operated even under a high scan rate of 200 V/s, and they exhibit outstanding cycle performance with only 2% degradation after 100000 cycles under a scan rate of 10 V/s. The MnO 2-CNT-sponge supercapacitors show only 4% of degradation after 10000 cycles at a charge-discharge specific current of 5 A/g. The specific power and energy of the MnO 2-CNT-sponge supercapacitors are high with values of 63 kW/kg and 31 Wh/kg, respectively. The attractive performances exhibited by these sponge supercapacitors make them potentially promising candidates for future energy storage systems. © 2011 American Chemical Society.

  19. High Performance OLED Panel and Luminaire

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Spindler, Jeffrey [OLEDWorks LLC, Rochester, NY (United States)

    2017-02-20

    In this project, OLEDWorks developed and demonstrated the technology required to produce OLED lighting panels with high energy efficiency and excellent light quality. OLED panels developed in this program produce high quality warm white light with CRI greater than 85 and efficacy up to 80 lumens per watt (LPW). An OLED luminaire employing 24 of the high performance panels produces practical levels of illumination for general lighting, with a flux of over 2200 lumens at 60 LPW. This is a significant advance in the state of the art for OLED solid-state lighting (SSL), which is expected to be a complementary light source to the more advanced LED SSL technology that is rapidly replacing all other traditional forms of lighting.

  20. High-performance computing for airborne applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Quinn, Heather M.; Manuzatto, Andrea; Fairbanks, Tom; Dallmann, Nicholas; Desgeorges, Rose

    2010-01-01

    Recently, there has been attempts to move common satellite tasks to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). UAVs are significantly cheaper to buy than satellites and easier to deploy on an as-needed basis. The more benign radiation environment also allows for an aggressive adoption of state-of-the-art commercial computational devices, which increases the amount of data that can be collected. There are a number of commercial computing devices currently available that are well-suited to high-performance computing. These devices range from specialized computational devices, such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and digital signal processors (DSPs), to traditional computing platforms, such as microprocessors. Even though the radiation environment is relatively benign, these devices could be susceptible to single-event effects. In this paper, we will present radiation data for high-performance computing devices in a accelerated neutron environment. These devices include a multi-core digital signal processor, two field-programmable gate arrays, and a microprocessor. From these results, we found that all of these devices are suitable for many airplane environments without reliability problems.

  1. Micromachined high-performance RF passives in CMOS substrate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Xinxin; Ni, Zao; Gu, Lei; Wu, Zhengzheng; Yang, Chen

    2016-01-01

    This review systematically addresses the micromachining technologies used for the fabrication of high-performance radio-frequency (RF) passives that can be integrated into low-cost complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-grade (i.e. low-resistivity) silicon wafers. With the development of various kinds of post-CMOS-compatible microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) processes, 3D structural inductors/transformers, variable capacitors, tunable resonators and band-pass/low-pass filters can be compatibly integrated into active integrated circuits to form monolithic RF system-on-chips. By using MEMS processes, including substrate modifying/suspending and LIGA-like metal electroplating, both the highly lossy substrate effect and the resistive loss can be largely eliminated and depressed, thereby meeting the high-performance requirements of telecommunication applications. (topical review)

  2. Simplified approaches to some nonoverlapping domain decomposition methods

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xu, Jinchao

    1996-12-31

    An attempt will be made in this talk to present various domain decomposition methods in a way that is intuitively clear and technically coherent and concise. The basic framework used for analysis is the {open_quotes}parallel subspace correction{close_quotes} or {open_quotes}additive Schwarz{close_quotes} method, and other simple technical tools include {open_quotes}local-global{close_quotes} and {open_quotes}global-local{close_quotes} techniques, the formal one is for constructing subspace preconditioner based on a preconditioner on the whole space whereas the later one for constructing preconditioner on the whole space based on a subspace preconditioner. The domain decomposition methods discussed in this talk fall into two major categories: one, based on local Dirichlet problems, is related to the {open_quotes}substructuring method{close_quotes} and the other, based on local Neumann problems, is related to the {open_quotes}Neumann-Neumann method{close_quotes} and {open_quotes}balancing method{close_quotes}. All these methods will be presented in a systematic and coherent manner and the analysis for both two and three dimensional cases are carried out simultaneously. In particular, some intimate relationship between these algorithms are observed and some new variants of the algorithms are obtained.

  3. Strategies of high-performing paramedic educational programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Margolis, Gregg S; Romero, Gabriel A; Fernandez, Antonio R; Studnek, Jonathan R

    2009-01-01

    To identify the specific educational strategies used by paramedic educational programs that have attained consistently high success rates on the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) examination. NREMT data from 2003-2007 were analyzed to identify consistently high-performing paramedic educational programs. Representatives from 12 programs that have maintained a 75% first-attempt pass rate for at least four of five years and had more than 20 graduates per year were invited to participate in a focus group. Using the nominal group technique (NGT), participants were asked to answer the following question: "What are specific strategies that lead to a successful paramedic educational program?" All 12 emergency medical services (EMS) educational programs meeting the eligibility requirements participated. After completing the seven-step NGT process, 12 strategies were identified as leading to a successful paramedic educational program: 1) achieve and maintain national accreditation; 2) maintain high-level entry requirements and prerequisites; 3) provide students with a clear idea of expectations for student success; 4) establish a philosophy and foster a culture that values continuous review and improvement; 5) create your own examinations, lesson plans, presentations, and course materials using multiple current references; 6) emphasize emergency medical technician (EMT)-Basic concepts throughout the class; 7) use frequent case-based classroom scenarios; 8) expose students to as many prehospital advanced life support (ALS) patient contacts as possible, preferably where they are in charge; 9) create and administer valid examinations that have been through a review process (such as qualitative analysis); 10) provide students with frequent detailed feedback regarding their performance (such as formal examination reviews); 11) incorporate critical thinking and problem solving into all testing; and 12) deploy predictive testing with analysis prior to

  4. High-Speed 3D Printing of High-Performance Thermosetting Polymers via Two-Stage Curing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuang, Xiao; Zhao, Zeang; Chen, Kaijuan; Fang, Daining; Kang, Guozheng; Qi, Hang Jerry

    2018-04-01

    Design and direct fabrication of high-performance thermosets and composites via 3D printing are highly desirable in engineering applications. Most 3D printed thermosetting polymers to date suffer from poor mechanical properties and low printing speed. Here, a novel ink for high-speed 3D printing of high-performance epoxy thermosets via a two-stage curing approach is presented. The ink containing photocurable resin and thermally curable epoxy resin is used for the digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing. After printing, the part is thermally cured at elevated temperature to yield an interpenetrating polymer network epoxy composite, whose mechanical properties are comparable to engineering epoxy. The printing speed is accelerated by the continuous liquid interface production assisted DLP 3D printing method, achieving a printing speed as high as 216 mm h -1 . It is also demonstrated that 3D printing structural electronics can be achieved by combining the 3D printed epoxy composites with infilled silver ink in the hollow channels. The new 3D printing method via two-stage curing combines the attributes of outstanding printing speed, high resolution, low volume shrinkage, and excellent mechanical properties, and provides a new avenue to fabricate 3D thermosetting composites with excellent mechanical properties and high efficiency toward high-performance and functional applications. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  5. A high-performance, low-cost, leading edge discriminator

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Abstract. A high-performance, low-cost, leading edge discriminator has been designed with a timing performance comparable to state-of-the-art, commercially available discrim- inators. A timing error of 16 ps is achieved under ideal operating conditions. Under more realistic operating conditions the discriminator displays a ...

  6. Design of High Performance Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Wind Generators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chun-Yu Hsiao

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper is devoted to the analysis and design of high performance permanent-magnet synchronous wind generators (PSWGs. A systematic and sequential methodology for the design of PMSGs is proposed with a high performance wind generator as a design model. Aiming at high induced voltage, low harmonic distortion as well as high generator efficiency, optimal generator parameters such as pole-arc to pole-pitch ratio and stator-slot-shoes dimension, etc. are determined with the proposed technique using Maxwell 2-D, Matlab software and the Taguchi method. The proposed double three-phase and six-phase winding configurations, which consist of six windings in the stator, can provide evenly distributed current for versatile applications regarding the voltage and current demands for practical consideration. Specifically, windings are connected in series to increase the output voltage at low wind speed, and in parallel during high wind speed to generate electricity even when either one winding fails, thereby enhancing the reliability as well. A PMSG is designed and implemented based on the proposed method. When the simulation is performed with a 6 Ω load, the output power for the double three-phase winding and six-phase winding are correspondingly 10.64 and 11.13 kW. In addition, 24 Ω load experiments show that the efficiencies of double three-phase winding and six-phase winding are 96.56% and 98.54%, respectively, verifying the proposed high performance operation.

  7. Building and measuring a high performance network architecture

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kramer, William T.C.; Toole, Timothy; Fisher, Chuck; Dugan, Jon; Wheeler, David; Wing, William R; Nickless, William; Goddard, Gregory; Corbato, Steven; Love, E. Paul; Daspit, Paul; Edwards, Hal; Mercer, Linden; Koester, David; Decina, Basil; Dart, Eli; Paul Reisinger, Paul; Kurihara, Riki; Zekauskas, Matthew J; Plesset, Eric; Wulf, Julie; Luce, Douglas; Rogers, James; Duncan, Rex; Mauth, Jeffery

    2001-04-20

    Once a year, the SC conferences present a unique opportunity to create and build one of the most complex and highest performance networks in the world. At SC2000, large-scale and complex local and wide area networking connections were demonstrated, including large-scale distributed applications running on different architectures. This project was designed to use the unique opportunity presented at SC2000 to create a testbed network environment and then use that network to demonstrate and evaluate high performance computational and communication applications. This testbed was designed to incorporate many interoperable systems and services and was designed for measurement from the very beginning. The end results were key insights into how to use novel, high performance networking technologies and to accumulate measurements that will give insights into the networks of the future.

  8. HIGH PERFORMANCE CERIA BASED OXYGEN MEMBRANE

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2014-01-01

    The invention describes a new class of highly stable mixed conducting materials based on acceptor doped cerium oxide (CeO2-8 ) in which the limiting electronic conductivity is significantly enhanced by co-doping with a second element or co- dopant, such as Nb, W and Zn, so that cerium and the co......-dopant have an ionic size ratio between 0.5 and 1. These materials can thereby improve the performance and extend the range of operating conditions of oxygen permeation membranes (OPM) for different high temperature membrane reactor applications. The invention also relates to the manufacturing of supported...

  9. GPU-based high-performance computing for radiation therapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jia, Xun; Jiang, Steve B; Ziegenhein, Peter

    2014-01-01

    Recent developments in radiotherapy therapy demand high computation powers to solve challenging problems in a timely fashion in a clinical environment. The graphics processing unit (GPU), as an emerging high-performance computing platform, has been introduced to radiotherapy. It is particularly attractive due to its high computational power, small size, and low cost for facility deployment and maintenance. Over the past few years, GPU-based high-performance computing in radiotherapy has experienced rapid developments. A tremendous amount of study has been conducted, in which large acceleration factors compared with the conventional CPU platform have been observed. In this paper, we will first give a brief introduction to the GPU hardware structure and programming model. We will then review the current applications of GPU in major imaging-related and therapy-related problems encountered in radiotherapy. A comparison of GPU with other platforms will also be presented. (topical review)

  10. An Introduction to High Performance Fortran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John Merlin

    1995-01-01

    Full Text Available High Performance Fortran (HPF is an informal standard for extensions to Fortran 90 to assist its implementation on parallel architectures, particularly for data-parallel computation. Among other things, it includes directives for specifying data distribution across multiple memories, and concurrent execution features. This article provides a tutorial introduction to the main features of HPF.

  11. Long duration performance of high temperature irradiation resistant thermocouples

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rempe, J.; Knudson, D.; Condie, K.; Cole, J.; Wilkins, S.C.

    2007-01-01

    Many advanced nuclear reactor designs require new fuel, cladding, and structural materials. Data are needed to characterize the performance of these new materials in high temperature, radiation conditions. However, traditional methods for measuring temperature in-pile degrade at temperatures above 1100 C degrees. To address this instrumentation need, the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) developed and evaluated the performance of a high temperature irradiation-resistant thermocouple that contains alloys of molybdenum and niobium. To verify the performance of INL's recommended thermocouple design, a series of high temperature (from 1200 to 1800 C) long duration (up to six months) tests has been initiated. This paper summarizes results from the tests that have been completed. Data are presented from 4000 hour tests conducted at 1200 and 1400 C that demonstrate the stability of this thermocouple (less than 2% drift). In addition, post test metallographic examinations are discussed which confirm the compatibility of thermocouple materials throughout these long duration, high temperature tests. (authors)

  12. Highly featured amorphous silicon nanorod arrays for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soleimani-Amiri, Samaneh; Safiabadi Tali, Seied Ali; Azimi, Soheil; Sanaee, Zeinab; Mohajerzadeh, Shamsoddin

    2014-01-01

    High aspect-ratio vertical structures of amorphous silicon have been realized using hydrogen-assisted low-density plasma reactive ion etching. Amorphous silicon layers with the thicknesses ranging from 0.5 to 10 μm were deposited using radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique. Standard photolithography and nanosphere colloidal lithography were employed to realize ultra-small features of the amorphous silicon. The performance of the patterned amorphous silicon structures as a lithium-ion battery electrode was investigated using galvanostatic charge-discharge tests. The patterned structures showed a superior Li-ion battery performance compared to planar amorphous silicon. Such structures are suitable for high current Li-ion battery applications such as electric vehicles

  13. Highly featured amorphous silicon nanorod arrays for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Soleimani-Amiri, Samaneh; Safiabadi Tali, Seied Ali; Azimi, Soheil; Sanaee, Zeinab; Mohajerzadeh, Shamsoddin, E-mail: mohajer@ut.ac.ir [Thin Film and Nanoelectronics Lab, Nanoelectronics Center of Excellence, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran 143957131 (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

    2014-11-10

    High aspect-ratio vertical structures of amorphous silicon have been realized using hydrogen-assisted low-density plasma reactive ion etching. Amorphous silicon layers with the thicknesses ranging from 0.5 to 10 μm were deposited using radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique. Standard photolithography and nanosphere colloidal lithography were employed to realize ultra-small features of the amorphous silicon. The performance of the patterned amorphous silicon structures as a lithium-ion battery electrode was investigated using galvanostatic charge-discharge tests. The patterned structures showed a superior Li-ion battery performance compared to planar amorphous silicon. Such structures are suitable for high current Li-ion battery applications such as electric vehicles.

  14. Two Profiles of the Dutch High Performing Employee

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Waal, A. A.; Oudshoorn, Michella

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the profile of an ideal employee, to be more precise the behavioral characteristics of the Dutch high-performing employee (HPE). Organizational performance depends for a large part on the commitment of employees. Employees provide their knowledge, skills, experiences and creativity to the…

  15. High Performance Computing Software Applications for Space Situational Awareness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giuliano, C.; Schumacher, P.; Matson, C.; Chun, F.; Duncan, B.; Borelli, K.; Desonia, R.; Gusciora, G.; Roe, K.

    The High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute for Space Situational Awareness (HSAI-SSA) has completed its first full year of applications development. The emphasis of our work in this first year was in improving space surveillance sensor models and image enhancement software. These applications are the Space Surveillance Network Analysis Model (SSNAM), the Air Force Space Fence simulation (SimFence), and physically constrained iterative de-convolution (PCID) image enhancement software tool. Specifically, we have demonstrated order of magnitude speed-up in those codes running on the latest Cray XD-1 Linux supercomputer (Hoku) at the Maui High Performance Computing Center. The software applications improvements that HSAI-SSA has made, has had significant impact to the warfighter and has fundamentally changed the role of high performance computing in SSA.

  16. Family and academic performance: identifying high school student profiles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alicia Aleli Chaparro Caso López

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to identify profiles of high school students, based on variables related to academic performance, socioeconomic status, cultural capital and family organization. A total of 21,724 high school students, from the five municipalities of the state of Baja California, took part. A K-means cluster analysis was performed to identify the profiles. The analyses identified two clearly-defined clusters: Cluster 1 grouped together students with high academic performance and who achieved higher scores for socioeconomic status, cultural capital and family involvement, whereas Cluster 2 brought together students with low academic achievement, and who also obtained lower scores for socioeconomic status and cultural capital, and had less family involvement. It is concluded that the family variables analyzed form student profiles that can be related to academic achievement.

  17. Performance Issues in High Performance Fortran Implementations of Sensor-Based Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David R. O'hallaron

    1997-01-01

    Full Text Available Applications that get their inputs from sensors are an important and often overlooked application domain for High Performance Fortran (HPF. Such sensor-based applications typically perform regular operations on dense arrays, and often have latency and through put requirements that can only be achieved with parallel machines. This article describes a study of sensor-based applications, including the fast Fourier transform, synthetic aperture radar imaging, narrowband tracking radar processing, multibaseline stereo imaging, and medical magnetic resonance imaging. The applications are written in a dialect of HPF developed at Carnegie Mellon, and are compiled by the Fx compiler for the Intel Paragon. The main results of the study are that (1 it is possible to realize good performance for realistic sensor-based applications written in HPF and (2 the performance of the applications is determined by the performance of three core operations: independent loops (i.e., loops with no dependences between iterations, reductions, and index permutations. The article discusses the implications for HPF implementations and introduces some simple tests that implementers and users can use to measure the efficiency of the loops, reductions, and index permutations generated by an HPF compiler.

  18. Efficient high-performance ultrasound beamforming using oversampling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freeman, Steven R.; Quick, Marshall K.; Morin, Marc A.; Anderson, R. C.; Desilets, Charles S.; Linnenbrink, Thomas E.; O'Donnell, Matthew

    1998-05-01

    High-performance and efficient beamforming circuitry is very important in large channel count clinical ultrasound systems. Current state-of-the-art digital systems using multi-bit analog to digital converters (A/Ds) have matured to provide exquisite image quality with moderate levels of integration. A simplified oversampling beamforming architecture has been proposed that may a low integration of delta-sigma A/Ds onto the same chip as digital delay and processing circuitry to form a monolithic ultrasound beamformer. Such a beamformer may enable low-power handheld scanners for high-end systems with very large channel count arrays. This paper presents an oversampling beamformer architecture that generates high-quality images using very simple; digitization, delay, and summing circuits. Additional performance may be obtained with this oversampled system for narrow bandwidth excitations by mixing the RF signal down in frequency to a range where the electronic signal to nose ratio of the delta-sigma A/D is optimized. An oversampled transmit beamformer uses the same delay circuits as receive and eliminates the need for separate transmit function generators.

  19. High temperature performance limit of containment system of transport cask

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kato, Osamu; Saegusa, Toshiari

    1998-01-01

    The containment performance of a containment system using elastomer gaskets for transport casks under a high temperature and high pressure was clarified. Major results are as follows; (1) The deformation characteristics of the gaskets were represented by the compressive permanent strain rate (Dp). The temperature and time dependence was shown by Larson-Miller Parameter (LMP). (2) Generally, the high temperature performance limit is obtained by a value of LMP when the Dp value reaches 80%. However, the gaskets (FKM, VMQ, EPDM) used for real transport casks were not damaged and the containment performance was not deteriorated as a conservative condition. (3) Assuming that the service period of the gaskets for transport casks is 3 months or 1 year, the high temperature performance limit of the gasket made of fluorine rubber (FKM) is 202degC or 182degC, respectively, which includes safety margin. (author)

  20. Designing 3D highly ordered nanoporous CuO electrodes for high-performance asymmetric supercapacitors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moosavifard, Seyyed E; El-Kady, Maher F; Rahmanifar, Mohammad S; Kaner, Richard B; Mousavi, Mir F

    2015-03-04

    The increasing demand for energy has triggered tremendous research efforts for the development of lightweight and durable energy storage devices. Herein, we report a simple, yet effective, strategy for high-performance supercapacitors by building three-dimensional pseudocapacitive CuO frameworks with highly ordered and interconnected bimodal nanopores, nanosized walls (∼4 nm) and large specific surface area of 149 m(2) g(-1). This interesting electrode structure plays a key role in providing facilitated ion transport, short ion and electron diffusion pathways and more active sites for electrochemical reactions. This electrode demonstrates excellent electrochemical performance with a specific capacitance of 431 F g(-1) (1.51 F cm(-2)) at 3.5 mA cm(-2) and retains over 70% of this capacitance when operated at an ultrafast rate of 70 mA cm(-2). When this highly ordered CuO electrode is assembled in an asymmetric cell with an activated carbon electrode, the as-fabricated device demonstrates remarkable performance with an energy density of 19.7 W h kg(-1), power density of 7 kW kg(-1), and excellent cycle life. This work presents a new platform for high-performance asymmetric supercapacitors for the next generation of portable electronics and electric vehicles.

  1. A high-performance channel engineered charge-plasma-based MOSFET with high-κ spacer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shan, Chan; Wang, Ying; Luo, Xin; Bao, Meng-tian; Yu, Cheng-hao; Cao, Fei

    2017-12-01

    In this paper, the performance of graded channel double-gate MOSFET (GC-DGFET) that utilizes the charge-plasma concept and a high-κ spacer is investigated through 2-D device simulations. The results demonstrate that GC-DGFET with high-κ spacer can effectively improve the ON-state driving current (ION) and reduce the OFF-leakage current (IOFF). We find that reduction of the initial energy barrier between the source and channel is the origin of this ION enhancement. The reason for the IOFF reduction is identified to be the extension of the effective channel length owing to the fringing field via high-κ spacers. Consequently, these devices offer enhanced performance by reducing the total gate-to-gate capacitance (Cgg) and decreasing the intrinsic delay (τ).

  2. Enabling High-Performance Computing as a Service

    KAUST Repository

    AbdelBaky, Moustafa; Parashar, Manish; Kim, Hyunjoo; Jordan, Kirk E.; Sachdeva, Vipin; Sexton, James; Jamjoom, Hani; Shae, Zon-Yin; Pencheva, Gergina; Tavakoli, Reza; Wheeler, Mary F.

    2012-01-01

    With the right software infrastructure, clouds can provide scientists with as a service access to high-performance computing resources. An award-winning prototype framework transforms the Blue Gene/P system into an elastic cloud to run a

  3. Multijunction Photovoltaic Technologies for High-Performance Concentrators: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McConnell, R.; Symko-Davies, M.

    2006-05-01

    Multijunction solar cells provide high-performance technology pathways leading to potentially low-cost electricity generated from concentrated sunlight. The National Center for Photovoltaics at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has funded different III-V multijunction solar cell technologies and various solar concentration approaches. Within this group of projects, III-V solar cell efficiencies of 41% are close at hand and will likely be reported in these conference proceedings. Companies with well-developed solar concentrator structures foresee installed system costs of $3/watt--half of today's costs--within the next 2 to 5 years as these high-efficiency photovoltaic technologies are incorporated into their concentrator photovoltaic systems. These technology improvements are timely as new large-scale multi-megawatt markets, appropriate for high performance PV concentrators, open around the world.

  4. A High Performance Block Eigensolver for Nuclear Configuration Interaction Calculations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aktulga, Hasan Metin; Afibuzzaman, Md.; Williams, Samuel; Buluc, Aydin; Shao, Meiyue

    2017-01-01

    As on-node parallelism increases and the performance gap between the processor and the memory system widens, achieving high performance in large-scale scientific applications requires an architecture-aware design of algorithms and solvers. We focus on the eigenvalue problem arising in nuclear Configuration Interaction (CI) calculations, where a few extreme eigenpairs of a sparse symmetric matrix are needed. Here, we consider a block iterative eigensolver whose main computational kernels are the multiplication of a sparse matrix with multiple vectors (SpMM), and tall-skinny matrix operations. We then present techniques to significantly improve the SpMM and the transpose operation SpMM T by using the compressed sparse blocks (CSB) format. We achieve 3-4× speedup on the requisite operations over good implementations with the commonly used compressed sparse row (CSR) format. We develop a performance model that allows us to correctly estimate the performance of our SpMM kernel implementations, and we identify cache bandwidth as a potential performance bottleneck beyond DRAM. We also analyze and optimize the performance of LOBPCG kernels (inner product and linear combinations on multiple vectors) and show up to 15× speedup over using high performance BLAS libraries for these operations. The resulting high performance LOBPCG solver achieves 1.4× to 1.8× speedup over the existing Lanczos solver on a series of CI computations on high-end multicore architectures (Intel Xeons). We also analyze the performance of our techniques on an Intel Xeon Phi Knights Corner (KNC) processor.

  5. High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering '99 : Transactions of the High Performance Computing Center

    CERN Document Server

    Jäger, Willi

    2000-01-01

    The book contains reports about the most significant projects from science and engineering of the Federal High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS). They were carefully selected in a peer-review process and are showcases of an innovative combination of state-of-the-art modeling, novel algorithms and the use of leading-edge parallel computer technology. The projects of HLRS are using supercomputer systems operated jointly by university and industry and therefore a special emphasis has been put on the industrial relevance of results and methods.

  6. Highly automated driving, secondary task performance, and driver state.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merat, Natasha; Jamson, A Hamish; Lai, Frank C H; Carsten, Oliver

    2012-10-01

    A driving simulator study compared the effect of changes in workload on performance in manual and highly automated driving. Changes in driver state were also observed by examining variations in blink patterns. With the addition of a greater number of advanced driver assistance systems in vehicles, the driver's role is likely to alter in the future from an operator in manual driving to a supervisor of highly automated cars. Understanding the implications of such advancements on drivers and road safety is important. A total of 50 participants were recruited for this study and drove the simulator in both manual and highly automated mode. As well as comparing the effect of adjustments in driving-related workload on performance, the effect of a secondary Twenty Questions Task was also investigated. In the absence of the secondary task, drivers' response to critical incidents was similar in manual and highly automated driving conditions. The worst performance was observed when drivers were required to regain control of driving in the automated mode while distracted by the secondary task. Blink frequency patterns were more consistent for manual than automated driving but were generally suppressed during conditions of high workload. Highly automated driving did not have a deleterious effect on driver performance, when attention was not diverted to the distracting secondary task. As the number of systems implemented in cars increases, an understanding of the implications of such automation on drivers' situation awareness, workload, and ability to remain engaged with the driving task is important.

  7. Towards high-performance materials for road construction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gladkikh, V.; Korolev, E.; Smirnov, V.

    2017-10-01

    Due to constant increase of traffic, modern road construction is in need of high-performance pavement materials. The operational performance of such materials can be characterized by many properties. Nevertheless, the most important ones are resistance to rutting and resistance to dynamical loads. It was proposed earlier to use sulfur extended asphalt concrete in road construction practice. To reduce the emission of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide during the concrete mix preparation and pavement production stages, it is beneficial to make such a concrete on the base of complex sulfur modifier. In the present work the influence of the complex modifier to mechanical properties of sulfur extended asphalt concrete was examined. It was shown that sulfur extended asphalt concrete is of high mechanical properties. It was also revealed that there as an anomalous negative correlations between strain capacity, fatigue life and fracture toughness.

  8. Quantification of Quercetin and Rutin from Benincasa hispida Seeds and Carissa Congesta Roots by High-performance Thin Layer Chromatography and High-performance Liquid Chromatography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doshi, Gaurav Mahesh; Une, Hemant Devidas

    2016-01-01

    In Indian Ayurvedic system, Benincasa hispida (BH) and Carissa congesta (CC) are well-known plants used for major and minor ailments. BH has been regarded as Kushmanda, whereas CC has been used in immune-related disorders of the human system. Quercetin and rutin identified from the vast plethora of plant extracts have proved to possess ethnopharmacological relevance. In present studies, we have determined quercetin and rutin in terms of percentage in BH seeds and CC roots by high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). After extraction and phytochemical screening, the extracts were subjected to quantification for the presence of quercetin and rutin by HPTLC and HPLC. HPTLC showed quercetin as 44.60, 27.13% and rutin as 32.00, 36.31% w/w, whereas HPLC revealed quercetin as 34.00, 35.00% and rutin as 21.99, 45.03% w/v in BH and CC extracts, respectively. The BH and CC extracts have elucidated peaks that were corresponding with standard peaks on undertaking chromatographic studies. Quercetin and rutin are isolated from BH seeds and CC roots by High Performance. Thin Layer Chromatography and High Performance Liquid Chromatography. HPTLC revealed presence of quercetin as 44.60, 27.13 % and rutin as 32.00, 36.31 % w/w. HPLC revealed presence of quercetin as 34.00, 35.00 % and rutin as 21.99, 45.03 % w/v. Abbreviation Used: HPTLC: High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography; HPLC: High Pressure Liquid Chromatography, UV: Ultraviolet, CC: Carissa congesta, BH: Benincasa hispida.

  9. Quantification of Quercetin and Rutin from Benincasa hispida Seeds and Carissa Congesta Roots by High-performance Thin Layer Chromatography and High-performance Liquid Chromatography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doshi, Gaurav Mahesh; Une, Hemant Devidas

    2016-01-01

    Objective: In Indian Ayurvedic system, Benincasa hispida (BH) and Carissa congesta (CC) are well-known plants used for major and minor ailments. BH has been regarded as Kushmanda, whereas CC has been used in immune-related disorders of the human system. Quercetin and rutin identified from the vast plethora of plant extracts have proved to possess ethnopharmacological relevance. Materials and Methods: In present studies, we have determined quercetin and rutin in terms of percentage in BH seeds and CC roots by high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). After extraction and phytochemical screening, the extracts were subjected to quantification for the presence of quercetin and rutin by HPTLC and HPLC. Results: HPTLC showed quercetin as 44.60, 27.13% and rutin as 32.00, 36.31% w/w, whereas HPLC revealed quercetin as 34.00, 35.00% and rutin as 21.99, 45.03% w/v in BH and CC extracts, respectively. Conclusion: The BH and CC extracts have elucidated peaks that were corresponding with standard peaks on undertaking chromatographic studies. SUMMARY Quercetin and rutin are isolated from BH seeds and CC roots by High Performance. Thin Layer Chromatography and High Performance Liquid Chromatography. HPTLC revealed presence of quercetin as 44.60, 27.13 % and rutin as 32.00, 36.31 % w/w. HPLC revealed presence of quercetin as 34.00, 35.00 % and rutin as 21.99, 45.03 % w/v. Abbreviation Used: HPTLC: High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography; HPLC: High Pressure Liquid Chromatography, UV: Ultraviolet, CC: Carissa congesta, BH: Benincasa hispida PMID:26941534

  10. A Multiscale Enrichment Procedure for Nonlinear Monotone Operators

    KAUST Repository

    Efendiev, Yalchin R.

    2014-03-11

    In this paper, multiscale finite element methods (MsFEMs) and domain decomposition techniques are developed for a class of nonlinear elliptic problems with high-contrast coefficients. In the process, existing work on linear problems [Y. Efendiev, J. Galvis, R. Lazarov, S. Margenov and J. Ren, Robust two-level domain decomposition preconditioners for high-contrast anisotropic flows in multiscale media. Submitted.; Y. Efendiev, J. Galvis and X. Wu, J. Comput. Phys. 230 (2011) 937–955; J. Galvis and Y. Efendiev, SIAM Multiscale Model. Simul. 8 (2010) 1461–1483.] is extended to treat a class of nonlinear elliptic operators. The proposed method requires the solutions of (small dimension and local) nonlinear eigenvalue problems in order to systematically enrich the coarse solution space. Convergence of the method is shown to relate to the dimension of the coarse space (due to the enrichment procedure) as well as the coarse mesh size. In addition, it is shown that the coarse mesh spaces can be effectively used in two-level domain decomposition preconditioners. A number of numerical results are presented to complement the analysis.

  11. High performance co-polyimide nanofiber reinforced composites

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Yao, Jian; Li, Guang; Bastiaansen, Cees; Peijs, Ton

    2015-01-01

    Electrospun co-polyimide BPDA (3, 3′, 4, 4′-Biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride)/PDA (p-Phenylenediamine)/ODA (4, 4′-oxydianiline) nanofiber reinforced flexible composites were manufactured by impregnating these high performance nanofibers with styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) triblock copolymer

  12. Research on high performance mirrors for free electron lasers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kitatani, Fumito

    1996-01-01

    For the stable functioning of free electron laser, high performance optical elements are required because of its characteristics. In particular in short wavelength free electron laser, since its gain is low, the optical elements having very high reflectivity are required. Also in free electron laser, since high energy noise light exists, the optical elements must have high optical breaking strength. At present in Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation, the research for heightening the performance of dielectric multi-layer film elements for short wavelength is carried out. For manufacturing such high performance elements, it is necessary to develop the new materials for vapor deposition, new vapor deposition process, and the techniques of accurate substrate polishing and inspection. As the material that satisfies the requirements, there is diamond-like carbon (DLC) film, of which the properties are explained. As for the manufacture of the DLC films for short wavelength optics, the test equipment for forming the DLC films, the test of forming the DLC films, the change of the film quality due to gas conditions, discharge conditions and substrate materials, and the measurement of the optical breaking strength are reported. (K.I.)

  13. NINJA: Java for High Performance Numerical Computing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José E. Moreira

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available When Java was first introduced, there was a perception that its many benefits came at a significant performance cost. In the particularly performance-sensitive field of numerical computing, initial measurements indicated a hundred-fold performance disadvantage between Java and more established languages such as Fortran and C. Although much progress has been made, and Java now can be competitive with C/C++ in many important situations, significant performance challenges remain. Existing Java virtual machines are not yet capable of performing the advanced loop transformations and automatic parallelization that are now common in state-of-the-art Fortran compilers. Java also has difficulties in implementing complex arithmetic efficiently. These performance deficiencies can be attacked with a combination of class libraries (packages, in Java that implement truly multidimensional arrays and complex numbers, and new compiler techniques that exploit the properties of these class libraries to enable other, more conventional, optimizations. Two compiler techniques, versioning and semantic expansion, can be leveraged to allow fully automatic optimization and parallelization of Java code. Our measurements with the NINJA prototype Java environment show that Java can be competitive in performance with highly optimized and tuned Fortran code.

  14. An integrated framework for high level design of high performance signal processing circuits on FPGAs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benkrid, K.; Belkacemi, S.; Sukhsawas, S.

    2005-06-01

    This paper proposes an integrated framework for the high level design of high performance signal processing algorithms' implementations on FPGAs. The framework emerged from a constant need to rapidly implement increasingly complicated algorithms on FPGAs while maintaining the high performance needed in many real time digital signal processing applications. This is particularly important for application developers who often rely on iterative and interactive development methodologies. The central idea behind the proposed framework is to dynamically integrate high performance structural hardware description languages with higher level hardware languages in other to help satisfy the dual requirement of high level design and high performance implementation. The paper illustrates this by integrating two environments: Celoxica's Handel-C language, and HIDE, a structural hardware environment developed at the Queen's University of Belfast. On the one hand, Handel-C has been proven to be very useful in the rapid design and prototyping of FPGA circuits, especially control intensive ones. On the other hand, HIDE, has been used extensively, and successfully, in the generation of highly optimised parameterisable FPGA cores. In this paper, this is illustrated in the construction of a scalable and fully parameterisable core for image algebra's five core neighbourhood operations, where fully floorplanned efficient FPGA configurations, in the form of EDIF netlists, are generated automatically for instances of the core. In the proposed combined framework, highly optimised data paths are invoked dynamically from within Handel-C, and are synthesized using HIDE. Although the idea might seem simple prima facie, it could have serious implications on the design of future generations of hardware description languages.

  15. High-performance flexible microwave passives on plastic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Zhenqiang; Seo, Jung-Hun; Cho, Sang June; Zhou, Weidong

    2014-06-01

    We report the demonstration of bendable inductors, capacitors and switches fabricated on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate that can operate at high microwave frequencies. By employing bendable dielectric and single crystalline semiconductor materials, spiral inductors and metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors with high quality factors and high resonance frequencies and single-pole, single-throw (SPST) switches were archived. The effects of mechanical bending on the performance of inductors, capacitors and switches were also measured and analyzed. We further investigated the highest possible resonance frequencies and quality factors of inductors and capacitors and, high frequency responses and insertion loss. These demonstrations will lead to flexible radio-frequency and microwave systems in the future.

  16. CUDA/GPU Technology : Parallel Programming For High Performance Scientific Computing

    OpenAIRE

    YUHENDRA; KUZE, Hiroaki; JOSAPHAT, Tetuko Sri Sumantyo

    2009-01-01

    [ABSTRACT]Graphics processing units (GP Us) originally designed for computer video cards have emerged as the most powerful chip in a high-performance workstation. In the high performance computation capabilities, graphic processing units (GPU) lead to much more powerful performance than conventional CPUs by means of parallel processing. In 2007, the birth of Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) and CUDA-enabled GPUs by NVIDIA Corporation brought a revolution in the general purpose GPU a...

  17. Transport in JET high performance plasmas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-01-01

    Two type of high performance scenarios have been produced in JET during DTE1 campaign. One of them is the well known and extensively used in the past ELM-free hot ion H-mode scenario which has two distinct regions- plasma core and the edge transport barrier. The results obtained during DTE-1 campaign with D, DT and pure T plasmas confirms our previous conclusion that the core transport scales as a gyroBohm in the inner half of plasma volume, recovers its Bohm nature closer to the separatrix and behaves as ion neoclassical in the transport barrier. Measurements on the top of the barrier suggest that the width of the barrier is dependent upon isotope and moreover suggest that fast ions play a key role. The other high performance scenario is a relatively recently developed Optimised Shear Scenario with small or slightly negative magnetic shear in plasma core. Different mechanisms of Internal Transport Barrier (ITB) formation have been tested by predictive modelling and the results are compared with experimentally observed phenomena. The experimentally observed non-penetration of the heavy impurities through the strong ITB which contradicts to a prediction of the conventional neo-classical theory is discussed. (author)

  18. Transport in JET high performance plasmas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    Two type of high performance scenarios have been produced in JET during DTE1 campaign. One of them is the well known and extensively used in the past ELM-free hot ion H-mode scenario which has two distinct regions- plasma core and the edge transport barrier. The results obtained during DTE-1 campaign with D, DT and pure T plasmas confirms our previous conclusion that the core transport scales as a gyroBohm in the inner half of plasma volume, recovers its Bohm nature closer to the separatrix and behaves as ion neoclassical in the transport barrier. Measurements on the top of the barrier suggest that the width of the barrier is dependent upon isotope and moreover suggest that fast ions play a key role. The other high performance scenario is a relatively recently developed Optimised Shear Scenario with small or slightly negative magnetic shear in plasma core. Different mechanisms of Internal Transport Barrier (ITB) formation have been tested by predictive modelling and the results are compared with experimentally observed phenomena. The experimentally observed non-penetration of the heavy impurities through the strong ITB which contradicts to a prediction of the conventional neo-classical theory is discussed. (author)

  19. Toward High Performance in Industrial Refrigeration Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thybo, C.; Izadi-Zamanabadi, Roozbeh; Niemann, H.

    2002-01-01

    Achieving high performance in complex industrial systems requires information manipulation at different system levels. The paper shows how different models of same subsystems, but using different quality of information/data, are used for fault diagnosis as well as robust control design...

  20. Towards high performance in industrial refrigeration systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thybo, C.; Izadi-Zamanabadi, R.; Niemann, Hans Henrik

    2002-01-01

    Achieving high performance in complex industrial systems requires information manipulation at different system levels. The paper shows how different models of same subsystems, but using different quality of information/data, are used for fault diagnosis as well as robust control design...

  1. High Performance Low Mass Nanowire Enabled Heatpipe, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Heat pipes are widely used for passive, two-phase electronics cooling. As advanced high power, high performance electronics in space based and terrestrial...

  2. The Creation and Operation of Internal High Performance Modern Enterprises Team

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Shengyu WANG

    2015-01-01

    The future of enterprises mainly depends on product research and development. For the modern enterprises, high performance project team is the most important means of R & D projects. According to the interviews and survey found of a plurality of enterprise project R & D team. the internal high performance team of modern business is good or bad, its key lies in whether the team managers for the team creation and management is in place, this is the most difficult place for the high performance team management system, especially the team leadership. Based on this, this paper discusses on the creation and management of high performance modern enterprise team, aiming to provide valuable reference for the enterprise team management.

  3. Planning for high performance project teams

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reed, W.; Keeney, J.; Westney, R.

    1997-01-01

    Both industry-wide research and corporate benchmarking studies confirm the significant savings in cost and time that result from early planning of a project. Amoco's Team Planning Workshop combines long-term strategic project planning and short-term tactical planning with team building to provide the basis for high performing project teams, better project planning, and effective implementation of the Amoco Common Process for managing projects

  4. Studies on high performance Timeslice building on the CBM FLES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hartmann, Helvi [Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Goethe University, Frankfurt (Germany); Collaboration: CBM-Collaboration

    2015-07-01

    In contrast to already existing high energy physics experiments the Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment collects all data untriggered. The First-level Event Selector (FLES), which denotes a high performance computer cluster, processes the very high incoming data rate of 1 TByte/s and performs a full online event reconstruction. For this task it needs to access the raw detector data in time intervals referred to as Timeslices. In order to construct the Timeslices, the FLES Timeslice building has to combine data from all input links and distribute them via a high-performance network to the compute nodes. For fast data transfer the Infiniband network has proven to be appropriate. One option to address the network is using Infiniband (RDMA) Verbs directly and potentially making best use of Infiniband. However, it is a very low-level implementation relying on the hardware and neglecting other possible network technologies in the future. Another approach is to apply a high-level API like MPI which is independent of the underlying hardware and suitable for less error prone software development. I present the given possibilities and show the results of benchmarks ran on high-performance computing clusters. The solutions are evaluated regarding the Timeslice building in CBM.

  5. Ultra high performance concrete dematerialization study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2004-03-01

    Concrete is the most widely used building material in the world and its use is expected to grow. It is well recognized that the production of portland cement results in the release of large amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas (GHG). The main challenge facing the industry is to produce concrete in an environmentally sustainable manner. Reclaimed industrial by-proudcts such as fly ash, silica fume and slag can reduce the amount of portland cement needed to make concrete, thereby reducing the amount of GHGs released to the atmosphere. The use of these supplementary cementing materials (SCM) can also enhance the long-term strength and durability of concrete. The intention of the EcoSmart{sup TM} Concrete Project is to develop sustainable concrete through innovation in supply, design and construction. In particular, the project focuses on finding a way to minimize the GHG signature of concrete by maximizing the replacement of portland cement in the concrete mix with SCM while improving the cost, performance and constructability. This paper describes the use of Ductal{sup R} Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC) for ramps in a condominium. It examined the relationship between the selection of UHPC and the overall environmental performance, cost, constructability maintenance and operational efficiency as it relates to the EcoSmart Program. The advantages and challenges of using UHPC were outlined. In addition to its very high strength, UHPC has been shown to have very good potential for GHG emission reduction due to the reduced material requirements, reduced transport costs and increased SCM content. refs., tabs., figs.

  6. High performance current controller for particle accelerator magnets supply

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Maheshwari, Ram Krishan; Bidoggia, Benoit; Munk-Nielsen, Stig

    2013-01-01

    The electromagnets in modern particle accelerators require high performance power supply whose output is required to track the current reference with a very high accuracy (down to 50 ppm). This demands very high bandwidth controller design. A converter based on buck converter topology is used...

  7. Nonsymmetric systems arising in the computation of invariant tori

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Trummer, M.R. [Simons Fraser Univ., Burnaby, British Columbia (Canada)

    1996-12-31

    We introduce two new spectral implementations for computing invariant tori. The underlying nonlinear partial differential equation although hyperbolic by nature, has periodic boundary conditions in both space and time. In our first approach we discretize the spatial variable, and find the solution via a shooting method. In our second approach, a full two-dimensional Fourier spectral discretization and Newton`s method lead to very large, sparse, nonsymmetric systems. These matrices are highly structured, but the sparsity pattern prohibits the use of direct solvers. A modified conjugate gradient type iterative solver appears to perform best for this type of problems. The two methods are applied to the van der Pol oscillator, and compared to previous algorithms. Several preconditioners are investigated.

  8. Unlocking the Black Box: Exploring the Link between High-Performance Work Systems and Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Messersmith, Jake G.; Patel, Pankaj C.; Lepak, David P.

    2011-01-01

    With a growing body of literature linking systems of high-performance work practices to organizational performance outcomes, recent research has pushed for examinations of the underlying mechanisms that enable this connection. In this study, based on a large sample of Welsh public-sector employees, we explored the role of several individual-level…

  9. Enabling High-Performance Computing as a Service

    KAUST Repository

    AbdelBaky, Moustafa

    2012-10-01

    With the right software infrastructure, clouds can provide scientists with as a service access to high-performance computing resources. An award-winning prototype framework transforms the Blue Gene/P system into an elastic cloud to run a representative HPC application. © 2012 IEEE.

  10. Validated High Performance Liquid Chromatography Method for ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Purpose: To develop a simple, rapid and sensitive high performance liquid ... response, tailing factor and resolution of six replicate injections was < 3 %. ... Cefadroxil monohydrate, Human plasma, Pharmacokinetics Bioequivalence ... Drug-free plasma was obtained from the local .... Influence of probenicid on the renal.

  11. High performance flexible CMOS SOI FinFETs

    KAUST Repository

    Fahad, Hossain M.; Sevilla, Galo T.; Ghoneim, Mohamed T.; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

    2014-01-01

    We demonstrate the first ever CMOS compatible soft etch back based high performance flexible CMOS SOI FinFETs. The move from planar to non-planar FinFETs has enabled continued scaling down to the 14 nm technology node. This has been possible due

  12. Robust High Performance Aquaporin based Biomimetic Membranes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Helix Nielsen, Claus; Zhao, Yichun; Qiu, C.

    2013-01-01

    on top of a support membrane. Control membranes, either without aquaporins or with the inactive AqpZ R189A mutant aquaporin served as controls. The separation performance of the membranes was evaluated by cross-flow forward osmosis (FO) and reverse osmosis (RO) tests. In RO the ABM achieved a water......Aquaporins are water channel proteins with high water permeability and solute rejection, which makes them promising for preparing high-performance biomimetic membranes. Despite the growing interest in aquaporin-based biomimetic membranes (ABMs), it is challenging to produce robust and defect...... permeability of ~ 4 L/(m2 h bar) with a NaCl rejection > 97% at an applied hydraulic pressure of 5 bar. The water permeability was ~40% higher compared to a commercial brackish water RO membrane (BW30) and an order of magnitude higher compared to a seawater RO membrane (SW30HR). In FO, the ABMs had > 90...

  13. Determinants of Students Academic Performance in Senior High ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A binary logit model is used to investigate the determinants of students' performance in the final high school examination. Questionnaires were administered to a sample of 1,129 final year students (614 boys and 515 girls) in ten senior high schools (SHSs) during the 2008/2009 academic year. Respondents were requested ...

  14. Ideation High Performers: A Study of Motivational Factors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergendahl, Magnus; Magnusson, Mats; Björk, Jennie

    2015-01-01

    As innovation today is one of the keys to success for firms, creativity among employees becomes an important asset and the understanding about what motivates employees in ideation is consequently of high interest. This article addresses differences in motivation among high and low performers in ideation and contributes to existing theory by…

  15. Development of high-performance blended cements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Zichao

    2000-10-01

    This thesis presents the development of high-performance blended cements from industrial by-products. To overcome the low-early strength of blended cements, several chemicals were studied as the activators for cement hydration. Sodium sulfate was discovered as the best activator. The blending proportions were optimized by Taguchi experimental design. The optimized blended cements containing up to 80% fly ash performed better than Type I cement in strength development and durability. Maintaining a constant cement content, concrete produced from the optimized blended cements had equal or higher strength and higher durability than that produced from Type I cement alone. The key for the activation mechanism was the reaction between added SO4 2- and Ca2+ dissolved from cement hydration products.

  16. High-performance workplace practices in nursing homes: an economic perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bishop, Christine E

    2014-02-01

    To develop implications for research, practice and policy, selected economics and human resources management research literature was reviewed to compare and contrast nursing home culture change work practices with high-performance human resource management systems in other industries. The organization of nursing home work under culture change has much in common with high-performance work systems, which are characterized by increased autonomy for front-line workers, self-managed teams, flattened supervisory hierarchy, and the aspiration that workers use specific knowledge gained on the job to enhance quality and customization. However, successful high-performance work systems also entail intensive recruitment, screening, and on-going training of workers, and compensation that supports selective hiring and worker commitment; these features are not usual in the nursing home sector. Thus despite many parallels with high-performance work systems, culture change work systems are missing essential elements: those that require higher compensation. If purchasers, including public payers, were willing to pay for customized, resident-centered care, productivity gains could be shared with workers, and the nursing home sector could move from a low-road to a high-road employment system.

  17. A high performance electrometer amplifier of hybrid design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rao, N.V.; Nazare, C.K.

    1979-01-01

    A high performance, reliable, electrometer amplifier of hybrid design for low current measurements in mass spectrometers has been developed. The short term instability with a 5 x 10 11 ohms input resistor is less than 1 x 10sup(-15) Amp. The drift is better than 1 mV/hour. The design steps are illustrated with a typical amplifier performance details. (auth.)

  18. Contemporary high performance computing from petascale toward exascale

    CERN Document Server

    Vetter, Jeffrey S

    2015-01-01

    A continuation of Contemporary High Performance Computing: From Petascale toward Exascale, this second volume continues the discussion of HPC flagship systems, major application workloads, facilities, and sponsors. The book includes of figures and pictures that capture the state of existing systems: pictures of buildings, systems in production, floorplans, and many block diagrams and charts to illustrate system design and performance.

  19. Mediaprocessors in medical imaging for high performance and flexibility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Managuli, Ravi; Kim, Yongmin

    2002-05-01

    New high performance programmable processors, called mediaprocessors, have been emerging since the early 1990s for various digital media applications, such as digital TV, set-top boxes, desktop video conferencing, and digital camcorders. Modern mediaprocessors, e.g., TI's TMS320C64x and Hitachi/Equator Technologies MAP-CA, can offer high performance utilizing both instruction-level and data-level parallelism. During this decade, with continued performance improvement and cost reduction, we believe that the mediaprocessors will become a preferred choice in designing imaging and video systems due to their flexibility in incorporating new algorithms and applications via programming and faster-time-to-market. In this paper, we will evaluate the suitability of these mediaprocessors in medical imaging. We will review the core routines of several medical imaging modalities, such as ultrasound and DR, and present how these routines can be mapped to mediaprocessors and their resultant performance. We will analyze the architecture of several leading mediaprocessors. By carefully mapping key imaging routines, such as 2D convolution, unsharp masking, and 2D FFT, to the mediaprocessor, we have been able to achieve comparable (if not better) performance to that of traditional hardwired approaches. Thus, we believe that future medical imaging systems will benefit greatly from these advanced mediaprocessors, offering significantly increased flexibility and adaptability, reducing the time-to-market, and improving the cost/performance ratio compared to the existing systems while meeting the high computing requirements.

  20. Coated Porous Si for High Performance On-Chip Supercapacitors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grigoras, K.; Keskinen, J.; Grönberg, L.; Ahopelto, J.; Prunnila, M.

    2014-11-01

    High performance porous Si based supercapacitor electrodes are demonstrated. High power density and stability is provided by ultra-thin TiN coating of the porous Si matrix. The TiN layer is deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD), which provides sufficient conformality to reach the bottom of the high aspect ratio pores. Our porous Si supercapacitor devices exhibit almost ideal double layer capacitor characteristic with electrode volumetric capacitance of 7.3 F/cm3. Several orders of magnitude increase in power and energy density is obtained comparing to uncoated porous silicon electrodes. Good stability of devices is confirmed performing several thousands of charge/discharge cycles.

  1. Fracture toughness of ultra high performance concrete by flexural performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manolova Emanuela

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the fracture toughness of the innovative structural material - Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC, evaluated by flexural performance. For determination the material behaviour by static loading are used adapted standard test methods for flexural performance of fiber-reinforced concrete (ASTM C 1609 and ASTM C 1018. Fracture toughness is estimated by various deformation parameters derived from the load-deflection curve, obtained by testing simple supported beam under third-point loading, using servo-controlled testing system. This method is used to be estimated the contribution of the embedded fiber-reinforcement into improvement of the fractural behaviour of UHPC by changing the crack-resistant capacity, fracture toughness and energy absorption capacity with various mechanisms. The position of the first crack has been formulated based on P-δ (load- deflection response and P-ε (load - longitudinal deformation in the tensile zone response, which are used for calculation of the two toughness indices I5 and I10. The combination of steel fibres with different dimensions leads to a composite, having at the same time increased crack resistance, first crack formation, ductility and post-peak residual strength.

  2. Coal-fired high performance power generating system. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1995-08-31

    As a result of the investigations carried out during Phase 1 of the Engineering Development of Coal-Fired High-Performance Power Generation Systems (Combustion 2000), the UTRC-led Combustion 2000 Team is recommending the development of an advanced high performance power generation system (HIPPS) whose high efficiency and minimal pollutant emissions will enable the US to use its abundant coal resources to satisfy current and future demand for electric power. The high efficiency of the power plant, which is the key to minimizing the environmental impact of coal, can only be achieved using a modern gas turbine system. Minimization of emissions can be achieved by combustor design, and advanced air pollution control devices. The commercial plant design described herein is a combined cycle using either a frame-type gas turbine or an intercooled aeroderivative with clean air as the working fluid. The air is heated by a coal-fired high temperature advanced furnace (HITAF). The best performance from the cycle is achieved by using a modern aeroderivative gas turbine, such as the intercooled FT4000. A simplified schematic is shown. In the UTRC HIPPS, the conversion efficiency for the heavy frame gas turbine version will be 47.4% (HHV) compared to the approximately 35% that is achieved in conventional coal-fired plants. This cycle is based on a gas turbine operating at turbine inlet temperatures approaching 2,500 F. Using an aeroderivative type gas turbine, efficiencies of over 49% could be realized in advanced cycle configuration (Humid Air Turbine, or HAT). Performance of these power plants is given in a table.

  3. Frequency selective surfaces based high performance microstrip antenna

    CERN Document Server

    Narayan, Shiv; Jha, Rakesh Mohan

    2016-01-01

    This book focuses on performance enhancement of printed antennas using frequency selective surfaces (FSS) technology. The growing demand of stealth technology in strategic areas requires high-performance low-RCS (radar cross section) antennas. Such requirements may be accomplished by incorporating FSS into the antenna structure either in its ground plane or as the superstrate, due to the filter characteristics of FSS structure. In view of this, a novel approach based on FSS technology is presented in this book to enhance the performance of printed antennas including out-of-band structural RCS reduction. In this endeavor, the EM design of microstrip patch antennas (MPA) loaded with FSS-based (i) high impedance surface (HIS) ground plane, and (ii) the superstrates are discussed in detail. The EM analysis of proposed FSS-based antenna structures have been carried out using transmission line analogy, in combination with the reciprocity theorem. Further, various types of novel FSS structures are considered in desi...

  4. Effect of high wind conditions on AHX performance for PFBR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goyal, P.; Datta, Anu; Verma, Vishnu; Singh, R.K.

    2013-05-01

    In case of normal shut down or station blackout condition the core decay heat is removed by Safety Grade Decay Heat Removal System (SGDHRS) in PFBR. The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is under construction at Kalpakkam. SGDHRS remove decay heat from the core and dissipate it into the environment with the help of Air Heat Exchanger (AHX). SGDHRS consists of four redundant numbers of totally independent circuits capable of removing decay heat from the hot pool through natural convection in the primary and intermediate sodium sides as well as in the air side. Each circuit consists of a sodium to sodium heat exchanger (DHX) and a sodium to AHX connected to intermediate sodium circuit, AHX is located at a higher elevation compared to DHX. AHX is serpentine type finned tube compact heat exchanger with sodium in the tube side and air flowing over finned tubes. A tall stack provides the driving force for the natural convection of air flow through the AHX, when the dampers are opened. The AHX is placed outside of Reactor Control Building (RCB), on the roof of Steam Generator Building. Due to the presence of nearby buildings around the stack, the AHX performance under high wind condition may be affected. A CFD simulation using CFD-ACE+ code has been carried in which effect of high wind condition and nearby building on AHX performance have been studied. For high wind condition various orientation of wind movement was considered for parametric studies. AHX performance for all the cases were compared with the results that obtained for the absence of nearby buildings. A comparative table was prepared to understand how the AHX performance is effected with the high wind condition for various direction and with the presence of nearby building. It was observed that AHX performance is influenced by high wind conditions in most of the cases for with and without presence of nearby building. Hence to ensure the optimal performance of the AHX under high wind conditions its

  5. Drift-kinetic Alfven modes in high performance tokamaks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jaun, A.; Fasoli, A.F.; Testa, D.; Vaclavik, J.; Villard, L.

    2001-01-01

    The stability of fast-particle driven Alfven eigenmodes is modeled in high performance tokamaks, successively with a conventional shear, an optimized shear and a tight aspect ratio plasma. A large bulk pressure yields global kinetic Alfven eigenmodes that are stabilized by mode conversion in the presence of a divertor. This suggests how conventional reactor scenarii could withstand significant pressure gradients from the fusion products. A large safety factor in the core q 0 >2.5 in deeply shear reversed configurations and a relatively large bulk ion Larmor radius in a low magnetic field can trigger global drift-kinetic Alfven eigenmodes that are unstable in high performance JET, NSTX and ITER plasmas. (author)

  6. Highly conductive porous Na-embedded carbon nanowalls for high-performance capacitive deionization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Liang; Hu, Yun Hang

    2018-05-01

    Highly conductive porous Na-embedded carbon nanowalls (Na@C), which were recently invented, have exhibited excellent performance for dye-sensitized solar cells and electric double-layer capacitors. In this work, Na@C was demonstrated as an excellent electrode material for capacitive deionization (CDI). In a three-electrode configuration system, the specific capacity of the Na@C electrodes can achieve 306.4 F/g at current density of 0.2 A/g in 1 M NaCl, which is higher than that (235.2 F/g) of activated carbon (AC) electrodes. Furthermore, a high electrosorption capacity of 8.75 mg g-1 in 100 mg/L NaCl was obtained with the Na@C electrodes in a batch-mode capacitive deionization cell. It exceeds the electrosorption capacity (4.08 mg g-1) of AC electrodes. The Na@C electrode also showed a promising cycle stability. The excellent performance of Na@C electrode for capacitive deionization (CDI) can be attributed to its high electrical conductivity and large accessible surface area.

  7. Powder metallurgical high performance materials. Proceedings. Volume 4: late papers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kneringer, G; Roedhammer, P; Wildner, H [eds.

    2001-07-01

    This is the fourth volume (late papers) of the 15th International Plansee seminar 2001 which general theme was 'Powder metallurgical high performance materials'. The seminar looked beyond the refractory metals and cemented carbides, which remain as its focus, to novel classes of materials, such as intermetallic compounds, with potential for high temperature applications. This volume 4 contains papers dealing with high performance P/M metals (ITER and fusion reactors, solid targets, materials microstructure, novel alloys, etc.), P/M hard materials ( production and characterization, tungsten carbides, titanium carbides, microstructural design, coatings composition and performance, etc.) and general topics. From 37 papers 24 correspond to INIS subject scope and they were indexed separately. (nevyjel)

  8. Powder metallurgical high performance materials. Proceedings. Volume 4: late papers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kneringer, G.; Roedhammer, P.; Wildner, H.

    2001-01-01

    This is the fourth volume (late papers) of the 15th International Plansee seminar 2001 which general theme was 'Powder metallurgical high performance materials'. The seminar looked beyond the refractory metals and cemented carbides, which remain as its focus, to novel classes of materials, such as intermetallic compounds, with potential for high temperature applications. This volume 4 contains papers dealing with high performance P/M metals (ITER and fusion reactors, solid targets, materials microstructure, novel alloys, etc.), P/M hard materials ( production and characterization, tungsten carbides, titanium carbides, microstructural design, coatings composition and performance, etc.) and general topics. From 37 papers 24 correspond to INIS subject scope and they were indexed separately. (nevyjel)

  9. High-performance silicon photonics technology for telecommunications applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamada, Koji; Tsuchizawa, Tai; Nishi, Hidetaka; Kou, Rai; Hiraki, Tatsurou; Takeda, Kotaro; Fukuda, Hiroshi; Ishikawa, Yasuhiko; Wada, Kazumi; Yamamoto, Tsuyoshi

    2014-04-01

    By way of a brief review of Si photonics technology, we show that significant improvements in device performance are necessary for practical telecommunications applications. In order to improve device performance in Si photonics, we have developed a Si-Ge-silica monolithic integration platform, on which compact Si-Ge-based modulators/detectors and silica-based high-performance wavelength filters are monolithically integrated. The platform features low-temperature silica film deposition, which cannot damage Si-Ge-based active devices. Using this platform, we have developed various integrated photonic devices for broadband telecommunications applications.

  10. High-performance silicon photonics technology for telecommunications applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamada, Koji; Tsuchizawa, Tai; Nishi, Hidetaka; Kou, Rai; Hiraki, Tatsurou; Takeda, Kotaro; Fukuda, Hiroshi; Yamamoto, Tsuyoshi; Ishikawa, Yasuhiko; Wada, Kazumi

    2014-01-01

    By way of a brief review of Si photonics technology, we show that significant improvements in device performance are necessary for practical telecommunications applications. In order to improve device performance in Si photonics, we have developed a Si-Ge-silica monolithic integration platform, on which compact Si-Ge–based modulators/detectors and silica-based high-performance wavelength filters are monolithically integrated. The platform features low-temperature silica film deposition, which cannot damage Si-Ge–based active devices. Using this platform, we have developed various integrated photonic devices for broadband telecommunications applications. (review)

  11. High-performance silicon photonics technology for telecommunications applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamada, Koji; Tsuchizawa, Tai; Nishi, Hidetaka; Kou, Rai; Hiraki, Tatsurou; Takeda, Kotaro; Fukuda, Hiroshi; Ishikawa, Yasuhiko; Wada, Kazumi; Yamamoto, Tsuyoshi

    2014-04-01

    By way of a brief review of Si photonics technology, we show that significant improvements in device performance are necessary for practical telecommunications applications. In order to improve device performance in Si photonics, we have developed a Si-Ge-silica monolithic integration platform, on which compact Si-Ge-based modulators/detectors and silica-based high-performance wavelength filters are monolithically integrated. The platform features low-temperature silica film deposition, which cannot damage Si-Ge-based active devices. Using this platform, we have developed various integrated photonic devices for broadband telecommunications applications.

  12. High Performance Flat Plate Solar Thermal Collector Evaluation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rockenbaugh, Caleb [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Dean, Jesse [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Lovullo, David [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Lisell, Lars [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Barker, Greg [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Hanckock, Ed [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Norton, Paul [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2016-09-01

    This report was prepared for the General Services Administration by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The Honeycomb Solar Thermal Collector (HSTC) is a flat plate solar thermal collector that shows promising high efficiencies over a wide range of climate zones. The technical objectives of this study are to: 1) verify collector performance, 2) compare that performance to other market-available collectors, 3) verify overheat protection, and 4) analyze the economic performance of the HSTC both at the demonstration sites and across a matrix of climate zones and utility markets.

  13. Combining high productivity with high performance on commodity hardware

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skovhede, Kenneth

    -like compiler for translating CIL bytecode on the CELL-BE. I then introduce a bytecode converter that transforms simple loops in Java bytecode to GPGPU capable code. I then introduce the numeric library for the Common Intermediate Language, NumCIL. I can then utilizing the vector programming model from Num......CIL and map this to the Bohrium framework. The result is a complete system that gives the user a choice of high-level languages with no explicit parallelism, yet seamlessly performs efficient execution on a number of hardware setups....

  14. Implementing High-Performance Geometric Multigrid Solver with Naturally Grained Messages

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shan, H; Williams, S; Zheng, Y; Kamil, A; Yelick, K

    2015-10-26

    Structured-grid linear solvers often require manually packing and unpacking of communication data to achieve high performance.Orchestrating this process efficiently is challenging, labor-intensive, and potentially error-prone.In this paper, we explore an alternative approach that communicates the data with naturally grained messagesizes without manual packing and unpacking. This approach is the distributed analogue of shared-memory programming, taking advantage of the global addressspace in PGAS languages to provide substantial programming ease. However, its performance may suffer from the large number of small messages. We investigate theruntime support required in the UPC ++ library for this naturally grained version to close the performance gap between the two approaches and attain comparable performance at scale using the High-Performance Geometric Multgrid (HPGMG-FV) benchmark as a driver.

  15. An evaluation of current high-performance networks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bell, Christian; Bonachea, Dan; Cote, Yannick; Duell, Jason; Hargrove, Paul; Husbands, Parry; Iancu, Costin; Welcome, Michael; Yelick, Katherine

    2003-01-25

    High-end supercomputers are increasingly built out of commodity components, and lack tight integration between the processor and network. This often results in inefficiencies in the communication subsystem, such as high software overheads and/or message latencies. In this paper we use a set of microbenchmarks to quantify the cost of this commoditization, measuring software overhead, latency, and bandwidth on five contemporary supercomputing networks. We compare the performance of the ubiquitous MPI layer to that of lower-level communication layers, and quantify the advantages of the latter for small message performance. We also provide data on the potential for various communication-related optimizations, such as overlapping communication with computation or other communication. Finally, we determine the minimum size needed for a message to be considered 'large' (i.e., bandwidth-bound) on these platforms, and provide historical data on the software overheads of a number of supercomputers over the past decade.

  16. Dynamic Open Inquiry Performances of High-School Biology Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zion, Michal; Sadeh, Irit

    2010-01-01

    In examining open inquiry projects among high-school biology students, we found dynamic inquiry performances expressed in two criteria: "changes occurring during inquiry" and "procedural understanding". Characterizing performances in a dynamic open inquiry project can shed light on both the procedural and epistemological…

  17. Inorganic nanostructured materials for high performance electrochemical supercapacitors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Sheng; Sun, Shouheng; You, Xiao-Zeng

    2014-01-01

    Electrochemical supercapacitors (ES) are a well-known energy storage system that has high power density, long life-cycle and fast charge-discharge kinetics. Nanostructured materials are a new generation of electrode materials with large surface area and short transport/diffusion path for ions and electrons to achieve high specific capacitance in ES. This mini review highlights recent developments of inorganic nanostructure materials, including carbon nanomaterials, metal oxide nanoparticles, and metal oxide nanowires/nanotubes, for high performance ES applications.

  18. Ultra-high Performance Liquid Chromatography in Steroid Analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Salonen, Fanny

    2017-01-01

    The latest version of liquid chromatography is ultra-high performance (or pressure) chromatography (UHPLC). In the technique, short and narrow-bore columns with particle sizes below 3 µm are used. The extremely high pressure used results in very short analysis times, excellent separation, and good resolution. This makes UHPLC a good choice for steroidal analysis. Steroids are a highly interesting area of study; they can be recognized as biomarkers for several diseases and are a relevant topic...

  19. The path toward HEP High Performance Computing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Apostolakis, John; Brun, René; Gheata, Andrei; Wenzel, Sandro; Carminati, Federico

    2014-01-01

    High Energy Physics code has been known for making poor use of high performance computing architectures. Efforts in optimising HEP code on vector and RISC architectures have yield limited results and recent studies have shown that, on modern architectures, it achieves a performance between 10% and 50% of the peak one. Although several successful attempts have been made to port selected codes on GPUs, no major HEP code suite has a 'High Performance' implementation. With LHC undergoing a major upgrade and a number of challenging experiments on the drawing board, HEP cannot any longer neglect the less-than-optimal performance of its code and it has to try making the best usage of the hardware. This activity is one of the foci of the SFT group at CERN, which hosts, among others, the Root and Geant4 project. The activity of the experiments is shared and coordinated via a Concurrency Forum, where the experience in optimising HEP code is presented and discussed. Another activity is the Geant-V project, centred on the development of a highperformance prototype for particle transport. Achieving a good concurrency level on the emerging parallel architectures without a complete redesign of the framework can only be done by parallelizing at event level, or with a much larger effort at track level. Apart the shareable data structures, this typically implies a multiplication factor in terms of memory consumption compared to the single threaded version, together with sub-optimal handling of event processing tails. Besides this, the low level instruction pipelining of modern processors cannot be used efficiently to speedup the program. We have implemented a framework that allows scheduling vectors of particles to an arbitrary number of computing resources in a fine grain parallel approach. The talk will review the current optimisation activities within the SFT group with a particular emphasis on the development perspectives towards a simulation framework able to profit

  20. Critical Role of Monoclinic Polarization Rotation in High-Performance Perovskite Piezoelectric Materials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Hui; Chen, Jun; Fan, Longlong; Ren, Yang; Pan, Zhao; Lalitha, K V; Rödel, Jürgen; Xing, Xianran

    2017-07-07

    High-performance piezoelectric materials constantly attract interest for both technological applications and fundamental research. The understanding of the origin of the high-performance piezoelectric property remains a challenge mainly due to the lack of direct experimental evidence. We perform in situ high-energy x-ray diffraction combined with 2D geometry scattering technology to reveal the underlying mechanism for the perovskite-type lead-based high-performance piezoelectric materials. The direct structural evidence reveals that the electric-field-driven continuous polarization rotation within the monoclinic plane plays a critical role to achieve the giant piezoelectric response. An intrinsic relationship between the crystal structure and piezoelectric performance in perovskite ferroelectrics has been established: A strong tendency of electric-field-driven polarization rotation generates peak piezoelectric performance and vice versa. Furthermore, the monoclinic M_{A} structure is the key feature to superior piezoelectric properties as compared to other structures such as monoclinic M_{B}, rhombohedral, and tetragonal. A high piezoelectric response originates from intrinsic lattice strain, but little from extrinsic domain switching. The present results will facilitate designing high-performance perovskite piezoelectric materials by enhancing the intrinsic lattice contribution with easy and continuous polarization rotation.

  1. High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering '98 : Transactions of the High Performance Computing Center

    CERN Document Server

    Jäger, Willi

    1999-01-01

    The book contains reports about the most significant projects from science and industry that are using the supercomputers of the Federal High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS). These projects are from different scientific disciplines, with a focus on engineering, physics and chemistry. They were carefully selected in a peer-review process and are showcases for an innovative combination of state-of-the-art physical modeling, novel algorithms and the use of leading-edge parallel computer technology. As HLRS is in close cooperation with industrial companies, special emphasis has been put on the industrial relevance of results and methods.

  2. P-CSI v1.0, an accelerated barotropic solver for the high-resolution ocean model component in the Community Earth System Model v2.0

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    X. Huang

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available In the Community Earth System Model (CESM, the ocean model is computationally expensive for high-resolution grids and is often the least scalable component for high-resolution production experiments. The major bottleneck is that the barotropic solver scales poorly at high core counts. We design a new barotropic solver to accelerate the high-resolution ocean simulation. The novel solver adopts a Chebyshev-type iterative method to reduce the global communication cost in conjunction with an effective block preconditioner to further reduce the iterations. The algorithm and its computational complexity are theoretically analyzed and compared with other existing methods. We confirm the significant reduction of the global communication time with a competitive convergence rate using a series of idealized tests. Numerical experiments using the CESM 0.1° global ocean model show that the proposed approach results in a factor of 1.7 speed-up over the original method with no loss of accuracy, achieving 10.5 simulated years per wall-clock day on 16 875 cores.

  3. High nitrogen-containing cotton derived 3D porous carbon frameworks for high-performance supercapacitors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Li-Zhen; Chen, Tian-Tian; Song, Wei-Li; Li, Xiaogang; Zhang, Shichao

    2015-01-01

    Supercapacitors fabricated by 3D porous carbon frameworks, such as graphene- and carbon nanotube (CNT)-based aerogels, have been highly attractive due to their various advantages. However, their high cost along with insufficient yield has inhibited their large-scale applications. Here we have demonstrated a facile and easily scalable approach for large-scale preparing novel 3D nitrogen-containing porous carbon frameworks using ultralow-cost commercial cotton. Electrochemical performance suggests that the optimal nitrogen-containing cotton-derived carbon frameworks with a high nitrogen content (12.1 mol%) along with low surface area 285 m2 g−1 present high specific capacities of the 308 and 200 F g−1 in KOH electrolyte at current densities of 0.1 and 10 A g−1, respectively, with very limited capacitance loss upon 10,000 cycles in both aqueous and gel electrolytes. Moreover, the electrode exhibits the highest capacitance up to 220 F g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 and excellent flexibility (with negligible capacitance loss under different bending angles) in the polyvinyl alcohol/KOH gel electrolyte. The observed excellent performance competes well with that found in the electrodes of similar 3D frameworks formed by graphene or CNTs. Therefore, the ultralow-cost and simply strategy here demonstrates great potential for scalable producing high-performance carbon-based supercapacitors in the industry. PMID:26472144

  4. High nitrogen-containing cotton derived 3D porous carbon frameworks for high-performance supercapacitors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Li-Zhen; Chen, Tian-Tian; Song, Wei-Li; Li, Xiaogang; Zhang, Shichao

    2015-10-01

    Supercapacitors fabricated by 3D porous carbon frameworks, such as graphene- and carbon nanotube (CNT)-based aerogels, have been highly attractive due to their various advantages. However, their high cost along with insufficient yield has inhibited their large-scale applications. Here we have demonstrated a facile and easily scalable approach for large-scale preparing novel 3D nitrogen-containing porous carbon frameworks using ultralow-cost commercial cotton. Electrochemical performance suggests that the optimal nitrogen-containing cotton-derived carbon frameworks with a high nitrogen content (12.1 mol%) along with low surface area 285 m2 g-1 present high specific capacities of the 308 and 200 F g-1 in KOH electrolyte at current densities of 0.1 and 10 A g-1, respectively, with very limited capacitance loss upon 10,000 cycles in both aqueous and gel electrolytes. Moreover, the electrode exhibits the highest capacitance up to 220 F g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 and excellent flexibility (with negligible capacitance loss under different bending angles) in the polyvinyl alcohol/KOH gel electrolyte. The observed excellent performance competes well with that found in the electrodes of similar 3D frameworks formed by graphene or CNTs. Therefore, the ultralow-cost and simply strategy here demonstrates great potential for scalable producing high-performance carbon-based supercapacitors in the industry.

  5. SISYPHUS: A high performance seismic inversion factory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gokhberg, Alexey; Simutė, Saulė; Boehm, Christian; Fichtner, Andreas

    2016-04-01

    In the recent years the massively parallel high performance computers became the standard instruments for solving the forward and inverse problems in seismology. The respective software packages dedicated to forward and inverse waveform modelling specially designed for such computers (SPECFEM3D, SES3D) became mature and widely available. These packages achieve significant computational performance and provide researchers with an opportunity to solve problems of bigger size at higher resolution within a shorter time. However, a typical seismic inversion process contains various activities that are beyond the common solver functionality. They include management of information on seismic events and stations, 3D models, observed and synthetic seismograms, pre-processing of the observed signals, computation of misfits and adjoint sources, minimization of misfits, and process workflow management. These activities are time consuming, seldom sufficiently automated, and therefore represent a bottleneck that can substantially offset performance benefits provided by even the most powerful modern supercomputers. Furthermore, a typical system architecture of modern supercomputing platforms is oriented towards the maximum computational performance and provides limited standard facilities for automation of the supporting activities. We present a prototype solution that automates all aspects of the seismic inversion process and is tuned for the modern massively parallel high performance computing systems. We address several major aspects of the solution architecture, which include (1) design of an inversion state database for tracing all relevant aspects of the entire solution process, (2) design of an extensible workflow management framework, (3) integration with wave propagation solvers, (4) integration with optimization packages, (5) computation of misfits and adjoint sources, and (6) process monitoring. The inversion state database represents a hierarchical structure with

  6. Validated high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    STORAGESEVER

    2010-02-22

    Feb 22, 2010 ... specific and accurate high performance liquid chromatographic method for determination of ZER in micro-volumes ... tional medicine as a cure for swelling, sores, loss of appetite and ... Receptor Activator for Nuclear Factor κ B Ligand .... The effect of ... be suitable for preclinical pharmacokinetic studies. The.

  7. High performance sinter-HIP for hard metals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hongxia Chen; Deming Zhang; Yang Li; Jingping Chen

    2001-01-01

    The horizontal sinter-HIP equipment with great charge capacity and high performance, developed and manufactured by Central Iron and Steel Research Institute(CISRI), is mainly used for sintering and condensation of hard metals. This equipment is characterized by large hot zone, high heating speed, good temperature uniformity and fast cooling system. The equipment can provide uniform hot zone with temperature difference less than 6 o C at 1500-1600 o C and 6-10 MPa by controlling temperature, pressure and circulation of gas precisely. Using large scale horizontal sinter-HIP equipment to produce hard matals have many advantages such as stable quality, high efficiency of production, high rate of finished products and low production cost, so this equipment is a good choice for manufacturer of hard metals. (author)

  8. High Performance Computing Operations Review Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cupps, Kimberly C. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

    2013-12-19

    The High Performance Computing Operations Review (HPCOR) meeting—requested by the ASC and ASCR program headquarters at DOE—was held November 5 and 6, 2013, at the Marriott Hotel in San Francisco, CA. The purpose of the review was to discuss the processes and practices for HPC integration and its related software and facilities. Experiences and lessons learned from the most recent systems deployed were covered in order to benefit the deployment of new systems.

  9. High-definition television evaluation for remote handling task performance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fujita, Y.; Omori, E.; Hayashi, S.; Draper, J.V.; Herndon, J.N.

    1986-01-01

    This paper describes experiments designed to evaluate the impact of HDTV on the performance of typical remote tasks. The experiments described in this paper compared the performance of four operators using HDTV with their performance while using other television systems. The experiments included four television systems: (1) high-definition color television, (2) high-definition monochromatic television, (3) standard-resolution monochromatic television, and (4) standard-resolution stereoscopic monochromatic television. The stereo system accomplished stereoscopy by displaying two cross-polarized images, one reflected by a half-silvered mirror and one seen through the mirror. Observers wore a pair of glasses with cross-polarized lenses so that the left eye received only the view from the left camera and the right eye received only the view from the right camera

  10. Microcystin Detection Characteristics of Fluorescence Immunochromatography and High Performance Liquid Chromatography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pyo, Dong Jin; Park, Geun Young; Choi, Jong Chon; Oh, Chang Suk

    2005-01-01

    Different detection characteristics of fluorescence immunochromatography method and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the analysis of cyanobacterial toxins were studied. In particular, low and high limits of detection, detection time and reproducibility and detectable microcystin species were compared when fluorescence immunochromatography method and high performance liquid chromatography method were applied for the detection of microcystin (MC), a cyclic peptide toxin of the freshwater cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa. A Fluorescence immunochromatography assay system has the unique advantages of short detection time and low detection limit, and high performance liquid chromatography detection method has the strong advantage of individual quantifications of several species of microcystins

  11. Manufacturing Advantage: Why High-Performance Work Systems Pay Off.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Appelbaum, Eileen; Bailey, Thomas; Berg, Peter; Kalleberg, Arne L.

    A study examined the relationship between high-performance workplace practices and the performance of plants in the following manufacturing industries: steel, apparel, and medical electronic instruments and imaging. The multilevel research methodology combined the following data collection activities: (1) site visits; (2) collection of plant…

  12. High-performance phase-field modeling

    KAUST Repository

    Vignal, Philippe

    2015-04-27

    Many processes in engineering and sciences involve the evolution of interfaces. Among the mathematical frameworks developed to model these types of problems, the phase-field method has emerged as a possible solution. Phase-fields nonetheless lead to complex nonlinear, high-order partial differential equations, whose solution poses mathematical and computational challenges. Guaranteeing some of the physical properties of the equations has lead to the development of efficient algorithms and discretizations capable of recovering said properties by construction [2, 5]. This work builds-up on these ideas, and proposes novel discretization strategies that guarantee numerical energy dissipation for both conserved and non-conserved phase-field models. The temporal discretization is based on a novel method which relies on Taylor series and ensures strong energy stability. It is second-order accurate, and can also be rendered linear to speed-up the solution process [4]. The spatial discretization relies on Isogeometric Analysis, a finite element method that possesses the k-refinement technology and enables the generation of high-order, high-continuity basis functions. These basis functions are well suited to handle the high-order operators present in phase-field models. Two-dimensional and three dimensional results of the Allen-Cahn, Cahn-Hilliard, Swift-Hohenberg and phase-field crystal equation will be presented, which corroborate the theoretical findings, and illustrate the robustness of the method. Results related to more challenging examples, namely the Navier-Stokes Cahn-Hilliard and a diusion-reaction Cahn-Hilliard system, will also be presented. The implementation was done in PetIGA and PetIGA-MF, high-performance Isogeometric Analysis frameworks [1, 3], designed to handle non-linear, time-dependent problems.

  13. Friction Stir Additive Manufacturing: Route to High Structural Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palanivel, S.; Sidhar, H.; Mishra, R. S.

    2015-03-01

    Aerospace and automotive industries provide the next big opportunities for additive manufacturing. Currently, the additive industry is confronted with four major challenges that have been identified in this article. These challenges need to be addressed for the additive technologies to march into new frontiers and create additional markets. Specific potential success in the transportation sectors is dependent on the ability to manufacture complicated structures with high performance. Most of the techniques used for metal-based additive manufacturing are fusion based because of their ability to fulfill the computer-aided design to component vision. Although these techniques aid in fabrication of complex shapes, achieving high structural performance is a key problem due to the liquid-solid phase transformation. In this article, friction stir additive manufacturing (FSAM) is shown as a potential solid-state process for attaining high-performance lightweight alloys for simpler geometrical applications. To illustrate FSAM as a high-performance route, manufactured builds of Mg-4Y-3Nd and AA5083 are shown as examples. In the Mg-based alloy, an average hardness of 120 HV was achieved in the built structure and was significantly higher than that of the base material (97 HV). Similarly for the Al-based alloy, compared with the base hardness of 88 HV, the average built hardness was 104 HV. A potential application of FSAM is illustrated by taking an example of a simple stiffener assembly.

  14. Graphitic carbon nitride nanosheet electrode-based high-performance ionic actuator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Guan; Hu, Ying; Liu, Yang; Zhao, Jingjing; Chen, Xueli; Whoehling, Vincent; Plesse, Cédric; Nguyen, Giao T. M.; Vidal, Frédéric; Chen, Wei

    2015-01-01

    Ionic actuators have attracted attention due to their remarkably large strain under low-voltage stimulation. Because actuation performance is mainly dominated by the electrochemical and electromechanical processes of the electrode layer, the electrode material and structure are crucial. Here, we report a graphitic carbon nitride nanosheet electrode-based ionic actuator that displays high electrochemical activity and electromechanical conversion abilities, including large specific capacitance (259.4 F g−1) with ionic liquid as the electrolyte, fast actuation response (0.5±0.03% in 300 ms), large electromechanical strain (0.93±0.03%) and high actuation stability (100,000 cycles) under 3 V. The key to the high performance lies in the hierarchical pore structure with dominant size actuation performance. PMID:26028354

  15. A high performance architecture for accelerator controls

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Allen, M.; Hunt, S.M; Lue, H.; Saltmarsh, C.G.; Parker, C.R.C.B.

    1991-01-01

    The demands placed on the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) control system due to large distances, high bandwidth and fast response time required for operation will require a fresh approach to the data communications architecture of the accelerator. The prototype design effort aims at providing deterministic communication across the accelerator complex with a response time of < 100 ms and total bandwidth of 2 Gbits/sec. It will offer a consistent interface for a large number of equipment types, from vacuum pumps to beam position monitors, providing appropriate communications performance for each equipment type. It will consist of highly parallel links to all equipment: those with computing resources, non-intelligent direct control interfaces, and data concentrators. This system will give each piece of equipment a dedicated link of fixed bandwidth to the control system. Application programs will have access to all accelerator devices which will be memory mapped into a global virtual addressing scheme. Links to devices in the same geographical area will be multiplexed using commercial Time Division Multiplexing equipment. Low-level access will use reflective memory techniques, eliminating processing overhead and complexity of traditional data communication protocols. The use of commercial standards and equipment will enable a high performance system to be built at low cost

  16. A high performance architecture for accelerator controls

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Allen, M.; Hunt, S.M.; Lue, H.; Saltmarsh, C.G.; Parker, C.R.C.B.

    1991-03-01

    The demands placed on the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) control system due to large distances, high bandwidth and fast response time required for operation will require a fresh approach to the data communications architecture of the accelerator. The prototype design effort aims at providing deterministic communication across the accelerator complex with a response time of <100 ms and total bandwidth of 2 Gbits/sec. It will offer a consistent interface for a large number of equipment types, from vacuum pumps to beam position monitors, providing appropriate communications performance for each equipment type. It will consist of highly parallel links to all equipments: those with computing resources, non-intelligent direct control interfaces, and data concentrators. This system will give each piece of equipment a dedicated link of fixed bandwidth to the control system. Application programs will have access to all accelerator devices which will be memory mapped into a global virtual addressing scheme. Links to devices in the same geographical area will be multiplexed using commercial Time Division Multiplexing equipment. Low-level access will use reflective memory techniques, eliminating processing overhead and complexity of traditional data communication protocols. The use of commercial standards and equipment will enable a high performance system to be built at low cost. 1 fig

  17. Enabling high performance computational science through combinatorial algorithms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boman, Erik G; Bozdag, Doruk; Catalyurek, Umit V; Devine, Karen D; Gebremedhin, Assefaw H; Hovland, Paul D; Pothen, Alex; Strout, Michelle Mills

    2007-01-01

    The Combinatorial Scientific Computing and Petascale Simulations (CSCAPES) Institute is developing algorithms and software for combinatorial problems that play an enabling role in scientific and engineering computations. Discrete algorithms will be increasingly critical for achieving high performance for irregular problems on petascale architectures. This paper describes recent contributions by researchers at the CSCAPES Institute in the areas of load balancing, parallel graph coloring, performance improvement, and parallel automatic differentiation

  18. Enabling high performance computational science through combinatorial algorithms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Boman, Erik G [Discrete Algorithms and Math Department, Sandia National Laboratories (United States); Bozdag, Doruk [Biomedical Informatics, and Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ohio State University (United States); Catalyurek, Umit V [Biomedical Informatics, and Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ohio State University (United States); Devine, Karen D [Discrete Algorithms and Math Department, Sandia National Laboratories (United States); Gebremedhin, Assefaw H [Computer Science and Center for Computational Science, Old Dominion University (United States); Hovland, Paul D [Mathematics and Computer Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory (United States); Pothen, Alex [Computer Science and Center for Computational Science, Old Dominion University (United States); Strout, Michelle Mills [Computer Science, Colorado State University (United States)

    2007-07-15

    The Combinatorial Scientific Computing and Petascale Simulations (CSCAPES) Institute is developing algorithms and software for combinatorial problems that play an enabling role in scientific and engineering computations. Discrete algorithms will be increasingly critical for achieving high performance for irregular problems on petascale architectures. This paper describes recent contributions by researchers at the CSCAPES Institute in the areas of load balancing, parallel graph coloring, performance improvement, and parallel automatic differentiation.

  19. Validated High Performance Liquid Chromatography Method for ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Purpose: To develop a simple, rapid and sensitive high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the determination of cefadroxil monohydrate in human plasma. Methods: Schimadzu HPLC with LC solution software was used with Waters Spherisorb, C18 (5 μm, 150mm × 4.5mm) column. The mobile phase ...

  20. A Lithium-Air Battery Stably Working at High Temperature with High Rate Performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Jian; Li, Houpu; Sun, Hao; Zhang, Ye; Wang, Lie; Liao, Meng; Sun, Xuemei; Peng, Huisheng

    2018-02-01

    Driven by the increasing requirements for energy supply in both modern life and the automobile industry, the lithium-air battery serves as a promising candidate due to its high energy density. However, organic solvents in electrolytes are likely to rapidly vaporize and form flammable gases under increasing temperatures. In this case, serious safety problems may occur and cause great harm to people. Therefore, a kind of lithium-air that can work stably under high temperature is desirable. Herein, through the use of an ionic liquid and aligned carbon nanotubes, and a fiber shaped design, a new type of lithium-air battery that can effectively work at high temperatures up to 140 °C is developed. Ionic liquids can offer wide electrochemical windows and low vapor pressures, as well as provide high thermal stability for lithium-air batteries. The aligned carbon nanotubes have good electric and heat conductivity. Meanwhile, the fiber format can offer both flexibility and weavability, and realize rapid heat conduction and uniform heat distribution of the battery. In addition, the high temperature has also largely improved the specific powers by increasing the ionic conductivity and catalytic activity of the cathode. Consequently, the lithium-air battery can work stably at 140 °C with a high specific current of 10 A g -1 for 380 cycles, indicating high stability and good rate performance at high temperatures. This work may provide an effective paradigm for the development of high-performance energy storage devices. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  1. Frictional behaviour of high performance fibrous tows: Friction experiments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cornelissen, Bo; Rietman, Bert; Akkerman, Remko

    2013-01-01

    Tow friction is an important mechanism in the production and processing of high performance fibrous tows. The frictional behaviour of these tows is anisotropic due to the texture of the filaments as well as the tows. This work describes capstan experiments that were performed to measure the

  2. High-Performance Buildings – Value, Messaging, Financial and Policy Mechanisms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McCabe, Molly

    2011-02-22

    At the request of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, an in-depth analysis of the rapidly evolving state of real estate investments, high-performance building technology, and interest in efficiency was conducted by HaydenTanner, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Technologies Program. The analysis objectives were • to evaluate the link between high-performance buildings and their market value • to identify core messaging to motivate owners, investors, financiers, and others in the real estate sector to appropriately value and deploy high-performance strategies and technologies across new and existing buildings • to summarize financial mechanisms that facilitate increased investment in these buildings. To meet these objectives, work consisted of a literature review of relevant writings, examination of existing and emergent financial and policy mechanisms, interviews with industry stakeholders, and an evaluation of the value implications through financial modeling. This report documents the analysis methodology and findings, conclusion and recommendations. Its intent is to support and inform the DOE Building Technologies Program on policy and program planning for the financing of high-performance new buildings and building retrofit projects.

  3. Progress in a novel architecture for high performance processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Zhiwei; Liu, Meng; Liu, Zijun; Du, Xueliang; Xie, Shaolin; Ma, Hong; Ding, Guangxin; Ren, Weili; Zhou, Fabiao; Sun, Wenqin; Wang, Huijuan; Wang, Donglin

    2018-04-01

    The high performance processing (HPP) is an innovative architecture which targets on high performance computing with excellent power efficiency and computing performance. It is suitable for data intensive applications like supercomputing, machine learning and wireless communication. An example chip with four application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) cores which is the first generation of HPP cores has been taped out successfully under Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) 40 nm low power process. The innovative architecture shows great energy efficiency over the traditional central processing unit (CPU) and general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU). Compared with MaPU, HPP has made great improvement in architecture. The chip with 32 HPP cores is being developed under TSMC 16 nm field effect transistor (FFC) technology process and is planed to use commercially. The peak performance of this chip can reach 4.3 teraFLOPS (TFLOPS) and its power efficiency is up to 89.5 gigaFLOPS per watt (GFLOPS/W).

  4. Practices and Processes of Leading High Performance Home Builders in the Upper Midwest

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Von Thoma, Ed [Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN (United States). NorthernSTAR Building America Partnership; Ojzcyk, Cindy [Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN (United States). NorthernSTAR Building America Partnership

    2012-12-01

    The NorthernSTAR Building America Partnership team proposed this study to gain insight into the business, sales, and construction processes of successful high performance builders. The knowledge gained by understanding the high performance strategies used by individual builders, as well as the process each followed to move from traditional builder to high performance builder, will be beneficial in proposing more in-depth research to yield specific action items to assist the industry at large transform to high performance new home construction. This investigation identified the best practices of three successful high performance builders in the upper Midwest. In-depth field analysis of the performance levels of their homes, their business models, and their strategies for market acceptance were explored.

  5. Longitudinal analysis of high-technology medical services and hospital financial performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zengul, Ferhat D; Weech-Maldonado, Robert; Ozaydin, Bunyamin; Patrician, Patricia A; OʼConnor, Stephen J

    U.S. hospitals have been investing in high-technology medical services as a strategy to improve financial performance. Despite the interest in high-tech medical services, there is not much information available about the impact of high-tech services on financial performance. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of high-tech medical services on financial performance of U.S. hospitals by using the resource-based view of the firm as a conceptual framework. Fixed-effects regressions with 2 years lagged independent variables using a longitudinal panel sample of 3,268 hospitals (2005-2010). It was hypothesized that hospitals with rare or large numbers (breadth) of high-tech medical services will experience better financial performance. Fixed effects regression results supported the link between a larger breadth of high-tech services and total margin, but only among not-for-profit hospitals. Both breadth and rareness of high-tech services were associated with high total margin among not-for-profit hospitals. Neither breadth nor rareness of high-tech services was associated with operating margin. Although breadth and rareness of high-tech services resulted in lower expenses per inpatient day among not-for-profit hospitals, these lower costs were offset by lower revenues per inpatient day. Enhancing the breadth of high-tech services may be a legitimate organizational strategy to improve financial performance, especially among not-for-profit hospitals. Hospitals may experience increased productivity and efficiency, and therefore lower inpatient operating costs, as a result of newer technologies. However, the negative impact on operating revenue should caution hospital administrators about revenue reducing features of these technologies, which may be related to the payer mix that these technologies may attract. Therefore, managers should consider both the cost and revenue implications of these technologies.

  6. Development and Performance Assessment of the High-Performance Shrinkage Reducing Agent for Concrete

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hyung Sub Han

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available To develop a high-performance shrinkage reducing agent, this study investigated several shrinkage reducing materials and supplements for those materials. Fluidity and air content were satisfactory for the various shrinkage reducing materials. The decrease in viscosity was the lowest for glycol-based materials. The decrease in drying shrinkage was most prominent for mixtures containing glycol-based materials. In particular, mixtures containing G2 achieved a 40% decrease in the amount of drying shrinkage. Most shrinkage reducing materials had weaker level of compressive strength than that of the plain mixture. When 3% triethanolamine was used for early strength improvement, the strength was enhanced by 158% compared to that of the plain mixture on day 1; enhancement values were 135% on day 7 and 113% on day 28. To assess the performance of the developed high-performance shrinkage reducing agent and to determine the optimal amount, 2.0% shrinkage reducing agent was set as 40% of the value of the plain mixture. While the effect was more prominent at higher amounts, to prevent deterioration of the compressive strength and the other physical properties, the recommended amount is less than 2.0%.

  7. Multicast Performance Analysis for High-Speed Torus Networks

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Oral, S; George, A

    2002-01-01

    ... for unicast-based and path-based multicast communication on high-speed torus networks. Software-based multicast performance results of selected algorithms on a 16-node Scalable Coherent Interface (SCI) torus are given...

  8. High performance computing in science and engineering '09: transactions of the High Performance Computing Center, Stuttgart (HLRS) 2009

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Nagel, Wolfgang E; Kröner, Dietmar; Resch, Michael

    2010-01-01

    ...), NIC/JSC (J¨ u lich), and LRZ (Munich). As part of that strategic initiative, in May 2009 already NIC/JSC has installed the first phase of the GCS HPC Tier-0 resources, an IBM Blue Gene/P with roughly 300.000 Cores, this time in J¨ u lich, With that, the GCS provides the most powerful high-performance computing infrastructure in Europe alread...

  9. Unconditionally stable and robust adjacent-cell diffusive preconditioning of weighted-difference particle transport methods is impossible

    CERN Document Server

    Azmy, Y Y

    2002-01-01

    We construct a particle transport problem for which there exists no preconditioner with a cell-centered diffusion coupling stencil that is unconditionally stable and robust. In particular we consider an asymptotic limit of the periodic horizontal interface (PHI) configuration wherein the cell height in both layers approaches zero like sigma sup 2 while the total cross section vanishes like sigma in one layer and diverges like sigma sup - sup 1 as sigma->0 in the other layer. In such cases we show that the conditions for stability and robustness of the flat eigenmodes of the iteration residual imply instability of the modes flat in the y-dimension and rapidly varying in the x-dimension. Two assumptions are made in the proof. (i) Only cell-centered adjacent-cell preconditioners (AP) are considered; nevertheless numerical experiments with face-centered preconditioners of the diffusion synthetic acceleration (DSA) type on problem configurations with sharp material discontinuities suffer similar deterioration in s...

  10. A Heterogeneous High-Performance System for Computational and Computer Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-11-15

    expand the research infrastructure at the institution but also to enhance the high -performance computing training provided to both undergraduate and... cloud computing, supercomputing, and the availability of cheap memory and storage led to enormous amounts of data to be sifted through in forensic... High -Performance Computing (HPC) tools that can be integrated with existing curricula and support our research to modernize and dramatically advance

  11. Designing high-Performance layered thermoelectric materials through orbital engineering

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Jiawei; Song, Lirong; Madsen, Georg K. H.

    2016-01-01

    Thermoelectric technology, which possesses potential application in recycling industrial waste heat as energy, calls for novel high-performance materials. The systematic exploration of novel thermoelectric materials with excellent electronic transport properties is severely hindered by limited...... insight into the underlying bonding orbitals of atomic structures. Here we propose a simple yet successful strategy to discover and design high-performance layered thermoelectric materials through minimizing the crystal field splitting energy of orbitals to realize high orbital degeneracy. The approach...... naturally leads to design maps for optimizing the thermoelectric power factor through forming solid solutions and biaxial strain. Using this approach, we predict a series of potential thermoelectric candidates from layered CaAl2Si2-type Zintl compounds. Several of them contain nontoxic, low-cost and earth...

  12. High temperature performance of soy-based adhesives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jane L. O’Dell; Christopher G. Hunt; Charles R. Frihart

    2013-01-01

    We studied the high temperature performance of soy meal processed to different protein concentrations (flour, concentrate, and isolate), as well as formulated soy-based adhesives, and commercial nonsoy adhesives for comparison. No thermal transitions were seen in phenol-resorcinol-formaldehyde (PRF) or soy-phenol-formaldehyde (SoyPF) or in as-received soy flour...

  13. High performance structural ceramics for nuclear industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pujari, Vimal K.; Faker, Paul

    2006-01-01

    A family of Saint-Gobain structural ceramic materials and products produced by its High performance Refractory Division is described. Over the last fifty years or so, Saint-Gobain has been a leader in developing non oxide ceramic based novel materials, processes and products for application in Nuclear, Chemical, Automotive, Defense and Mining industries

  14. High performance multi-channel high-speed I/O circuits

    CERN Document Server

    Oh, Taehyoun

    2013-01-01

    This book describes design techniques that can be used to mitigate crosstalk in high-speed I/O circuits. The focus of the book is in developing compact and low power integrated circuits for crosstalk cancellation, inter-symbol interference (ISI) mitigation and improved bit error rates (BER) at higher speeds. This book is one of the first to discuss in detail the problem of crosstalk and ISI mitigation encountered as data rates have continued beyond 10Gb/s. Readers will learn to avoid the data performance cliff, with circuits and design techniques described for novel, low power crosstalk cancel

  15. Teacher Performance Trajectories in High- and Lower-Poverty Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Zeyu; Özek, Umut; Hansen, Michael

    2015-01-01

    This study explores whether teacher performance trajectory over time differs by school-poverty settings. Focusing on elementary school mathematics teachers in North Carolina and Florida, we find no systematic relationship between school student poverty rates and teacher performance trajectories. In both high- (=60% free/reduced-price lunch [FRPL])…

  16. Benchmarking high performance computing architectures with CMS’ skeleton framework

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2017-10-01

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

  17. Performance of a 2-megawatt high voltage test load

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horan, D.; Kustom, R.; Ferguson, M.

    1995-01-01

    A high-power, water-cooled resistive load which simulates the electrical load characteristics of a high-power klystron, capable of 2 megawatts dissipation at 95 kV DC, was built and installed at the Advanced Photon Source for use in load-testing high voltage power supplies. During this testing, the test load has logged approximately 35 hours of operation at power levels in excess of one mezawatt. Slight variations in the resistance of the load during operation indicate that leakage currents in the cooling water may be a significant factor affecting the performance of the load. Sufficient performance data have been collected to indicate that leakage current through the deionized (DI) water coolant shunts roughly 15 percent of the full-load current around the load resistor elements. The leakage current could cause deterioration of internal components of the load. The load pressure vessel was disassembled and inspected internally for any signs of significant wear and distress. Results of this inspection and possible modifications for improved performance will be discussed

  18. Predicting High-Power Performance in Professional Cyclists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanders, Dajo; Heijboer, Mathieu; Akubat, Ibrahim; Meijer, Kenneth; Hesselink, Matthijs K

    2017-03-01

    To assess if short-duration (5 to ~300 s) high-power performance can accurately be predicted using the anaerobic power reserve (APR) model in professional cyclists. Data from 4 professional cyclists from a World Tour cycling team were used. Using the maximal aerobic power, sprint peak power output, and an exponential constant describing the decrement in power over time, a power-duration relationship was established for each participant. To test the predictive accuracy of the model, several all-out field trials of different durations were performed by each cyclist. The power output achieved during the all-out trials was compared with the predicted power output by the APR model. The power output predicted by the model showed very large to nearly perfect correlations to the actual power output obtained during the all-out trials for each cyclist (r = .88 ± .21, .92 ± .17, .95 ± .13, and .97 ± .09). Power output during the all-out trials remained within an average of 6.6% (53 W) of the predicted power output by the model. This preliminary pilot study presents 4 case studies on the applicability of the APR model in professional cyclists using a field-based approach. The decrement in all-out performance during high-intensity exercise seems to conform to a general relationship with a single exponential-decay model describing the decrement in power vs increasing duration. These results are in line with previous studies using the APR model to predict performance during brief all-out trials. Future research should evaluate the APR model with a larger sample size of elite cyclists.

  19. Administrative Task Performance by Heads of Senior High Schools ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study aimed at examining the administrative task performance of heads of senior high schools (SHS) in Ghana from the organising perspective. The study hypothesized that there is no statistically significant difference in the compliance level of organising as an administrative task performance by heads in the rural and ...

  20. academic performance of less endowed high school students

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    User

    girls) who obtained the basic requirements for courses that they ... Academic performance of students from less endowed senior high ... 106 ... only pay academic facility user fees. The second ..... certificate education, Pro is senior executive.

  1. High Performance Thin-Film Composite Forward Osmosis Membrane

    KAUST Repository

    Yip, Ngai Yin; Tiraferri, Alberto; Phillip, William A.; Schiffman, Jessica D.; Elimelech, Menachem

    2010-01-01

    obstacle hindering further advancements of this technology. This work presents the development of a high performance thin-film composite membrane for forward osmosis applications. The membrane consists of a selective polyamide active layer formed

  2. Project materials [Commercial High Performance Buildings Project

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2001-01-01

    The Consortium for High Performance Buildings (ChiPB) is an outgrowth of DOE'S Commercial Whole Buildings Roadmapping initiatives. It is a team-driven public/private partnership that seeks to enable and demonstrate the benefit of buildings that are designed, built and operated to be energy efficient, environmentally sustainable, superior quality, and cost effective.

  3. Low-Cost High-Performance MRI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarracanie, Mathieu; Lapierre, Cristen D.; Salameh, Najat; Waddington, David E. J.; Witzel, Thomas; Rosen, Matthew S.

    2015-10-01

    Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is unparalleled in its ability to visualize anatomical structure and function non-invasively with high spatial and temporal resolution. Yet to overcome the low sensitivity inherent in inductive detection of weakly polarized nuclear spins, the vast majority of clinical MRI scanners employ superconducting magnets producing very high magnetic fields. Commonly found at 1.5-3 tesla (T), these powerful magnets are massive and have very strict infrastructure demands that preclude operation in many environments. MRI scanners are costly to purchase, site, and maintain, with the purchase price approaching $1 M per tesla (T) of magnetic field. We present here a remarkably simple, non-cryogenic approach to high-performance human MRI at ultra-low magnetic field, whereby modern under-sampling strategies are combined with fully-refocused dynamic spin control using steady-state free precession techniques. At 6.5 mT (more than 450 times lower than clinical MRI scanners) we demonstrate (2.5 × 3.5 × 8.5) mm3 imaging resolution in the living human brain using a simple, open-geometry electromagnet, with 3D image acquisition over the entire brain in 6 minutes. We contend that these practical ultra-low magnetic field implementations of MRI (standards for affordable (<$50,000) and robust portable devices.

  4. Achieving Mixtures of Ultra-High Performance Concrete

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mircea POPA

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC is a relatively new concrete. According to [11] UHPC is that concrete which features compressive strength over C100/115 class. Up to this point standards for this type of concrete were not adopted, although its characteristic strength exceeds those specified in [33]. Its main property is high compressive strength. This provides the possibility of reducing the section of elements (beams or columns made of this type of concrete, while the load capacity remains high. The study consists in blending mixtures of UHPC made of varying proportions of materials. The authors have obtained strengths of up to 160 MPa. The materials used are: Portland cement, silica fume, quartz powder, steel fibers, superplasticiser, sand and crushed aggregate for concrete - andesite.

  5. High-performance fiber/epoxy composite pressure vessels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiao, T. T.; Hamstad, M. A.; Jessop, E. S.; Toland, R. H.

    1978-01-01

    Activities described include: (1) determining the applicability of an ultrahigh-strength graphite fiber to composite pressure vessels; (2) defining the fatigue performance of thin-titanium-lined, high-strength graphite/epoxy pressure vessel; (3) selecting epoxy resin systems suitable for filament winding; (4) studying the fatigue life potential of Kevlar 49/epoxy pressure vessels; and (5) developing polymer liners for composite pressure vessels. Kevlar 49/epoxy and graphite fiber/epoxy pressure vessels, 10.2 cm in diameter, some with aluminum liners and some with alternation layers of rubber and polymer were fabricated. To determine liner performance, vessels were subjected to gas permeation tests, fatigue cycling, and burst tests, measuring composite performance, fatigue life, and leak rates. Both the metal and the rubber/polymer liner performed well. Proportionately larger pressure vessels (20.3 and 38 cm in diameter) were made and subjected to the same tests. In these larger vessels, line leakage problems with both liners developed the causes of the leaks were identified and some solutions to such liner problems are recommended.

  6. High-performance insulator structures for accelerator applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sampayan, S.E.; Caporaso, G.J.; Sanders, D.M.; Stoddard, R.D.; Trimble, D.O.; Elizondo, J.; Krogh, M.L.; Wieskamp, T.F.

    1997-05-01

    A new, high gradient insulator technology has been developed for accelerator systems. The concept involves the use of alternating layers of conductors and insulators with periods of order 1 mm or less. These structures perform many times better (about 1.5 to 4 times higher breakdown electric field) than conventional insulators in long pulse, short pulse, and alternating polarity applications. We describe our ongoing studies investigating the degradation of the breakdown electric field resulting from alternate fabrication techniques, the effect of gas pressure, the effect of the insulator-to-electrode interface gap spacing, and the performance of the insulator structure under bi-polar stress

  7. Fabrication of highly ordered polyaniline nanocone on pristine graphene for high-performance supercapacitor electrodes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Ningning; Wang, Wucong; Wu, Yue; Xiao, Ding; Zhao, Yaping

    2018-04-01

    The hybrids of pristine graphene with polyaniline were synthesized by in situ polymerizations for making a high-performance supercapacitor. The formed high-ordered PANI nanocones were vertically aligned on the graphene sheets. The length of the PANI nanocones increased with the concentration of aniline monomer. The specific capacitance of the hybrids electrode in the three-electrode system was measured as high as 481 F/g at a current density of 0.1 A/g, and its stability remained 87% after constant charge-discharge 10000 cycles at a current density of 1 A/g. This outstanding performance is attributed to the coupling effects of the pristine graphene and the hierarchical structure of the PANI possessing high specific surface area. The unique structure of the PANI provided more charge transmission pathways and fast charge-transfer speed of electrons to the pristine graphene because of its large specific area exposed to the electrolyte. The hybrid is expected to have potential applications in supercapacitor electrodes.

  8. High Performing Greenways Design: A Case Study of Gainesville, GA

    OpenAIRE

    AKPINAR, Abdullah

    2015-01-01

    Greenways play a significant role in structuring and developing our living environment in urban as well as suburban areas. They provide many recreational, environmental, ecological, social, educational, and economical benefits to cities. This article questions what makes high performing greenways by exploring the concept, history, and development of greenways in the United States. The paper illustrates the concept of linked open spaces and high performing urban greenways in residential commun...

  9. High Performing Greenways Design: A Case Study of Gainesville, GA

    OpenAIRE

    AKPINAR, Abdullah

    2014-01-01

    Greenways play a significant role in structuring and developing our living environment in urban as well as suburban areas. They provide many recreational, environmental, ecological, social, educational, and economical benefits to cities. This article questions what makes high performing greenways by exploring the concept, history, and development of greenways in the United States. The paper illustrates the concept of linked open spaces and high performing urban greenways in residential commun...

  10. Middle School Concept Helps High-Poverty Schools Become High-Performing Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Picucci, Ali Callicoatte; Brownson, Amanda; Kahlert, Rahel; Sobel, Andrew

    2004-01-01

    The results of a study conducted by the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin for the U.S. Department of Education during the 2001-02 school year showed that elements of the middle school concept can lead to improved student performance, even in high-poverty schools. This article describes common elements of the middle school…

  11. High-performance web services for querying gene and variant annotation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xin, Jiwen; Mark, Adam; Afrasiabi, Cyrus; Tsueng, Ginger; Juchler, Moritz; Gopal, Nikhil; Stupp, Gregory S; Putman, Timothy E; Ainscough, Benjamin J; Griffith, Obi L; Torkamani, Ali; Whetzel, Patricia L; Mungall, Christopher J; Mooney, Sean D; Su, Andrew I; Wu, Chunlei

    2016-05-06

    Efficient tools for data management and integration are essential for many aspects of high-throughput biology. In particular, annotations of genes and human genetic variants are commonly used but highly fragmented across many resources. Here, we describe MyGene.info and MyVariant.info, high-performance web services for querying gene and variant annotation information. These web services are currently accessed more than three million times permonth. They also demonstrate a generalizable cloud-based model for organizing and querying biological annotation information. MyGene.info and MyVariant.info are provided as high-performance web services, accessible at http://mygene.info and http://myvariant.info . Both are offered free of charge to the research community.

  12. Preconditioning for Mixed Finite Element Formulations of Elliptic Problems

    KAUST Repository

    Wildey, Tim; Xue, Guangri

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we discuss a preconditioning technique for mixed finite element discretizations of elliptic equations. The technique is based on a block-diagonal approximation of the mass matrix which maintains the sparsity and positive definiteness of the corresponding Schur complement. This preconditioner arises from the multipoint flux mixed finite element method and is robust with respect to mesh size and is better conditioned for full permeability tensors than a preconditioner based on a diagonal approximation of the mass matrix. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.

  13. Simulating Effects of High Angle of Attack on Turbofan Engine Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yuan; Claus, Russell W.; Litt, Jonathan S.; Guo, Ten-Huei

    2013-01-01

    A method of investigating the effects of high angle of attack (AOA) flight on turbofan engine performance is presented. The methodology involves combining a suite of diverse simulation tools. Three-dimensional, steady-state computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software is used to model the change in performance of a commercial aircraft-type inlet and fan geometry due to various levels of AOA. Parallel compressor theory is then applied to assimilate the CFD data with a zero-dimensional, nonlinear, dynamic turbofan engine model. The combined model shows that high AOA operation degrades fan performance and, thus, negatively impacts compressor stability margins and engine thrust. In addition, the engine response to high AOA conditions is shown to be highly dependent upon the type of control system employed.

  14. Next-generation fiber lasers enabled by high-performance components

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kliner, D. A. V.; Victor, B.; Rivera, C.; Fanning, G.; Balsley, D.; Farrow, R. L.; Kennedy, K.; Hampton, S.; Hawke, R.; Soukup, E.; Reynolds, M.; Hodges, A.; Emery, J.; Brown, A.; Almonte, K.; Nelson, M.; Foley, B.; Dawson, D.; Hemenway, D. M.; Urbanek, W.; DeVito, M.; Bao, L.; Koponen, J.; Gross, K.

    2018-02-01

    Next-generation industrial fiber lasers enable challenging applications that cannot be addressed with legacy fiber lasers. Key features of next-generation fiber lasers include robust back-reflection protection, high power stability, wide power tunability, high-speed modulation and waveform generation, and facile field serviceability. These capabilities are enabled by high-performance components, particularly pump diodes and optical fibers, and by advanced fiber laser designs. We summarize the performance and reliability of nLIGHT diodes, fibers, and next-generation industrial fiber lasers at power levels of 500 W - 8 kW. We show back-reflection studies with up to 1 kW of back-reflected power, power-stability measurements in cw and modulated operation exhibiting sub-1% stability over a 5 - 100% power range, and high-speed modulation (100 kHz) and waveform generation with a bandwidth 20x higher than standard fiber lasers. We show results from representative applications, including cutting and welding of highly reflective metals (Cu and Al) for production of Li-ion battery modules and processing of carbon fiber reinforced polymers.

  15. Parallel computing techniques for rotorcraft aerodynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ekici, Kivanc

    The modification of unsteady three-dimensional Navier-Stokes codes for application on massively parallel and distributed computing environments is investigated. The Euler/Navier-Stokes code TURNS (Transonic Unsteady Rotor Navier-Stokes) was chosen as a test bed because of its wide use by universities and industry. For the efficient implementation of TURNS on parallel computing systems, two algorithmic changes are developed. First, main modifications to the implicit operator, Lower-Upper Symmetric Gauss Seidel (LU-SGS) originally used in TURNS, is performed. Second, application of an inexact Newton method, coupled with a Krylov subspace iterative method (Newton-Krylov method) is carried out. Both techniques have been tried previously for the Euler equations mode of the code. In this work, we have extended the methods to the Navier-Stokes mode. Several new implicit operators were tried because of convergence problems of traditional operators with the high cell aspect ratio (CAR) grids needed for viscous calculations on structured grids. Promising results for both Euler and Navier-Stokes cases are presented for these operators. For the efficient implementation of Newton-Krylov methods to the Navier-Stokes mode of TURNS, efficient preconditioners must be used. The parallel implicit operators used in the previous step are employed as preconditioners and the results are compared. The Message Passing Interface (MPI) protocol has been used because of its portability to various parallel architectures. It should be noted that the proposed methodology is general and can be applied to several other CFD codes (e.g. OVERFLOW).

  16. Technology Leadership in Malaysia's High Performance School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yieng, Wong Ai; Daud, Khadijah Binti

    2017-01-01

    Headmaster as leader of the school also plays a role as a technology leader. This applies to the high performance schools (HPS) headmaster as well. The HPS excel in all aspects of education. In this study, researcher is interested in examining the role of the headmaster as a technology leader through interviews with three headmasters of high…

  17. Radioactivity monitor for high-performance liquid chromatography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reeve, D.R.; Crozier, A.

    1977-01-01

    The coupling of a homogeneous radioactivity monitor to a liquid chromatograph involves compromises between the sensitivity of the monitor and the resolution and speed of analysis of the chromatograph. The theoretical relationships between these parameters are considered and expressions derived which make it possible to calculate suitable monitor operating conditions for most types of high-performance liquid chromatography

  18. Decal electronics for printed high performance cmos electronic systems

    KAUST Repository

    Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

    2017-11-23

    High performance complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) electronics are critical for any full-fledged electronic system. However, state-of-the-art CMOS electronics are rigid and bulky making them unusable for flexible electronic applications. While there exist bulk material reduction methods to flex them, such thinned CMOS electronics are fragile and vulnerable to handling for high throughput manufacturing. Here, we show a fusion of a CMOS technology compatible fabrication process for flexible CMOS electronics, with inkjet and conductive cellulose based interconnects, followed by additive manufacturing (i.e. 3D printing based packaging) and finally roll-to-roll printing of packaged decal electronics (thin film transistors based circuit components and sensors) focusing on printed high performance flexible electronic systems. This work provides the most pragmatic route for packaged flexible electronic systems for wide ranging applications.

  19. Microspherical polyaniline/graphene nanocomposites for high performance supercapacitors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Hailiang; Zhou, Xufeng; Zhang, Yiming; Chen, Liang; Liu, Zhaoping

    2013-12-01

    Polyaniline/graphene nanocomposites with microspherical morphology and porous structure are prepared as electrode materials for supercapacitors. Using few-layer graphene obtained by liquid phase exfoliation of graphite as the raw material, porous graphene microspheres are produced by spray drying, and are then employed as the substrates for the growth of polyaniline nanowire arrays by in situ polymerization. In the composite, interconnected graphene sheets with few structural defects constitute a high-efficient conductive network to improve the electrical conductivity of polyaniline. Furthermore, the microspherical architecture prevents restacking of polyaniline/graphene composite nanosheets, thus facilitates fast diffusion of electrolytes. Consequently, the nanocomposite exhibits excellent electrochemical performance. A specific capacitance of 338 F g-1 is reached in 1 M H2SO4 at a scan rate of 20 mV s-1, and a high capacity retention rate of 87.4% after 10,000 cycles at a current density of 3 A g-1 can be achieved, which suggests that the polyaniline/graphene composite with such kind of 3D architecture is a promising electrode material for high-performance supercapacitors.

  20. Brain inspired high performance electronics on flexible silicon

    KAUST Repository

    Sevilla, Galo T.; Rojas, Jhonathan Prieto; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

    2014-01-01

    Brain's stunning speed, energy efficiency and massive parallelism makes it the role model for upcoming high performance computation systems. Although human brain components are a million times slower than state of the art silicon industry components