Deep underground multiple muons at the Mt. Blanc station

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bergamasco, L; Bilokon, H; D' Ettorre Piazzoli, B; Mannocchi, G [Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Turin (Italy). Lab. di Cosmo-Geofisica; Castagnoli, C; Picchi, P [Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Turin (Italy). Lab. di Cosmo-Geofisica; Turin Univ. (Italy). Ist. di Fisica Generale)

1979-12-29

Results on multiple events recorded at the Mt. Blanc station in the last 3 years are presented. The integral energy spectrum of muons is obtained for Esub(..mu..)>1 TeV in the size range 10/sup 6/ - 10/sup 7/ which favours a multiplicity law for hadronic interactions of the form eta approximately Esup(1/4).

Brief communication: 3-D reconstruction of a collapsed rock pillar from Web-retrieved images and terrestrial lidar data - the 2005 event of the west face of the Drus (Mont Blanc massif)

Science.gov (United States)

Guerin, Antoine; Abellán, Antonio; Matasci, Battista; Jaboyedoff, Michel; Derron, Marc-Henri; Ravanel, Ludovic

2017-07-01

In June 2005, a series of major rockfall events completely wiped out the Bonatti Pillar located in the legendary Drus west face (Mont Blanc massif, France). Terrestrial lidar scans of the west face were acquired after this event, but no pre-event point cloud is available. Thus, in order to reconstruct the volume and the shape of the collapsed blocks, a 3-D model has been built using photogrammetry (structure-from-motion (SfM) algorithms) based on 30 pictures collected on the Web. All these pictures were taken between September 2003 and May 2005. We then reconstructed the shape and volume of the fallen compartment by comparing the SfM model with terrestrial lidar data acquired in October 2005 and November 2011. The volume is calculated to 292 680 m3 (±5.6 %). This result is close to the value previously assessed by Ravanel and Deline (2008) for this same rock avalanche (265 000 ± 10 000 m3). The difference between these two estimations can be explained by the rounded shape of the volume determined by photogrammetry, which may lead to a volume overestimation. However it is not excluded that the volume calculated by Ravanel and Deline (2008) is slightly underestimated, the thickness of the blocks having been assessed manually from historical photographs.

David Rosenthal’s Tirant lo Blanc turns 30

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Reinhart

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The groundbreaking English language translation of Tirant lo Blanc by New York poet and academic David Rosenthal remains dominant three decades after its initial, and celebrated, release. Rosenthal’s controversially fluid and concise rendering of the Valencian classic survived a serious challenge 20 years ago by a more literal version from a well-meaning amateur translator and journeyman academic backed by a leading U.S.-based Catalan scholar. The article reviews the controversy and compares the two versions, adding comments from some of the key critics. La traducció capdavantera a l’anglés del Tirant lo Blanc, feta pel poeta i erudit de Nova York, David Rosenthal, continua mantenint la seua importància, tres dècades després de publicar-se. La polèmica versió dúctil i concisa de Rosenthal del clàssic valencià, ha sobreviscut el desafiament seriós, de fa vint anys, de la versió més literal d’un benintencionat traductor amateur i acadèmci oficial, recolzat per un destacat erudit català establert als Estats Units. L’article revisa la polèmica i compara les dues versions, tot afegint els comentaris d’alguns dels crítics més importants.

Proteomic Analysis of Sauvignon Blanc Grape Skin, Pulp and Seed and Relative Quantification of Pathogenesis-Related Proteins.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bin Tian

Full Text Available Thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs and chitinases are the main constituents of so-called protein hazes which can form in finished white wine and which is a great concern of winemakers. These soluble pathogenesis-related (PR proteins are extracted from grape berries. However, their distribution in different grape tissues is not well documented. In this study, proteins were first separately extracted from the skin, pulp and seed of Sauvignon Blanc grapes, followed by trypsin digestion and analysis by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS. Proteins identified included 75 proteins from Sauvignon Blanc grape skin, 63 from grape pulp and 35 from grape seed, mostly functionally classified as associated with metabolism and energy. Some were present exclusively in specific grape tissues; for example, proteins involved in photosynthesis were only detected in grape skin and proteins found in alcoholic fermentation were only detected in grape pulp. Moreover, proteins identified in grape seed were less diverse than those identified in grape skin and pulp. TLPs and chitinases were identified in both Sauvignon Blanc grape skin and pulp, but not in the seed. To relatively quantify the PR proteins, the protein extracts of grape tissues were seperated by HPLC first and then analysed by SDS-PAGE. The results showed that the protein fractions eluted at 9.3 min and 19.2 min under the chromatographic conditions of this study confirmed that these corresponded to TLPs and chitinases seperately. Thus, the relative quantification of TLPs and chitinases in protein extracts was carried out by comparing the area of corresponding peaks against the area of a thamautin standard. The results presented in this study clearly demonstrated the distribution of haze-forming PR proteins in grape berries, and the relative quantification of TLPs and chitinases could be applied in fast tracking of changes in PR proteins during grape growth and

Merging a Terrain-Based Parameter and Snow Particle Counter Data for the Assessment of Snow Redistribution in the Col du Lac Blanc Area

Science.gov (United States)

Schön, Peter; Prokop, Alexander; Naaim-Bouvet, Florence; Vionnet, Vincent; Guyomarc'h, Gilbert; Heiser, Micha; Nishimura, Kouichi

2015-04-01

Wind and the associated snow drift are dominating factors determining the snow distribution and accumulation in alpine areas, resulting in a high spatial variability of snow depth that is difficult to evaluate and quantify. The terrain-based parameter Sx characterizes the degree of shelter or exposure of a grid point provided by the upwind terrain, without the computational complexity of numerical wind field models. The parameter has shown to qualitatively predict snow redistribution with good reproduction of spatial patterns. It does not, however, provide a quantitative estimate of changes in snow depths. The objective of our research was to introduce a new parameter to quantify changes in snow depths in our research area, the Col du Lac Blanc in the French Alps. The area is at an elevation of 2700 m and particularly suited for our study due to its consistently bi-modal wind directions. Our work focused on two pronounced, approximately 10 m high terrain breaks, and we worked with 1 m resolution digital snow surface models (DSM). The DSM and measured changes in snow depths were obtained with high-accuracy terrestrial laser scan (TLS) measurements. First we calculated the terrain-based parameter Sx on a digital snow surface model and correlated Sx with measured changes in snow-depths (Δ SH). Results showed that Δ SH can be approximated by Δ SHestimated = α * Sx, where α is a newly introduced parameter. The parameter α has shown to be linked to the amount of snow deposited influenced by blowing snow flux. At the Col du Lac Blanc test side, blowing snow flux is recorded with snow particle counters (SPC). Snow flux is the number of drifting snow particles per time and area. Hence, the SPC provide data about the duration and intensity of drifting snow events, two important factors not accounted for by the terrain parameter Sx. We analyse how the SPC snow flux data can be used to estimate the magnitude of the new variable parameter α . To simulate the development

On the event detected by the Mont Blanc underground neutrino detector on February 23, 1987

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dadykin, V L; Zatsepin, G T; Korchagin, V B

1988-02-01

The event detected by the Mont Balnc Soviet -Italian scintillation detector on February 23, 1987 at 2:52:37 are discussed. The corrected energies of the pulases of the event and the probability of the event imitation by the background are presented.

Effect of foliar nitrogen and sulphur application on aromatic expression of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Sauvignon blanc

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Florian Lacroux

2008-09-01

Significance and impact of the study: Vine nitrogen deficiency can negatively impact on grape aroma potential. Soil nitrogen application can increase vine nitrogen status, but it has several drawbacks: it increases vigour and enhances Botrytis susceptibility. This study shows that foliar N and foliar N + S applications can improve vine nitrogen status and enhance aroma expression in Sauvignon blanc wines without the negative impact on vigour and Botrytis susceptibility. Although this study was carried out on Sauvignon blanc vines, it is likely that foliar N or foliar N + S applications will have similar effects on other grapevine varieties containing volatile thiols (Colombard, Riesling, Petit Manseng and Sémillon.

Protein characterization of Roditis Greek grape variety and Sauvignon blanc and changes in certain nitrogen compounds during alcoholic fermentation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. G. Nakopoulou

2006-09-01

Full Text Available Must and wine samples of the Greek grape variety Roditis and the French one Sauvignon blanc were analysed in order to obtain further knowledge of the protein profile of Roditis and to watch the evolution of grape proteins during the alcoholic fermentation of Roditis and Sauvignon blanc musts. For these purposes protein samples were isolated from must and wine samples by ammonium sulphate precipitation and subjected to sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS - PAGE. Eleven and nine bands with molecular weights between 11,1 and 64,4 kDa were detected on the electrophoregramms of Roditis and Sauvignon blanc must and wine samples respectively, using Coomassie Brillant Blue R-250 and silver staining methods. Two protein fractions of must and wine samples with molecular weights of 64,4 kDa and 34,4 kDa were identified as being glycoproteins in the profile of the Greek grape variety, according to the Periodic acid - silver staining, while only one must and wine fraction of 64,4 kDa had positively react with this stain, as far as it concerns Sauvignon blanc. None of the low molecular weight protein fractions found to be responsible for haze formation. A modified (Bradford dye - binding procedure was used for the determination of musts and wines soluble proteins. Free amino nitrogen and the contents of neutral and acidic polysaccharides in the protein fractions after chromatography on Sephadex G - 25, were also analyzed.

Molecular cloning and expression of gene encoding aromatic amino acid decarboxylase in 'Vidal blanc' grape berries.

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Qiu-Hong; Chen, Fang; Zhu, Bao-Qing; Ma, Li-Yan; Li, Li; Li, Jing-Ming

2012-04-01

The pleasantly fruity and floral 2-phenylethanol are a dominant aroma compound in post-ripening 'Vidal blanc' grapes. However, to date little has been reported about its synthetic pathway in grapevine. In the present study, a full-length cDNA of VvAADC (encoding aromatic amino acid decarboxylase) was firstly cloned from the berries of 'Vidal blanc', an interspecific hybrid variety of Vitis vinifera × Vitis riparia. This sequence encodes a complete open reading frame of 482 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 54 kDa and isoelectric point value (pI) of 5.73. The amino acid sequence deduced shared about 79% identity with that of aromatic L: -amino acid decarboxylases (AADCs) from tomato. Real-time PCR analysis indicated that VvAADC transcript abundance presented a small peak at 110 days after full bloom and then a continuous increase at the berry post-ripening stage, which was consistent with the accumulation of 2-phenylethanol, but did not correspond to the trends of two potential intermediates, phenethylamine and 2-phenylacetaldehyde. Furthermore, phenylalanine still exhibited a continuous increase even in post-ripening period. It is thus suggested that 2-phenylethanol biosynthetic pathway mediated by AADC exists in grape berries, but it has possibly little contribution to a considerable accumulation of 2-phenylethanol in post-ripening 'Vidal blanc' grapes.

Snow control on active layer and permafrost in steep alpine rock walls (Aiguille du Midi, 3842 m a.s.l, Mont Blanc massif)

Science.gov (United States)

Magnin, Florence; Westermann, Sebastian; Pogliotti, Paolo; Ravanel, Ludovic; Deline, Philip

2016-04-01

Permafrost degradation through the thickening of the active layer and the rising temperature at depth is a crucial process of rock wall stability. The ongoing increase in rock falls observed during hot periods in mid-latitude mountain ranges is regarded as a result of permafrost degradation. However, the short-term thermal dynamics of alpine rock walls are misunderstood since they result of complex processes related to the interaction of local climate variables, heterogeneous snow cover and heat transfers. As a consequence steady-state and long-term changes that can be approached with simpler process mainly related to air temperature, solar radiations and heat conduction were the most common dynamics to be studied so far. The effect of snow on the bedrock surface temperature is increasingly investigated and has already been demonstrated to be an essential factor of permafrost distribution. Nevertheless, its effect on the year-to-year changes of the active layer thickness and of the permafrost temperature in steep alpine bedrock has not been investigated yet, partly due to the lack of appropriate data. We explore the role of snow accumulations on the active layer and permafrost thermal regime of steep rock walls of a high-elevated site, the Aiguille du Midi (AdM, 3842 m a.s.l, Mont Blanc massif, Western European Alps) by mean of a multi-methods approach. We first analyse six years of temperature records in three 10-m-deep boreholes. Then we describe the snow accumulation patterns on two rock faces by means of automatically processed camera records. Finally, sensitivity analyses of the active layer thickness and permafrost temperature towards timing and magnitude of snow accumulations are performed using the numerical permafrost model CryoGrid 3. The energy balance module is forced with local meteorological measurements on the AdM S face and validated with surface temperature measurements at the weather station location. The heat conduction scheme is calibrated with

Climbing Mont Blanc and Scalability

OpenAIRE

Chavez, Christian

2016-01-01

This thesis details a proposed system implementation upgrade for the CMB system, accessible at \\url{climb.idi.ntnu.no}, which profiles C/C++ code for its energy efficiency on an Odroid-XU3 board, which utilises a Samsung Exynos 5 Octa CPU, and has an ARM Mali-T628 GPU. Our proposed system implementation improves the robustness of the code base and its execution, in addition to permitting an increased throughput of submissions profiled by the system with the implementation's dispatcher whic...

qualite des eaux du bandama-blanc (cote d'ivoire) et de ses ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

La qualité écologique des eaux des localités soumises à l'exploitation artisanale et clandestine de l'or au niveau du Bandama-Blanc et de ses affluents a été étudiée entre le 01 et le 15 Avril 2015. Le prélèvement du phytoplancton a été réalisé à l'aide de la bouteille hydrologique et du filet à plancton, tandis que le.

JPRS Report Near East & South Asia

Science.gov (United States)

1991-02-22

streets of Yerevan has not forgotten the past and the genocide and keeps his eyes fixed on Mount Ararat . Birand is not mistaken. It is Yesayi...five frozen accounts—Lotus, Tulip, Mont Blanc, Svenska Inc and an unidentified account—be passed on to the Indian investigators. Even if the Cantonal...accounts of ’Tulip,’ ’Lotus’ and ’ Mont Blanc’ (these are accused numbers 11, 12 and 13 respectively), and certain public servants of the government

Influence of Fermentation Temperature, Yeast Strain, and Grape Juice on the Aroma Chemistry and Sensory Profile of Sauvignon Blanc Wines.

Science.gov (United States)

Deed, Rebecca C; Fedrizzi, Bruno; Gardner, Richard C

2017-10-11

Sauvignon blanc wine, balanced by herbaceous and tropical aromas, is fermented at low temperatures (10-15 °C). Anecdotal accounts from winemakers suggest that cold fermentations produce and retain more "fruity" aroma compounds; nonetheless, studies have not confirmed why low temperatures are optimal for Sauvignon blanc. Thirty-two aroma compounds were quantitated from two Marlborough Sauvignon blanc juices fermented at 12.5 and 25 °C, using Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains EC1118, L-1528, M2, and X5. Fourteen compounds were responsible for driving differences in aroma chemistry. The 12.5 °C-fermented wines had lower 3-mercaptohexan-1-ol (3MH) and higher alcohols but increased fruity acetate esters. However, a sensory panel did not find a significant difference between fruitiness in 75% of wine pairs based on fermentation temperature, in spite of chemical differences. For wine pairs with significant differences (25%), the 25 °C-fermented wines were fruitier than the 12.5 °C-fermented wines, with high fruitiness associated with 3MH. We propose that the benefits of low fermentation temperatures are not derived from increased fruitiness but a better balance between fruitiness and greenness. Even so, since 75% of wines showed no significant difference, higher fermentation temperatures could be utilized without detriment, lowering costs for the wine industry.

Hudozhnik namerevalsja võkrasit Monblan

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

2007-01-01

Mont Blanci mäetipu roosaks värvida kavatsenud Tšiili päritolu taani avangardikunstnik Marco Evaristti peatati prantsuse politseinike poolt. Kunstniku kommentaarid kunstiprojektile Mont Blanc Project

Fixation of radioactive cerium-144 on white blood cells. Possibilities for use in physiopathology; Fixation du cerium radioactif ({sup 144}Ce) sur les globules blancs. Possibilites d'emploi en physiopathologie

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aeberhardt, A [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1958-07-01

From the study of the means of transport of cerium in the blood of various laboratory animals, after intra-venous injection of {sup 144}Ce-{sup 144}Pr without carrier, we have been able to show up the part played by the white cells in the transport of this fission product during its passage in the blood. This observation has led to the study, in vitro, of the methods of cerium fixation on the white cells, with a view to determining the possibilities of using this property for white cell labelling, the methods used up to the present not being entirely satisfactory. Using the method for the separation of the known constituents of the blood proposed by us in 1956, we have studied the cerium fixation under various conditions: - on suspensions of white cells from the rabbit, - on a suspension of human white cells, - on the white cells in whole from the rabbit. (author) [French] L'etude du mode de transport du cerium dans le sang chez differents animaux de laboratoire, apres injection intra-veineuse de {sup 144}Ce-{sup 144}Pr sans entraineur, nous a permis de mettre en evidence le rale des globules blancs dans le transport de ce produit de fission au cours de son passage dans le sang. Cette constatation nous a conduit a etudier, in vitro, les modalites de la fixation du cerium sur les globules blancs afin de preciser les possibilites d'utilisation de cette propriete pour le marquage des globules blancs, les methodes employees jusqu'ici ne donnant pas entiere satisfaction. Disposant de la methode de separation des elements figures du sang que nous avons proposee en 1956, nous avons etudie la fixation du cerium, dans diverses conditions: - sur des suspensions de globules blancs de lapin, - sur une suspension de globules blancs humains, - sur les globules blancs dans le sang total de lapin. (auteur)

Calculation of electron transport in Ar/N2 and He/Kr gas mixtures emdash implications for validity of the Blanc close-quote s law method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Y.; Van Brunt, R.J.

1997-01-01

The electron drift velocities and corresponding mean energies have been calculated numerically using an approximate two-term solution of the Boltzmann transport equation for Ar/N 2 gas mixtures at electric field-to-gas density ratios (E/N) below 2.0x10 -20 Vm 2 (20 Td) and for He/Kr mixtures at E/N below 5.0x10 -21 Vm 2 (5.0 Td). The results are compared with predictions obtained from a method proposed by Chiflikian based on an open-quotes analog of Blanc close-quote s lawclose quotes [Phys. Plasmas 2, 3902 (1995)]. Large differences are found between the results derived from the Blanc close-quote s law method and those found here from solutions of the transport equation that indicate serious errors and limitations associated with use of the Blanc close-quote s law method to compute drift velocities in gas mixtures. copyright 1997 American Institute of Physics

Exploration of consumer perception of Sauvignon Blanc wines with enhanced aroma properties using two different descriptive methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Lezaeta, Alvaro; Bordeu, Edmundo; Næs, Tormod; Varela, Paula

2017-09-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate consumers' perception of a complex set of stimuli as aromatically enriched wines. For that, two consumer based profiling methods were compared, concurrently run with overall liking measurements: projective mapping based on choice or preference (PM-C), a newly proposed method, and check-all-that-apply (CATA) questions with an ideal sample, a more established, consumer-based method for product optimization. Reserve bottling and regular bottling of Sauvignon Blanc wines from three wineries were aromatically enriched with natural aromas collected by condensation during wine fermentation. A total of 144 consumers were enrolled in the study. The results revealed that both consumer-based highlighted the positive effect of aromatic enrichment on consumer perception and acceptance. However, PM-C generated a very detailed description, in which consumers focused less on the sensory aspects and more on the usage, attitudes, and reasons behind their choices. Providing a deeper understanding of the drivers of liking/disliking of enriched Sauvignon Blanc wines. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Geographical origin of Sauvignon Blanc wines predicted by mass spectrometry and metal oxide based electronic nose

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berna, Amalia Z., E-mail: Amalia.Berna@csiro.au [CSIRO Entomology and Food Futures Flagship, PO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2601 (Australia); Trowell, Stephen [CSIRO Entomology and Food Futures Flagship, PO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2601 (Australia); Clifford, David [CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences, Locked Bag 17, North Ryde, NSW 1670 (Australia); Cynkar, Wies; Cozzolino, Daniel [The Australian Wine Research Institute, Waite Road, Urrbrae, PO Box 197, Adelaide, SA 5064 (Australia)

2009-08-26

Analysis of 34 Sauvignon Blanc wine samples from three different countries and six regions was performed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) showed that there were three distinct clusters or classes of wines with different aroma profiles. Wines from the Loire region in France and Australian wines from Tasmania and Western Australia were found to have similar aroma patterns. New Zealand wines from the Marlborough region as well as the Australian ones from Victoria were grouped together based on the volatile composition. Wines from South Australia region formed one discrete class. Seven analytes, most of them esters, were found to be the relevant chemical compounds that characterized the classes. The grouping information obtained by GC-MS, was used to train metal oxide based electronic (MOS-Enose) and mass spectrometry based electronic (MS-Enose) noses. The combined use of solid phase microextraction (SPME) and ethanol removal prior to MOS-Enose analysis, allowed an average error of prediction of the regional origins of Sauvignon Blanc wines of 6.5% compared to 24% when static headspace (SHS) was employed. For MS-Enose, the misclassification rate was higher probably due to the requirement to delimit the m/z range considered.

Geographical origin of Sauvignon Blanc wines predicted by mass spectrometry and metal oxide based electronic nose

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berna, Amalia Z.; Trowell, Stephen; Clifford, David; Cynkar, Wies; Cozzolino, Daniel

2009-01-01

Analysis of 34 Sauvignon Blanc wine samples from three different countries and six regions was performed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) showed that there were three distinct clusters or classes of wines with different aroma profiles. Wines from the Loire region in France and Australian wines from Tasmania and Western Australia were found to have similar aroma patterns. New Zealand wines from the Marlborough region as well as the Australian ones from Victoria were grouped together based on the volatile composition. Wines from South Australia region formed one discrete class. Seven analytes, most of them esters, were found to be the relevant chemical compounds that characterized the classes. The grouping information obtained by GC-MS, was used to train metal oxide based electronic (MOS-Enose) and mass spectrometry based electronic (MS-Enose) noses. The combined use of solid phase microextraction (SPME) and ethanol removal prior to MOS-Enose analysis, allowed an average error of prediction of the regional origins of Sauvignon Blanc wines of 6.5% compared to 24% when static headspace (SHS) was employed. For MS-Enose, the misclassification rate was higher probably due to the requirement to delimit the m/z range considered.

Derivation of muon range spectrum under rock from the recent primary spectrum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pal, P.; Bhattacharyya, D.P.

1985-01-01

The muon range spectra under Mont Blanc Tunnel and Kolar Gold Field rocks have been calculated from the recently measured primary cosmic ray spectrum. The scaling hypothesis of Feynman has been used for the calculation of pion and kaon spectra in the atmosphere. The meson atmospheric diffusion equation has been solved by following the method of Bugaev et al. The derived muon energy spectrum has been found to be in good agreement with the measured data of the Kiel, Durham, DEIS, and Moscow University groups. The calculated muon energy spectra at large polar angles have been compared with the different experimental results. The integral muon spectrum up to 20 TeV supports the MARS burst data favourably. Using the procedure of Kobayakawa, the muon energy loss in rock due to ionization, pair production, and bremsstrahlung and nuclear interactions from Bezrukov and Bugaev, we have constructed the range-energy relation in Mont Blanc and Kolar Gold Field rocks. The estimated range spectra have been corrected for range fluctuations and have been compared with the Mont Blanc Tunnel data of Castagnoli et al., Bergamasco et al., and Sheldon et al. and the Kolar Gold Field data compilation by Krishnaswamy et al

Monte Carlo simulation for slip rate sensitivity analysis in Cimandiri fault area

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pratama, Cecep, E-mail: great.pratama@gmail.com [Graduate Program of Earth Science, Faculty of Earth Science and Technology, ITB, JalanGanesa no. 10, Bandung 40132 (Indonesia); Meilano, Irwan [Geodesy Research Division, Faculty of Earth Science and Technology, ITB, JalanGanesa no. 10, Bandung 40132 (Indonesia); Nugraha, Andri Dian [Global Geophysical Group, Faculty of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, ITB, JalanGanesa no. 10, Bandung 40132 (Indonesia)

2015-04-24

Slip rate is used to estimate earthquake recurrence relationship which is the most influence for hazard level. We examine slip rate contribution of Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA), in probabilistic seismic hazard maps (10% probability of exceedance in 50 years or 500 years return period). Hazard curve of PGA have been investigated for Sukabumi using a PSHA (Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis). We observe that the most influence in the hazard estimate is crustal fault. Monte Carlo approach has been developed to assess the sensitivity. Then, Monte Carlo simulations properties have been assessed. Uncertainty and coefficient of variation from slip rate for Cimandiri Fault area has been calculated. We observe that seismic hazard estimates is sensitive to fault slip rate with seismic hazard uncertainty result about 0.25 g. For specific site, we found seismic hazard estimate for Sukabumi is between 0.4904 – 0.8465 g with uncertainty between 0.0847 – 0.2389 g and COV between 17.7% – 29.8%.

Joint simulation of regional areas burned in Canadian forest fires: A Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach

Science.gov (United States)

Steen Magnussen

2009-01-01

Areas burned annually in 29 Canadian forest fire regions show a patchy and irregular correlation structure that significantly influences the distribution of annual totals for Canada and for groups of regions. A binary Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) is constructed for the purpose of joint simulation of regional areas burned in forest fires. For each year the MCMC...

Llibre Blanc de l’Eurodistricte Català Transfronterer: creació de projecte i reestructuració territorial

OpenAIRE

Castañer i Vivas, Margarida

2011-01-01

En aquest article, s’hi presenta el procés d’elaboració, la metodologia, les reflexions i les conclusions del Llibre Blanc de l’Eurodistricte Català Transfronterer elaborat per la Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière (MOT) i la Universitat de Girona (UdG). L’estudi té per objectiu acompanyar la definició i l’emergència d’un projecte de territori transfronterer basat en la realitat d’un àmbit territorial compartit entre el departament dels Pirineus Orientals i les comarques de la província ...

The Italian drilling project of the Mont Blanc road tunnel in the late fifties: an example of no geological care and lack of ethics in carrying out a big work.

Science.gov (United States)

Gosso, Guido; Croce, Giuseppe; Matteucci, Ruggero; Peppoloni, Silvia; Piacente, Sandra; Wasowski, Janusz

2013-04-01

In the first decade after the Second World War Italy was rushing to recover a positive role among European countries; basic needs as road communications with European neighbours became main priorities. The necessity of a rapid connection with South-eastern France, a subject already debated between the two nations over more than 50 years, appeared then on first line; the two countries convened on a joint investment for the construction of a tunnel across the international border of Mont Blanc, along the shortest track between Courmayeur and Chamonix. The political agreements were in favour of the quickest start of the drilling operations and such obligation imposed on the Italian side an impoverishment of the project content, specially concerning geological issues. No surveys were performed on fracture systems, cataclastic zones and faults, on the few rock ridges standing above the tunnel line and outcropping through thick talus cones, moraines, ice tongues and their related ice plateaus. Metasediments, migmatites and poorly foliated granites were to be drilled. Three Italian academics were allowed by the drilling company to track the working progress and collect rocks for comparison with other Alpine types; they mapped the lithology and the fault zonesall along the freshly excavated tunnel; the results of such survey appeared after the end of works. Geologists from Florence University published the surface granite faulting pattern 20 years after the road tunnel became operative. Such geological cares could have located the risky zones in time for the tunnel project, mitigating the catastrophic effects of sudden drainage of subglacial water from the Vallée Blanche ice plateau (Ghiacciaio del Gigante) at progression 3800m, that caused dramatic accidents and affected negatively the economy of the drilling. Also the wallrock temperature drops, measured during the drill, should have warned the company management on the location of dangerous fracture zones. Anxiety of

An Overview of Grain Growth Theories for Pure Single Phase Systems,

Science.gov (United States)

1986-10-01

the fundamental causes for these distributions. This Blanc and Mocellin (1979) and Carnal and Mocellin (1981j set out to do. 7.1 Monte-Carlo Simulations...termed event B) (in 2-D) of 3-sided grains. (2) Neighbour-switching (termed event C). Blanc and Mocellin (1979) dealt with 2-D sections through...Kurtz and Carpay (1980a). 7.2 Analytical Method to Obtain fn Carnal and Mocellin (1981) obtained the distribution of grain coordination numbers in

11th International Conference on Monte Carlo and Quasi-Monte Carlo Methods in Scientific Computing

CERN Document Server

Nuyens, Dirk

2016-01-01

This book presents the refereed proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Monte Carlo and Quasi-Monte Carlo Methods in Scientific Computing that was held at the University of Leuven (Belgium) in April 2014. These biennial conferences are major events for Monte Carlo and quasi-Monte Carlo researchers. The proceedings include articles based on invited lectures as well as carefully selected contributed papers on all theoretical aspects and applications of Monte Carlo and quasi-Monte Carlo methods. Offering information on the latest developments in these very active areas, this book is an excellent reference resource for theoreticians and practitioners interested in solving high-dimensional computational problems, arising, in particular, in finance, statistics and computer graphics.

Mortality and cancer incident among residents in an area with a geological occurrence of uranium: the municipality of Monte Alegre, PA, Brazil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Melo, Leticia Rodrigues

2009-04-01

The municipality of Monte Alegre, located in the Amazonian State of Para, Brazil, presents scattered areas with increased levels of natural radiation due to uranium rocks. The objectives of this dissertation were: to evaluate the mortality trend among Monte Alegre residents, and to compare it with that observed in neighbor municipalities (Alenquer and Prainha) without natural radiation sources; and to determine the impact of cancer distribution either in Monte Alegre or control counties population, taking into account their estimates of cancer incidence and mortality. The dissertation was organized in two papers. The first one aimed to evaluate the mortality trend for all causes of death, cancer, and unknown causes of death occurred between 1981-2005. Analyzed data was provided by the Brazilian National Mortality Information System (SIM), being the general population of the State of Para used as reference. In the second paper, cancer mortality risks at selected sites were ascertained using standardized mortality ratios (SMR) and mortality odds ratios (MOR). Additionally, cancer mortality risk ratios of Monte Alegre and control counties were obtained towards the ratio between SMRs of selected cancer sites in both areas. Three different sources of data were used to retrieve all cancer cases in the studied area, and therefore, to estimate cancer incidence in the studied populations: the diagnosed cancer cases at the regional reference centers for oncological care settled in Santarem, Belem and Manaus; the cancer-related hospitalization authorization records obtained at the Brazilian National Health System (SUS) registries; and primary data of cancer reported by local residents at a population-based health survey conducted by our research team in 2007-2008. A declining trend for all causes of death mortality in Monte Alegre general population, as well as for the unknown causes of death, was observed along the studied time series for both gender. Cancer mortality trend

Recent advances in hazardous materials transportation research: an international exchange. State-of-the-art Report 3, addendum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hills, P.; Geysen, W.J.; Tomachevsky, E.G.; Ringot, C.; Pages, P.

1986-01-01

The 4 papers in the report deal with the following areas: the transport of non-nuclear toxic and dangerous wastes in the United Kingdom; the transport system of dangerous products as a risk factor for the future: the computer-aided information program on hazardous materials; a validation study of the INTERTRAN model for assessing risks of transportation accidents: road transport of uranium hexafluoride; modifying the regulation for small radioactive package transit through the Mont Blanc tunnel-assessment of the health and economic impact

Indications of the prominent role of elemental sulfur in the formation of the varietal thiol 3-mercaptohexanol in Sauvignon blanc wine.

Science.gov (United States)

Araujo, Leandro Dias; Vannevel, Sebastian; Buica, Astrid; Callerot, Suzanne; Fedrizzi, Bruno; Kilmartin, Paul A; du Toit, Wessel J

2017-08-01

Elemental sulfur is a fungicide traditionally used to control Powdery Mildew in the production of grapes. The presence of sulfur residues in grape juice has been associated with increased production of hydrogen sulfide during fermentation, which could take part in the formation of the varietal thiol 3-mercaptohexanol. This work examines whether elemental sulfur additions to Sauvignon blanc juice can increase the levels of sought-after varietal thiols. Initial trials were performed in South Africa and indicated a positive impact of sulfur on the levels of thiols. Further experiments were then carried out with New Zealand Sauvignon blanc and confirmed a positive relationship between elemental sulfur additions and wine varietal thiols. The formation of hydrogen sulfide was observed when the addition of elemental sulfur was made to clarified juice, along with an increase in further reductive sulfur compounds. When the addition of sulfur was made to pressed juice, prior to clarification, the production of reductive sulfur compounds was drastically decreased. Some mechanistic considerations are also presented, involving the reduction of sulfur to hydrogen sulfide prior to fermentation. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The analog of Blanc's law for drift velocities of electrons in gas mixtures in weakly ionized plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chiflikian, R.V.

1995-01-01

The analog of Blanc's law for drift velocities of electrons in multicomponent gas mixtures in weakly ionized spatially homogeneous low-temperature plasma is derived. The obtained approximate-analytical expressions are valid for average electron energy in the 1--5 eV range typical for plasma conditions of low-pressure direct current (DC) discharges. The accuracy of these formulas is ±5%. The analytical criterion of the negative differential conductivity (NDC) of electrons in binary mixtures of gases is obtained. NDC of electrons is predicted in He:Kr and He:Xe rare gas mixtures. copyright 1995 American Institute of Physics

Riho Unt lühifilmide festivali žüriis

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

2002-01-01

Nukufilmide režissöör on 1.-9.veebruarini Prantsusmaal Clermont-Ferrand'i lühifilmide festivali žürii liige. Tema nukufilmid Saamueli seklustest on valitud festivali eriprogrammi. Võistlusprogrammi kuulub Priit Tenderi joonisfilm "Mont Blanc"

Effet d'un deficit hydrique sur le trefle blanc (Trifolium repens L.). I. Role d'un apport de potassium

OpenAIRE

Shamsun-Noor, L.; Robin, Christophe; Guckert, Armand

1990-01-01

Le comportement du trèfle blanc (Trifolium repens L cv Crau) est étudié en situation de contrainte hydrique et après réhydratation en liaison avec la fertilisation potassique. Le déficit en eau occasionne une décroissance progressive importante du potentiel hydrique des feuilles et une fermeture rapide des stomates. Ces manifestations sont accompagnées d’une chute de l’activité photosynthétique et de la fixation symbiotique de l’azote. En présence de potassium, la diminution de l’activité...

Tirant lo Blanc o la pau no passa pels exèrcits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antònia Carré

2000-11-01

Full Text Available Tirant lo Blanc o la pau no passa pels exèrcits és un metatext que té bàsicament dos objectius: 1 permetre, a partir d'una lectura activa i creativa de la novel·la de Joanot Martorell, acostar-se als aspectes cavallerescos de l'Edat Mitjana i aprofundir en el concepte de literatura existent aleshores, basat en la reconstrucció i recreació de textos a través de la manipulació de les obres que formaven part del patrimoni cultural de l'època, i 2 possibilitar, a partir de l'anàlisi d'un dels eixos temàtics principals de la novel·la com és la guerra, la reflexió (telemàtica sobre els valors que fonamenten una societat plural i democràtica a les portes del segle XXI: la sensibilització davant de les injustícies i els abusos de poder, la tolerància, la solidaritat, el respecte pel medi ambient, en definitiva, la valoració de la cultura per la pau.

L’effet de l’ovotransferrine sur les enveloppes bactériennes dans les conditions physicochimiques du blanc d’oeuf

OpenAIRE

Rezazadeh Ghazvini, Raheleh

2017-01-01

Les protéines de blanc d'oeuf telles que l’ovotransferrine jouent un rôle important dans la défense contre l'invasion bactérienne. L'ovotransferrine a une capacité de liaison du fer, ce qui induit une activité bactériostatique en limitant le fer dans l'environnement des bactéries. Outre le mécanisme bien connu de la privation de fer (Baron et al 2016, pour revue), plusieurs auteurs ont suggéré que l'activité antimicrobienne de l'ovotransferrine pourrait résulter de son effet direct sur les me...

Monte Carlo simulations of neutron scattering instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aestrand, Per-Olof; Copenhagen Univ.; Lefmann, K.; Nielsen, K.

2001-01-01

A Monte Carlo simulation is an important computational tool used in many areas of science and engineering. The use of Monte Carlo techniques for simulating neutron scattering instruments is discussed. The basic ideas, techniques and approximations are presented. Since the construction of a neutron scattering instrument is very expensive, Monte Carlo software used for design of instruments have to be validated and tested extensively. The McStas software was designed with these aspects in mind and some of the basic principles of the McStas software will be discussed. Finally, some future prospects are discussed for using Monte Carlo simulations in optimizing neutron scattering experiments. (R.P.)

Monte Carlo codes and Monte Carlo simulator program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Higuchi, Kenji; Asai, Kiyoshi; Suganuma, Masayuki.

1990-03-01

Four typical Monte Carlo codes KENO-IV, MORSE, MCNP and VIM have been vectorized on VP-100 at Computing Center, JAERI. The problems in vector processing of Monte Carlo codes on vector processors have become clear through the work. As the result, it is recognized that these are difficulties to obtain good performance in vector processing of Monte Carlo codes. A Monte Carlo computing machine, which processes the Monte Carlo codes with high performances is being developed at our Computing Center since 1987. The concept of Monte Carlo computing machine and its performance have been investigated and estimated by using a software simulator. In this report the problems in vectorization of Monte Carlo codes, Monte Carlo pipelines proposed to mitigate these difficulties and the results of the performance estimation of the Monte Carlo computing machine by the simulator are described. (author)

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Project VeSElkA: HD stars atomic-line analysis (LeBlanc+, 2015)

Science.gov (United States)

Leblanc, F.; Khalack, V.; Yameogo, B.; Thibeault, C.; Gallant, I.

2017-11-01

The four stars studied here were observed with ESPaDOnS at CFHT. High-resolution (R=65000) Stokes IV spectra with large signal-to-noise ratios were obtained in the spectral range 3700-10500Å and were reduced with the software package LIBRE-ESPRIT (Donati et al. 1997MNRAS.291..658D). Two or more spectra of each star were taken to verify for any spectral variability. For the four stars studied here, no such variability is detected. Also, no strong magnetic fields were found. More details about these observations are given in Khalack & LeBlanc (2015AJ....150....2K); for instance, the exposure times and the signal-to-noise ratios are given in their table 1 for each star studied here. (4 data files).

Priit Tenderi film sai Dresdenis auhinna

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

2002-01-01

Dresdeni 14. filmifestivali animafilmide kategoorias sai teise preemia Priit Tenderi joonisfilm "Mont Blanc". Peapreemia sai saksa režissööri Jonathan Hodgsoni film "Camouflage". Kolmas oli PÖFFi peaauhinna saanud Stepan Birjukovi "Sossedi". Osales ka Nukufilmis diplomitööna valminud Jelena Girlini "Guff"

Using Monte Carlo/Gaussian Based Small Area Estimates to Predict Where Medicaid Patients Reside.

Science.gov (United States)

Behrens, Jess J; Wen, Xuejin; Goel, Satyender; Zhou, Jing; Fu, Lina; Kho, Abel N

2016-01-01

Electronic Health Records (EHR) are rapidly becoming accepted as tools for planning and population health 1,2 . With the national dialogue around Medicaid expansion 12 , the role of EHR data has become even more important. For their potential to be fully realized and contribute to these discussions, techniques for creating accurate small area estimates is vital. As such, we examined the efficacy of developing small area estimates for Medicaid patients in two locations, Albuquerque and Chicago, by using a Monte Carlo/Gaussian technique that has worked in accurately locating registered voters in North Carolina 11 . The Albuquerque data, which includes patient address, will first be used to assess the accuracy of the methodology. Subsequently, it will be combined with the EHR data from Chicago to develop a regression that predicts Medicaid patients by US Block Group. We seek to create a tool that is effective in translating EHR data's potential for population health studies.

Mortality and cancer incident among residents in an area with a geological occurrence of uranium: the municipality of Monte Alegre, PA, Brazil; Avaliacao da incidencia e mortalidade por cancer na populacao residente em regiao com anomalia geologica na ocorrencia de uranio: estudo de caso: Monte Alegre, PA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Melo, Leticia Rodrigues

2009-04-15

The municipality of Monte Alegre, located in the Amazonian State of Para, Brazil, presents scattered areas with increased levels of natural radiation due to uranium rocks. The objectives of this dissertation were: to evaluate the mortality trend among Monte Alegre residents, and to compare it with that observed in neighbor municipalities (Alenquer and Prainha) without natural radiation sources; and to determine the impact of cancer distribution either in Monte Alegre or control counties population, taking into account their estimates of cancer incidence and mortality. The dissertation was organized in two papers. The first one aimed to evaluate the mortality trend for all causes of death, cancer, and unknown causes of death occurred between 1981-2005. Analyzed data was provided by the Brazilian National Mortality Information System (SIM), being the general population of the State of Para used as reference. In the second paper, cancer mortality risks at selected sites were ascertained using standardized mortality ratios (SMR) and mortality odds ratios (MOR). Additionally, cancer mortality risk ratios of Monte Alegre and control counties were obtained towards the ratio between SMRs of selected cancer sites in both areas. Three different sources of data were used to retrieve all cancer cases in the studied area, and therefore, to estimate cancer incidence in the studied populations: the diagnosed cancer cases at the regional reference centers for oncological care settled in Santarem, Belem and Manaus; the cancer-related hospitalization authorization records obtained at the Brazilian National Health System (SUS) registries; and primary data of cancer reported by local residents at a population-based health survey conducted by our research team in 2007-2008. A declining trend for all causes of death mortality in Monte Alegre general population, as well as for the unknown causes of death, was observed along the studied time series for both gender. Cancer mortality trend

Monte Carlo techniques for analyzing deep-penetration problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cramer, S.N.; Gonnord, J.; Hendricks, J.S.

1986-01-01

Current methods and difficulties in Monte Carlo deep-penetration calculations are reviewed, including statistical uncertainty and recent adjoint optimization of splitting, Russian roulette, and exponential transformation biasing. Other aspects of the random walk and estimation processes are covered, including the relatively new DXANG angular biasing technique. Specific items summarized are albedo scattering, Monte Carlo coupling techniques with discrete ordinates and other methods, adjoint solutions, and multigroup Monte Carlo. The topic of code-generated biasing parameters is presented, including the creation of adjoint importance functions from forward calculations. Finally, current and future work in the area of computer learning and artificial intelligence is discussed in connection with Monte Carlo applications

Monte Carlo and Quasi-Monte Carlo Sampling

CERN Document Server

Lemieux, Christiane

2009-01-01

Presents essential tools for using quasi-Monte Carlo sampling in practice. This book focuses on issues related to Monte Carlo methods - uniform and non-uniform random number generation, variance reduction techniques. It covers several aspects of quasi-Monte Carlo methods.

Monte Carlo methods and models in finance and insurance

CERN Document Server

Korn, Ralf; Kroisandt, Gerald

2010-01-01

Offering a unique balance between applications and calculations, Monte Carlo Methods and Models in Finance and Insurance incorporates the application background of finance and insurance with the theory and applications of Monte Carlo methods. It presents recent methods and algorithms, including the multilevel Monte Carlo method, the statistical Romberg method, and the Heath-Platen estimator, as well as recent financial and actuarial models, such as the Cheyette and dynamic mortality models. The authors separately discuss Monte Carlo techniques, stochastic process basics, and the theoretical background and intuition behind financial and actuarial mathematics, before bringing the topics together to apply the Monte Carlo methods to areas of finance and insurance. This allows for the easy identification of standard Monte Carlo tools and for a detailed focus on the main principles of financial and insurance mathematics. The book describes high-level Monte Carlo methods for standard simulation and the simulation of...

Where protons will play The new supercollider that is poised to shake up physics

CERN Multimedia

Holt, Jim

2007-01-01

Near the foot of Mont-Blanc, the greatest of the Alpine peaks, a sizable object is taking shape, also quite beautiful in its way, yet not at all dumb. In fact, its pristine geometries may be instrumental in revealing what have hitherto been some of nature's deepest secrets. (2 pages)

Monte Carlo techniques for analyzing deep penetration problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cramer, S.N.; Gonnord, J.; Hendricks, J.S.

1985-01-01

A review of current methods and difficulties in Monte Carlo deep-penetration calculations is presented. Statistical uncertainty is discussed, and recent adjoint optimization of splitting, Russian roulette, and exponential transformation biasing is reviewed. Other aspects of the random walk and estimation processes are covered, including the relatively new DXANG angular biasing technique. Specific items summarized are albedo scattering, Monte Carlo coupling techniques with discrete ordinates and other methods, adjoint solutions, and multi-group Monte Carlo. The topic of code-generated biasing parameters is presented, including the creation of adjoint importance functions from forward calculations. Finally, current and future work in the area of computer learning and artificial intelligence is discussed in connection with Monte Carlo applications

Monte Carlo techniques for analyzing deep penetration problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cramer, S.N.; Gonnord, J.; Hendricks, J.S.

1985-01-01

A review of current methods and difficulties in Monte Carlo deep-penetration calculations is presented. Statistical uncertainty is discussed, and recent adjoint optimization of splitting, Russian roulette, and exponential transformation biasing is reviewed. Other aspects of the random walk and estimation processes are covered, including the relatively new DXANG angular biasing technique. Specific items summarized are albedo scattering, Monte Carlo coupling techniques with discrete ordinates and other methods, adjoint solutions, and multi-group Monte Carlo. The topic of code-generated biasing parameters is presented, including the creation of adjoint importance functions from forward calculations. Finally, current and future work in the area of computer learning and artificial intelligence is discussed in connection with Monte Carlo applications. 29 refs

Monte Carlo techniques in diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zaidi, H.

2002-01-01

Monte Carlo techniques have become one of the most popular tools in different areas of medical radiation physics following the development and subsequent implementation of powerful computing systems for clinical use. In particular, they have been extensively applied to simulate processes involving random behaviour and to quantify physical parameters that are difficult or even impossible to calculate analytically or to determine by experimental measurements. The use of the Monte Carlo method to simulate radiation transport turned out to be the most accurate means of predicting absorbed dose distributions and other quantities of interest in the radiation treatment of cancer patients using either external or radionuclide radiotherapy. The same trend has occurred for the estimation of the absorbed dose in diagnostic procedures using radionuclides. There is broad consensus in accepting that the earliest Monte Carlo calculations in medical radiation physics were made in the area of nuclear medicine, where the technique was used for dosimetry modelling and computations. Formalism and data based on Monte Carlo calculations, developed by the Medical Internal Radiation Dose (MIRD) committee of the Society of Nuclear Medicine, were published in a series of supplements to the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, the first one being released in 1968. Some of these pamphlets made extensive use of Monte Carlo calculations to derive specific absorbed fractions for electron and photon sources uniformly distributed in organs of mathematical phantoms. Interest in Monte Carlo-based dose calculations with β-emitters has been revived with the application of radiolabelled monoclonal antibodies to radioimmunotherapy. As a consequence of this generalized use, many questions are being raised primarily about the need and potential of Monte Carlo techniques, but also about how accurate it really is, what would it take to apply it clinically and make it available widely to the medical physics

Calculating ellipse area by the Monte Carlo method and analysing dice poker with Excel at high school

Science.gov (United States)

Benacka, Jan

2016-08-01

This paper reports on lessons in which 18-19 years old high school students modelled random processes with Excel. In the first lesson, 26 students formulated a hypothesis on the area of ellipse by using the analogy between the areas of circle, square and rectangle. They verified the hypothesis by the Monte Carlo method with a spreadsheet model developed in the lesson. In the second lesson, 27 students analysed the dice poker game. First, they calculated the probability of the hands by combinatorial formulae. Then, they verified the result with a spreadsheet model developed in the lesson. The students were given a questionnaire to find out if they found the lesson interesting and contributing to their mathematical and technological knowledge.

Simulation and the Monte Carlo method

CERN Document Server

Rubinstein, Reuven Y

2016-01-01

Simulation and the Monte Carlo Method, Third Edition reflects the latest developments in the field and presents a fully updated and comprehensive account of the major topics that have emerged in Monte Carlo simulation since the publication of the classic First Edition over more than a quarter of a century ago. While maintaining its accessible and intuitive approach, this revised edition features a wealth of up-to-date information that facilitates a deeper understanding of problem solving across a wide array of subject areas, such as engineering, statistics, computer science, mathematics, and the physical and life sciences. The book begins with a modernized introduction that addresses the basic concepts of probability, Markov processes, and convex optimization. Subsequent chapters discuss the dramatic changes that have occurred in the field of the Monte Carlo method, with coverage of many modern topics including: Markov Chain Monte Carlo, variance reduction techniques such as the transform likelihood ratio...

Test of Blanc's law for negative ion mobility in mixtures of SF6 with N2, O2 and air

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hinojosa, G; Urquijo, J de

2003-01-01

We have measured the mobility of negative ion species drifting in mixtures of SF 6 with N 2 , O 2 and air. The pulsed Townsend experiment was used for this purpose. The conditions of the experiment, high pressures and low values of the reduced electric field, E/N, ensured that the majority species drifting in the gap was SF 6 - , to which the present mobilities are ascribed. The extrapolated, zero field mobilities for several mixture compositions were used to test them successfully with Blanc's law. Moreover, the measured zero field SF 6 - mobilities in air could also be explained in terms of the measured mobilities for this ionic species in N 2 and O 2

Current and future applications of Monte Carlo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zaidi, H.

2003-01-01

Full text: The use of radionuclides in medicine has a long history and encompasses a large area of applications including diagnosis and radiation treatment of cancer patients using either external or radionuclide radiotherapy. The 'Monte Carlo method'describes a very broad area of science, in which many processes, physical systems, and phenomena are simulated by statistical methods employing random numbers. The general idea of Monte Carlo analysis is to create a model, which is as similar as possible to the real physical system of interest, and to create interactions within that system based on known probabilities of occurrence, with random sampling of the probability density functions (pdfs). As the number of individual events (called 'histories') is increased, the quality of the reported average behavior of the system improves, meaning that the statistical uncertainty decreases. The use of the Monte Carlo method to simulate radiation transport has become the most accurate means of predicting absorbed dose distributions and other quantities of interest in the radiation treatment of cancer patients using either external or radionuclide radiotherapy. The same trend has occurred for the estimation of the absorbed dose in diagnostic procedures using radionuclides as well as the assessment of image quality and quantitative accuracy of radionuclide imaging. As a consequence of this generalized use, many questions are being raised primarily about the need and potential of Monte Carlo techniques, but also about how accurate it really is, what would it take to apply it clinically and make it available widely to the nuclear medicine community at large. Many of these questions will be answered when Monte Carlo techniques are implemented and used for more routine calculations and for in-depth investigations. In this paper, the conceptual role of the Monte Carlo method is briefly introduced and followed by a survey of its different applications in diagnostic and therapeutic

Evaluation and Monte Carlo modelling of the response function of the Leake neutron area survey instrument

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tagziria, H.; Tanner, R.J.; Bartlett, D.T.; Thomas, D.J.

2004-01-01

All available measured data for the response characteristics of the Leake counter have been gathered together. These data, augmented by previously unpublished work, have been compared to Monte Carlo simulations of the instrument's response characteristics in the energy range from thermal to 20 MeV. A response function has been derived, which is recommended as the best currently available for the instrument. Folding this function with workplace energy distributions has enabled an assessment of the impact of this new response function to be made. Similar work, which will be published separately, has been carried out for the NM2 and the Studsvik 2202D neutron area survey instruments

Monte Carlo - Advances and Challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, Forrest B.; Mosteller, Russell D.; Martin, William R.

2008-01-01

Abstract only, full text follows: With ever-faster computers and mature Monte Carlo production codes, there has been tremendous growth in the application of Monte Carlo methods to the analysis of reactor physics and reactor systems. In the past, Monte Carlo methods were used primarily for calculating k eff of a critical system. More recently, Monte Carlo methods have been increasingly used for determining reactor power distributions and many design parameters, such as β eff , l eff , τ, reactivity coefficients, Doppler defect, dominance ratio, etc. These advanced applications of Monte Carlo methods are now becoming common, not just feasible, but bring new challenges to both developers and users: Convergence of 3D power distributions must be assured; confidence interval bias must be eliminated; iterated fission probabilities are required, rather than single-generation probabilities; temperature effects including Doppler and feedback must be represented; isotopic depletion and fission product buildup must be modeled. This workshop focuses on recent advances in Monte Carlo methods and their application to reactor physics problems, and on the resulting challenges faced by code developers and users. The workshop is partly tutorial, partly a review of the current state-of-the-art, and partly a discussion of future work that is needed. It should benefit both novice and expert Monte Carlo developers and users. In each of the topic areas, we provide an overview of needs, perspective on past and current methods, a review of recent work, and discussion of further research and capabilities that are required. Electronic copies of all workshop presentations and material will be available. The workshop is structured as 2 morning and 2 afternoon segments: - Criticality Calculations I - convergence diagnostics, acceleration methods, confidence intervals, and the iterated fission probability, - Criticality Calculations II - reactor kinetics parameters, dominance ratio, temperature

One-run Monte Carlo calculation of effective delayed neutron fraction and area-ratio reactivity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhaopeng Zhong; Talamo, Alberto; Gohar, Yousry, E-mail: zzhong@anl.gov, E-mail: alby@anl.gov, E-mail: gohar@anl.gov [Nuclear Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, IL (United States)

2011-07-01

The Monte Carlo code MCNPX has been utilized to calculate the effective delayed neutron fraction and reactivity by using the area-ratio method. The effective delayed neutron fraction β{sub eff} has been calculated with the fission probability method proposed by Meulekamp and van der Marck. MCNPX was used to calculate separately the fission probability of the delayed and the prompt neutrons by using the TALLYX user subroutine of MCNPX. In this way, β{sub eff} was obtained from the one criticality (k-code) calculation without performing an adjoint calculation. The traditional k-ratio method requires two criticality calculations to calculate β{sub eff}, while this approach utilizes only one MCNPX criticality calculation. Therefore, the approach described here is referred to as a one-run method. In subcritical systems driven by a pulsed neutron source, the area-ratio method is used to calculate reactivity (in dollar units) as the ratio between the prompt and delayed areas. These areas represent the integral of the reaction rates induced from the prompt and delayed neutrons during the pulse period. Traditionally, application of the area-ratio method requires two separate fixed source MCNPX simulations: one with delayed neutrons and the other without. The number of source particles in these two simulations must be extremely high in order to obtain accurate results with low statistical errors because the values of the total and prompt areas are very close. Consequently, this approach is time consuming and suffers from the statistical errors of the two simulations. The present paper introduces a more efficient method for estimating the reactivity calculated with the area method by taking advantage of the TALLYX user subroutine of MCNPX. This subroutine has been developed for separately scoring the reaction rates caused by the delayed and the prompt neutrons during a single simulation. Therefore the method is referred to as a one run calculation. These methodologies have

One-run Monte Carlo calculation of effective delayed neutron fraction and area-ratio reactivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhaopeng Zhong; Talamo, Alberto; Gohar, Yousry

2011-01-01

The Monte Carlo code MCNPX has been utilized to calculate the effective delayed neutron fraction and reactivity by using the area-ratio method. The effective delayed neutron fraction β_e_f_f has been calculated with the fission probability method proposed by Meulekamp and van der Marck. MCNPX was used to calculate separately the fission probability of the delayed and the prompt neutrons by using the TALLYX user subroutine of MCNPX. In this way, β_e_f_f was obtained from the one criticality (k-code) calculation without performing an adjoint calculation. The traditional k-ratio method requires two criticality calculations to calculate β_e_f_f, while this approach utilizes only one MCNPX criticality calculation. Therefore, the approach described here is referred to as a one-run method. In subcritical systems driven by a pulsed neutron source, the area-ratio method is used to calculate reactivity (in dollar units) as the ratio between the prompt and delayed areas. These areas represent the integral of the reaction rates induced from the prompt and delayed neutrons during the pulse period. Traditionally, application of the area-ratio method requires two separate fixed source MCNPX simulations: one with delayed neutrons and the other without. The number of source particles in these two simulations must be extremely high in order to obtain accurate results with low statistical errors because the values of the total and prompt areas are very close. Consequently, this approach is time consuming and suffers from the statistical errors of the two simulations. The present paper introduces a more efficient method for estimating the reactivity calculated with the area method by taking advantage of the TALLYX user subroutine of MCNPX. This subroutine has been developed for separately scoring the reaction rates caused by the delayed and the prompt neutrons during a single simulation. Therefore the method is referred to as a one run calculation. These methodologies have been

Kodumaine multifilm õilmitseb / Mart Rummo

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Rummo, Mart

2001-01-01

Tähistamaks eesti animafilmi 70. aastapäeva näidatakse täna Kinomajas kuut uut multifilmi : 13-osaline lamenukkfilm "Tulelaeva kulid" (režissöör Mait Laas), Ülo Pikkovi kaks joonisfilmi "Superlove" ja "Peata ratsanik", Priit Tenderi joonisfilm "Mont Blanc", Kaspar Jancise joonisfilm "Romanss" ja Janno Põldma - Heiki Ernitsa laste joonisfilmiseriaali "Lepatriinude jõulud" 5-min. trailer

Monte-Carlo calculation of the calibration factors for the interfacial area concentration and the velocity of the bubbles for double sensor conductivity probe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Munoz-Cobo, J.L.; Pena, J.; Chiva, S.; Mendez, S.

2007-01-01

This paper presents a study of the estimation of the correction factors for the interfacial area concentration and the bubble velocity in two phase flow measurements using the double sensor conductivity probe. Monte-Carlo calculations of these correction factors have been performed for different values of the relative distance (ΔS/D) between the tips of the conductivity probe and different values of the relative bubble velocity fluctuation parameter. Also this paper presents the Monte-Carlo calculation of the expected value of the calibration factors for bubbly flow assuming a log-normal distribution of the bubble sizes. We have computed the variation of the expected values of the calibration factors with the relative distance (ΔS/D) between the tips and the velocity fluctuation parameter. Finally, we have performed a sensitivity study of the variation of the average values of the calibration factors for bubbly flow with the geometrical standard deviation of the log-normal distribution of bubble sizes. The results of these calculations show that the total interfacial area correction factor is very close to 2, and depends very weakly on the velocity fluctuation, and the relative distance between tips. For the velocity calibration factor, the Monte-Carlo results show that for moderate values of the relative bubble velocity fluctuation parameter (H max ≤ 0.3) and values of the relative distance between tips not too small (ΔS/D ≥ 0.2), the correction velocity factor for the bubble sensor conductivity probe is close to unity, ranging from 0.96 to 1

Applications of the Monte Carlo simulation in dosimetry and medical physics problems; Aplicaciones de la simulacion Monte Carlo en dosimetria y problemas de fisica medica

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rojas C, E. L., E-mail: leticia.rojas@inin.gob.m [ININ, Gerencia de Ciencias Ambientales, Carretera Mexico-Toluca s/n, 52750 Ocoyoacac, Estado de Mexico (Mexico)

2010-07-01

At the present time the computers use to solve important problems extends to all the areas. These areas can be of social, economic, of engineering, of basic and applied science, etc. With and appropriate handling of computation programs and information can be carried out calculations and simulations of real models, to study them and to solve theoretical or application problems. The processes that contain random variables are susceptible of being approached with the Monte Carlo method. This is a numeric method that, thanks to the improvements in the processors of the computers, it can apply in many tasks more than what was made in the principles of their practical application (at the beginning of the decade of 1950). In this work the application of the Monte Carlo method will be approached in the simulation of the radiation interaction with the matter, to investigate dosimetric aspects of some problems that exist in the medical physics area. Also, contain an introduction about some historical data and some general concepts related with the Monte Carlo simulation are revised. (Author)

Successful vectorization - reactor physics Monte Carlo code

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, W.R.

1989-01-01

Most particle transport Monte Carlo codes in use today are based on the ''history-based'' algorithm, wherein one particle history at a time is simulated. Unfortunately, the ''history-based'' approach (present in all Monte Carlo codes until recent years) is inherently scalar and cannot be vectorized. In particular, the history-based algorithm cannot take advantage of vector architectures, which characterize the largest and fastest computers at the current time, vector supercomputers such as the Cray X/MP or IBM 3090/600. However, substantial progress has been made in recent years in developing and implementing a vectorized Monte Carlo algorithm. This algorithm follows portions of many particle histories at the same time and forms the basis for all successful vectorized Monte Carlo codes that are in use today. This paper describes the basic vectorized algorithm along with descriptions of several variations that have been developed by different researchers for specific applications. These applications have been mainly in the areas of neutron transport in nuclear reactor and shielding analysis and photon transport in fusion plasmas. The relative merits of the various approach schemes will be discussed and the present status of known vectorization efforts will be summarized along with available timing results, including results from the successful vectorization of 3-D general geometry, continuous energy Monte Carlo. (orig.)

First experience with particle-in-cell plasma physics code on ARM-based HPC systems

Science.gov (United States)

Sáez, Xavier; Soba, Alejandro; Sánchez, Edilberto; Mantsinen, Mervi; Mateo, Sergi; Cela, José M.; Castejón, Francisco

2015-09-01

In this work, we will explore the feasibility of porting a Particle-in-cell code (EUTERPE) to an ARM multi-core platform from the Mont-Blanc project. The used prototype is based on a system-on-chip Samsung Exynos 5 with an integrated GPU. It is the first prototype that could be used for High-Performance Computing (HPC), since it supports double precision and parallel programming languages.

Diversity of bacteria producing pigmented colonies in aerosol, snow and soil samples from remote glacial areas (Antarctica, Alps and Andes)

OpenAIRE

González-Toril , E.; Amils , R.; Delmas , R. J.; Petit , J.-R.; Komárek , J.; Elster , J.

2008-01-01

Four different communities and one culture of pigmented microbial assemblages were obtained by incubation in mineral medium of samples collected from high elevation snow in the Alps (Mt. Blanc area) and the Andes (Nevado Illimani summit, Bolivia), from Antarctic aerosol (French station Dumont d'Urville) and a maritime Antarctic soil (King George Island, South Shetlands, Uruguay Station Artigas). Molecular analysis of more than 200 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that all cultured cells be...

29th Rencontres de Physique de La Vallée d'Aoste

CERN Document Server

Rencontres de La Thuile

2015-01-01

This is the twenty-nineth Workshop in Particle Physics being held yearly at the Planibel Hotel of La Thuile, Aosta Valley. La Thuile is a beautiful mountain village located 1450 m a.sl., about 40 km north of the city of Aosta, on the road to the Mont Blanc. The hotel is at the bottom of a vast skiing area connected with the French ski resort La Rosiere and it is an outstanding complex for winter sports and congresses. The Rencontres will bring together about 120 active experimentalists and theorists, as well as a number of young students supported by the Organizers, to review the status and the future prospects in elementary particle physics. Will be published in: Nuovo Cimento, C

Monte Carlo methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bardenet Rémi

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Bayesian inference often requires integrating some function with respect to a posterior distribution. Monte Carlo methods are sampling algorithms that allow to compute these integrals numerically when they are not analytically tractable. We review here the basic principles and the most common Monte Carlo algorithms, among which rejection sampling, importance sampling and Monte Carlo Markov chain (MCMC methods. We give intuition on the theoretical justification of the algorithms as well as practical advice, trying to relate both. We discuss the application of Monte Carlo in experimental physics, and point to landmarks in the literature for the curious reader.

Frost in Charitum Montes

Science.gov (United States)

2003-01-01

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-387, 10 June 2003This is a Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) wide angle view of the Charitum Montes, south of Argyre Planitia, in early June 2003. The seasonal south polar frost cap, composed of carbon dioxide, has been retreating southward through this area since spring began a month ago. The bright features toward the bottom of this picture are surfaces covered by frost. The picture is located near 57oS, 43oW. North is at the top, south is at the bottom. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The area shown is about 217 km (135 miles) wide.

Fission track dating of zircon: a multichronometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carpena, J.

1992-01-01

Scattering in Fission Track ages of zircons of a single rock is possible when they present morphological and geochemical variations, if the greatest care is not taken in the choice of the etching conditions and the counting of tracks. The Fission Track study of two heterogeneous populations of zircons from the Mont Blanc granite and from the Gran Paradiso gneisses allows to show that zircon may work as a multichronometer

LCG MCDB - a Knowledgebase of Monte Carlo Simulated Events

CERN Document Server

Belov, S; Galkin, E; Gusev, A; Pokorski, Witold; Sherstnev, A V

2008-01-01

In this paper we report on LCG Monte Carlo Data Base (MCDB) and software which has been developed to operate MCDB. The main purpose of the LCG MCDB project is to provide a storage and documentation system for sophisticated event samples simulated for the LHC collaborations by experts. In many cases, the modern Monte Carlo simulation of physical processes requires expert knowledge in Monte Carlo generators or significant amount of CPU time to produce the events. MCDB is a knowledgebase mainly to accumulate simulated events of this type. The main motivation behind LCG MCDB is to make the sophisticated MC event samples available for various physical groups. All the data from MCDB is accessible in several convenient ways. LCG MCDB is being developed within the CERN LCG Application Area Simulation project.

Applications of the Monte Carlo simulation in dosimetry and medical physics problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rojas C, E. L.

2010-01-01

At the present time the computers use to solve important problems extends to all the areas. These areas can be of social, economic, of engineering, of basic and applied science, etc. With and appropriate handling of computation programs and information can be carried out calculations and simulations of real models, to study them and to solve theoretical or application problems. The processes that contain random variables are susceptible of being approached with the Monte Carlo method. This is a numeric method that, thanks to the improvements in the processors of the computers, it can apply in many tasks more than what was made in the principles of their practical application (at the beginning of the decade of 1950). In this work the application of the Monte Carlo method will be approached in the simulation of the radiation interaction with the matter, to investigate dosimetric aspects of some problems that exist in the medical physics area. Also, contain an introduction about some historical data and some general concepts related with the Monte Carlo simulation are revised. (Author)

Monts Jura Jazz Festival

CERN Multimedia

Jazz Club

2012-01-01

The 5th edition of the "Monts Jura Jazz Festival" that will take place on September 21st and 22nd 2012 at the Esplanade du Lac in Divonne-les-Bains. This festival is organized by the "CERN Jazz Club" with the support of the "CERN Staff Association". This festival is a major musical event in the French/Swiss area and proposes a world class program with jazz artists such as D.Lockwood and D.Reinhardt. More information on http://www.jurajazz.com.

Exploring Monte Carlo methods

CERN Document Server

Dunn, William L

2012-01-01

Exploring Monte Carlo Methods is a basic text that describes the numerical methods that have come to be known as "Monte Carlo." The book treats the subject generically through the first eight chapters and, thus, should be of use to anyone who wants to learn to use Monte Carlo. The next two chapters focus on applications in nuclear engineering, which are illustrative of uses in other fields. Five appendices are included, which provide useful information on probability distributions, general-purpose Monte Carlo codes for radiation transport, and other matters. The famous "Buffon's needle proble

Specialized Monte Carlo codes versus general-purpose Monte Carlo codes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moskvin, Vadim; DesRosiers, Colleen; Papiez, Lech; Lu, Xiaoyi

2002-01-01

The possibilities of Monte Carlo modeling for dose calculations and optimization treatment are quite limited in radiation oncology applications. The main reason is that the Monte Carlo technique for dose calculations is time consuming while treatment planning may require hundreds of possible cases of dose simulations to be evaluated for dose optimization. The second reason is that general-purpose codes widely used in practice, require an experienced user to customize them for calculations. This paper discusses the concept of Monte Carlo code design that can avoid the main problems that are preventing wide spread use of this simulation technique in medical physics. (authors)

Litho- and biostratigraphy of the Opalinus Clay and bounding formations in the Mont Terri rock laboratory (Switzerland)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hostettler, B.; Reisdorf, A. G.; Jaeggi, D.

2017-01-01

A 250 m-deep inclined well, the Mont Terri BDB-1, was drilled through the Jurassic Opalinus Clay and its bounding formations at the Mont Terri rock laboratory (NW Switzerland). For the first time, a continuous section from (oldest to youngest) the topmost members of the Staffelegg Formation to the basal layers of the Hauptrogenstein Formation is now available in the Mont Terri area. We extensively studied the drill core for lithostratigraphy and biostratigraphy, drawing upon three sections from the Mont Terri area. The macropaleontological, micropaleontological, and palynostratigraphical data are complementary, not only spatially but they also cover almost all biozones from the Late Toarcian to the Early Bajocian. We ran a suite of geophysical logs to determine formational and intraformational boundaries based on clay content in the BDB-1 well. In the framework of an interdisciplinary study, analysis of the above-mentioned formations permitted us to process and derive new and substantial data for the Mont Terri area in a straightforward way. Some parts of the lithologic inventory, stratigraphic architecture, thickness variations, and biostratigraphic classification of the studied formations deviate considerably from occurrences in northern Switzerland that crop out further to the east. For instance, with the exception of the Sissach Member, no further lithostratigraphic subdivision in members is proposed for the Passwang Formation. Also noteworthy is that the ca. 130 m-thick Opalinus Clay in the BDB-1 core is 20 m thinner than that equivalent section found in the Mont Terri tunnel. The lowermost 38 m of the Opalinus Clay can be attributed chronostratigraphically solely to the Aalensis Zone (Late Toarcian). Deposition of the Opalinus Clay began at the same time farther east in northern Switzerland (Aalensis Subzone, Aalensis Zone), but in the Mont Terri area the sedimentation rate was two or three orders of magnitude higher. (authors)

Litho- and biostratigraphy of the Opalinus Clay and bounding formations in the Mont Terri rock laboratory (Switzerland)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hostettler, B. [Naturhistorisches Museum der Burgergemeinde Berne, Berne (Switzerland); Reisdorf, A. G. [Geologisch-Paläontologisches InstitutUniversität Basle, Basle (Switzerland); Jaeggi, D. [Swisstopo, Federal Office of Topography, Wabern (Switzerland); and others

2017-04-15

A 250 m-deep inclined well, the Mont Terri BDB-1, was drilled through the Jurassic Opalinus Clay and its bounding formations at the Mont Terri rock laboratory (NW Switzerland). For the first time, a continuous section from (oldest to youngest) the topmost members of the Staffelegg Formation to the basal layers of the Hauptrogenstein Formation is now available in the Mont Terri area. We extensively studied the drill core for lithostratigraphy and biostratigraphy, drawing upon three sections from the Mont Terri area. The macropaleontological, micropaleontological, and palynostratigraphical data are complementary, not only spatially but they also cover almost all biozones from the Late Toarcian to the Early Bajocian. We ran a suite of geophysical logs to determine formational and intraformational boundaries based on clay content in the BDB-1 well. In the framework of an interdisciplinary study, analysis of the above-mentioned formations permitted us to process and derive new and substantial data for the Mont Terri area in a straightforward way. Some parts of the lithologic inventory, stratigraphic architecture, thickness variations, and biostratigraphic classification of the studied formations deviate considerably from occurrences in northern Switzerland that crop out further to the east. For instance, with the exception of the Sissach Member, no further lithostratigraphic subdivision in members is proposed for the Passwang Formation. Also noteworthy is that the ca. 130 m-thick Opalinus Clay in the BDB-1 core is 20 m thinner than that equivalent section found in the Mont Terri tunnel. The lowermost 38 m of the Opalinus Clay can be attributed chronostratigraphically solely to the Aalensis Zone (Late Toarcian). Deposition of the Opalinus Clay began at the same time farther east in northern Switzerland (Aalensis Subzone, Aalensis Zone), but in the Mont Terri area the sedimentation rate was two or three orders of magnitude higher. (authors)

Where protons will play

CERN Multimedia

Holt, Jim

2007-01-01

"On seing the Alps for the first time, Dorothy Parket is reputed to have said, "They're beautiful, but they're dumb". Near the foot of Mont Blanc, the greatest of the alpine peaks, another sizable object is taking shape, also quite beautiful in its way, yet not at all dumb. In fact, its pristine geometries may be instrumental in revealing what have hitherto been some of nature's deepest secrets." (2 pages)

Curves and Surfaces

Science.gov (United States)

1990-01-01

joint work with Bj6rn Jawerth and Brad Lucier. Courbes et Surfaces CHAMONIX - MONT BLANC 21-27juin 1990 QUASI-Eh4TERPOIANT’S DE TYPE DE SZASZ ...t) =ect, c > 0, t e lR, et, G(IR,) = (f e C(1R: IlfiI sup ( if (t)I / (p(t), t e IR+) < +oo) L’opdrateur de Szasz -Mirakyan Sn de C,(IR+) dans G[a,b

Monte Carlo principles and applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Raeside, D E [Oklahoma Univ., Oklahoma City (USA). Health Sciences Center

1976-03-01

The principles underlying the use of Monte Carlo methods are explained, for readers who may not be familiar with the approach. The generation of random numbers is discussed, and the connection between Monte Carlo methods and random numbers is indicated. Outlines of two well established Monte Carlo sampling techniques are given, together with examples illustrating their use. The general techniques for improving the efficiency of Monte Carlo calculations are considered. The literature relevant to the applications of Monte Carlo calculations in medical physics is reviewed.

Direct Simulation Monte Carlo Application of the Three Dimensional Forced Harmonic Oscillator Model

Science.gov (United States)

2017-12-07

NUMBER (Include area code) 07 December 2017 Journal Article 24 February 2017 - 31 December 2017 Direct Simulation Monte Carlo Application of the...is proposed. The implementation employs precalculated lookup tables for transition probabilities and is suitable for the direct simulation Monte Carlo...method. It takes into account the microscopic reversibility between the excitation and deexcitation processes , and it satisfies the detailed balance

Mont Terri Project - Proceedings of the 10 Year Anniversary Workshop

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hugi, M.; Bossart, P.; Hayoz, P.

2007-01-01

This book is a compilation of 12 reports presented at the St-Ursanne workshop. The workshop was dedicated to the scientific community of the Mont Terri partner organisations, their management and scientific/technical staff, involved research organisations and key contractors. The purpose of the event was to acknowledge the excellent research work that has been performed over the last decade, to evaluate and discuss the present state of knowledge in selected research areas and to explore the potential for future research activities. The topical areas addressed in the workshop are of particular importance with regard to deep geological disposal of radioactive waste and focused on the issues of coupled phenomena and transport processes in argillaceous rock and the demonstration (in underground rock laboratories) of disposal feasibility. After showing the history of the Mont Terri project and the general geology of Northwestern Switzerland, the different presentations are distributed into 3 topics: (a) Coupled phenomena in argillaceous rock, (b) Transport processes in argillaceous rock, and (c) Demonstration of disposal feasibility in underground rock laboratories. The last chapter describes the research still needed and the Mont Terri rock laboratory

Association of Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae) population density with climate variables in Montes Claros, an area of American visceral leishmaniasis transmission in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Michalsky, Erika Monteiro; Fortes-Dias, Consuelo Latorre; França-Silva, João Carlos; Rocha, Marilia Fonseca; Barata, Ricardo Andrade; Dias, Edelberto Santos

2009-12-01

In the present paper, we evaluate the relationship between climate variables and population density of Lutzomyia longipalpis in Montes Claros, an area of active transmission of American visceral leishmaniasis (AVL) in Brazil. Entomological captures were performed in 10 selected districts of the city, between September 2002-August 2003. A total of 773 specimens of L. longipalpiswere captured in the period and the population density could be associated with local climate variables (cumulative rainfall, average temperature and relative humidity) through a mathematical linear model with a determination coefficient (Rsqr) of 0.752. Although based on an oversimplified statistical analysis, as far as the vector is concerned, this approach showed to be potentially useful as a starting point to guide control measures for AVL in Montes Claros.

A new method to assess the statistical convergence of monte carlo solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Forster, R.A.

1991-01-01

Accurate Monte Carlo confidence intervals (CIs), which are formed with an estimated mean and an estimated standard deviation, can only be created when the number of particle histories N becomes large enough so that the central limit theorem can be applied. The Monte Carlo user has a limited number of marginal methods to assess the fulfillment of this condition, such as statistical error reduction proportional to 1/√N with error magnitude guidelines and third and fourth moment estimators. A new method is presented here to assess the statistical convergence of Monte Carlo solutions by analyzing the shape of the empirical probability density function (PDF) of history scores. Related work in this area includes the derivation of analytic score distributions for a two-state Monte Carlo problem. Score distribution histograms have been generated to determine when a small number of histories accounts for a large fraction of the result. This summary describes initial studies of empirical Monte Carlo history score PDFs created from score histograms of particle transport simulations. 7 refs., 1 fig

Guidelines for planning interventions against external exposure in industrial area after a nuclear accident. Pt. 2. Calculation of doses using Monte Carlo method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kis, Z.; Eged, K.; Meckbach, R.; Mueller, H.

2003-01-01

Countermeasures being different from the usual urban ones and largely applicable in industrial area are collected and evaluated in a separate report. The industrial area is defined here as such an area where productive and/or commercial activity is carried out. A good example is a supermarket or a factory. Based on the history of calculation models it is unambiguous that the Monte Carlo based simulation is the perspective to the dose assessment from external exposures in such a complex environment. A method of the calculation of doses from external exposures in urban-industrial environment is presented. Moreover, this report gives a summary about the time dependence of the source strengths relative to a reference surface and a short overview about the mechanical and chemical intervention techniques which can be applied in this area. Using a hypothetical scenario (a supermarket area contaminated by 137 Cs) the details of an exemplary calculation are given directly addressing the dose and averted dose blocks of the templates of industrial countermeasures. In addition, a sensitivity analysis of the results is presented. (orig.)

Monte Carlo radiation transport: A revolution in science

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hendricks, J.

1993-01-01

When Enrico Fermi, Stan Ulam, Nicholas Metropolis, John von Neuman, and Robert Richtmyer invented the Monte Carlo method fifty years ago, little could they imagine the far-flung consequences, the international applications, and the revolution in science epitomized by their abstract mathematical method. The Monte Carlo method is used in a wide variety of fields to solve exact computational models approximately by statistical sampling. It is an alternative to traditional physics modeling methods which solve approximate computational models exactly by deterministic methods. Modern computers and improved methods, such as variance reduction, have enhanced the method to the point of enabling a true predictive capability in areas such as radiation or particle transport. This predictive capability has contributed to a radical change in the way science is done: design and understanding come from computations built upon experiments rather than being limited to experiments, and the computer codes doing the computations have become the repository for physics knowledge. The MCNP Monte Carlo computer code effort at Los Alamos is an example of this revolution. Physicians unfamiliar with physics details can design cancer treatments using physics buried in the MCNP computer code. Hazardous environments and hypothetical accidents can be explored. Many other fields, from underground oil well exploration to aerospace, from physics research to energy production, from safety to bulk materials processing, benefit from MCNP, the Monte Carlo method, and the revolution in science

Visual Monte Carlo and its application to internal and external dosimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hunt, J.G.; Silva, F.C. da; Souza-Santos, D. de; Dantas, B.M.; Azeredo, A.; Malatova, I.; Foltanova, S.; Isakson, M.

2001-01-01

The program visual Monte Carlo (VMC), combined with voxel phantoms, and its application to three areas of radiation protection: calibration of in vivo measurement systems, dose calculations due to external sources of radiation, and the calculation of Specific Effective Energies is described in this paper. The simulation of photon transport through a voxel phantom requires a Monte Carlo program adapted to voxel geometries. VMC is written in Visual Basic trademark, a Microsoft Windows based program, which is easy to use and has an extensive graphic output. (orig.)

EXPERIMENTAL AND MONTE CARLO INVESTIGATIONS OF BCF-12 SMALL‑AREA PLASTIC SCINTILLATION DETECTORS FOR NEUTRON PINHOLE CAMERA.

Science.gov (United States)

Bielecki, J; Drozdowicz, K; Dworak, D; Igielski, A; Janik, W; Kulinska, A; Marciniak, L; Scholz, M; Turzanski, M; Wiacek, U; Woznicka, U; Wójcik-Gargula, A

2017-12-11

Plastic organic scintillators such as the blue-emitting BCF-12 are versatile and inexpensive tools. Recently, BCF-12 scintillators have been foreseen for investigation of the spatial distribution of neutrons emitted from dense magnetized plasma. For this purpose, small-area (5 mm × 5 mm) detectors based on BCF-12 scintillation rods and Hamamatsu photomultiplier tubes were designed and constructed at the Institute of Nuclear Physics. They will be located inside the neutron pinhole camera of the PF-24 plasma focus device. Two different geometrical layouts and approaches to the construction of the scintillation element were tested. The aim of this work was to determine the efficiency of the detectors. For this purpose, the experimental investigations using a neutron generator and a Pu-Be source were combined with Monte Carlo computations using the Geant4 code. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

On the use of stochastic approximation Monte Carlo for Monte Carlo integration

KAUST Repository

Liang, Faming

2009-03-01

The stochastic approximation Monte Carlo (SAMC) algorithm has recently been proposed as a dynamic optimization algorithm in the literature. In this paper, we show in theory that the samples generated by SAMC can be used for Monte Carlo integration via a dynamically weighted estimator by calling some results from the literature of nonhomogeneous Markov chains. Our numerical results indicate that SAMC can yield significant savings over conventional Monte Carlo algorithms, such as the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, for the problems for which the energy landscape is rugged. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On the use of stochastic approximation Monte Carlo for Monte Carlo integration

KAUST Repository

Liang, Faming

2009-01-01

The stochastic approximation Monte Carlo (SAMC) algorithm has recently been proposed as a dynamic optimization algorithm in the literature. In this paper, we show in theory that the samples generated by SAMC can be used for Monte Carlo integration

Monsieur Etienne Blanc Premier vice-président de la Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Délégué aux finances, à l'administration générale, aux économies budgétaires et aux politiques transfrontalières

CERN Multimedia

Bennett, Sophia Elizabeth

2017-01-01

Monsieur Etienne Blanc Premier vice-président de la Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Délégué aux finances, à l'administration générale, aux économies budgétaires et aux politiques transfrontalières

Association of Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae population density with climate variables in Montes Claros, an area of American visceral leishmaniasis transmission in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Érika Monteiro Michalsky

2009-12-01

Full Text Available In the present paper, we evaluate the relationship between climate variables and population density of Lutzomyia longipalpis in Montes Claros, an area of active transmission of American visceral leishmaniasis (AVL in Brazil. Entomological captures were performed in 10 selected districts of the city, between September 2002-August 2003. A total of 773 specimens of L. longipalpiswere captured in the period and the population density could be associated with local climate variables (cumulative rainfall, average temperature and relative humidity through a mathematical linear model with a determination coefficient (Rsqr of 0.752. Although based on an oversimplified statistical analysis, as far as the vector is concerned, this approach showed to be potentially useful as a starting point to guide control measures for AVL in Montes Claros.

Collision of Physics and Software in the Monte Carlo Application Toolkit (MCATK)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sweezy, Jeremy Ed [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2016-01-21

The topic is presented in a series of slides organized as follows: MCATK overview, development strategy, available algorithms, problem modeling (sources, geometry, data, tallies), parallelism, miscellaneous tools/features, example MCATK application, recent areas of research, and summary and future work. MCATK is a C++ component-based Monte Carlo neutron-gamma transport software library with continuous energy neutron and photon transport. Designed to build specialized applications and to provide new functionality in existing general-purpose Monte Carlo codes like MCNP, it reads ACE formatted nuclear data generated by NJOY. The motivation behind MCATK was to reduce costs. MCATK physics involves continuous energy neutron & gamma transport with multi-temperature treatment, static eigenvalue (k_eff and α) algorithms, time-dependent algorithm, and fission chain algorithms. MCATK geometry includes mesh geometries and solid body geometries. MCATK provides verified, unit-test Monte Carlo components, flexibility in Monte Carlo application development, and numerous tools such as geometry and cross section plotters.

Comparison of Monte Carlo method and deterministic method for neutron transport calculation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mori, Takamasa; Nakagawa, Masayuki

1987-01-01

The report outlines major features of the Monte Carlo method by citing various applications of the method and techniques used for Monte Carlo codes. Major areas of its application include analysis of measurements on fast critical assemblies, nuclear fusion reactor neutronics analysis, criticality safety analysis, evaluation by VIM code, and calculation for shielding. Major techniques used for Monte Carlo codes include the random walk method, geometric expression method (combinatorial geometry, 1, 2, 4-th degree surface and lattice geometry), nuclear data expression, evaluation method (track length, collision, analog (absorption), surface crossing, point), and dispersion reduction (Russian roulette, splitting, exponential transform, importance sampling, corrected sampling). Major features of the Monte Carlo method are as follows: 1) neutron source distribution and systems of complex geometry can be simulated accurately, 2) physical quantities such as neutron flux in a place, on a surface or at a point can be evaluated, and 3) calculation requires less time. (Nogami, K.)

Vectorized Monte Carlo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, F.B.

1981-01-01

Examination of the global algorithms and local kernels of conventional general-purpose Monte Carlo codes shows that multigroup Monte Carlo methods have sufficient structure to permit efficient vectorization. A structured multigroup Monte Carlo algorithm for vector computers is developed in which many particle events are treated at once on a cell-by-cell basis. Vectorization of kernels for tracking and variance reduction is described, and a new method for discrete sampling is developed to facilitate the vectorization of collision analysis. To demonstrate the potential of the new method, a vectorized Monte Carlo code for multigroup radiation transport analysis was developed. This code incorporates many features of conventional general-purpose production codes, including general geometry, splitting and Russian roulette, survival biasing, variance estimation via batching, a number of cutoffs, and generalized tallies of collision, tracklength, and surface crossing estimators with response functions. Predictions of vectorized performance characteristics for the CYBER-205 were made using emulated coding and a dynamic model of vector instruction timing. Computation rates were examined for a variety of test problems to determine sensitivities to batch size and vector lengths. Significant speedups are predicted for even a few hundred particles per batch, and asymptotic speedups by about 40 over equivalent Amdahl 470V/8 scalar codes arepredicted for a few thousand particles per batch. The principal conclusion is that vectorization of a general-purpose multigroup Monte Carlo code is well worth the significant effort required for stylized coding and major algorithmic changes

Adjoint electron Monte Carlo calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jordan, T.M.

1986-01-01

Adjoint Monte Carlo is the most efficient method for accurate analysis of space systems exposed to natural and artificially enhanced electron environments. Recent adjoint calculations for isotropic electron environments include: comparative data for experimental measurements on electronics boxes; benchmark problem solutions for comparing total dose prediction methodologies; preliminary assessment of sectoring methods used during space system design; and total dose predictions on an electronics package. Adjoint Monte Carlo, forward Monte Carlo, and experiment are in excellent agreement for electron sources that simulate space environments. For electron space environments, adjoint Monte Carlo is clearly superior to forward Monte Carlo, requiring one to two orders of magnitude less computer time for relatively simple geometries. The solid-angle sectoring approximations used for routine design calculations can err by more than a factor of 2 on dose in simple shield geometries. For critical space systems exposed to severe electron environments, these potential sectoring errors demand the establishment of large design margins and/or verification of shield design by adjoint Monte Carlo/experiment

Monte Carlo: Basics

OpenAIRE

Murthy, K. P. N.

2001-01-01

An introduction to the basics of Monte Carlo is given. The topics covered include, sample space, events, probabilities, random variables, mean, variance, covariance, characteristic function, chebyshev inequality, law of large numbers, central limit theorem (stable distribution, Levy distribution), random numbers (generation and testing), random sampling techniques (inversion, rejection, sampling from a Gaussian, Metropolis sampling), analogue Monte Carlo and Importance sampling (exponential b...

MORSE Monte Carlo code

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cramer, S.N.

1984-01-01

The MORSE code is a large general-use multigroup Monte Carlo code system. Although no claims can be made regarding its superiority in either theoretical details or Monte Carlo techniques, MORSE has been, since its inception at ORNL in the late 1960s, the most widely used Monte Carlo radiation transport code. The principal reason for this popularity is that MORSE is relatively easy to use, independent of any installation or distribution center, and it can be easily customized to fit almost any specific need. Features of the MORSE code are described

First experience with particle-in-cell plasma physics code on ARM-based HPC systems

OpenAIRE

Sáez, Xavier; Soba, Alejandro; Sánchez, Edilberto; Mantsinen, Mervi; Mateo, Sergio; Cela, José M.; Castejón, Francisco

2015-01-01

In this work, we will explore the feasibility of porting a Particle-in-cell code (EUTERPE) to an ARM multi-core platform from the Mont-Blanc project. The used prototype is based on a system-on-chip Samsung Exynos 5 with an integrated GPU. It is the first prototype that could be used for High-Performance Computing (HPC), since it supports double precision and parallel programming languages. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Com- munity's Seventh...

Compte rendu de : La vallée électrique,Foëx E. (photographies) et Broennimann T. (textes), 2006, Paris, InFolio éditions, 164 p., 210 photographies en noir et blanc

OpenAIRE

Buisson, André

2008-01-01

Réunies sous le titre La vallée électrique, 210 photographies en noir et blanc du photographe Emmanuel Foëx illustrent l’architecture industrielle, l’urbanisme et le paysage dans l’Arc alpin. Comme un ouvrage classique, l’album est divisé en trois parties : La centrale, le réseau, le transformateur. L’auteur est parti de l’évidence qu’à travers l’arc alpin, les sillons des vallées sont constellés d’usines consacrées à la fabrication de l’électricité (La centrale). La montagne, telle un châtea...

Monte Carlo theory and practice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

James, F.

1987-01-01

Historically, the first large-scale calculations to make use of the Monte Carlo method were studies of neutron scattering and absorption, random processes for which it is quite natural to employ random numbers. Such calculations, a subset of Monte Carlo calculations, are known as direct simulation, since the 'hypothetical population' of the narrower definition above corresponds directly to the real population being studied. The Monte Carlo method may be applied wherever it is possible to establish equivalence between the desired result and the expected behaviour of a stochastic system. The problem to be solved may already be of a probabilistic or statistical nature, in which case its Monte Carlo formulation will usually be a straightforward simulation, or it may be of a deterministic or analytic nature, in which case an appropriate Monte Carlo formulation may require some imagination and may appear contrived or artificial. In any case, the suitability of the method chosen will depend on its mathematical properties and not on its superficial resemblance to the problem to be solved. The authors show how Monte Carlo techniques may be compared with other methods of solution of the same physical problem

The Erebus Montes Debris-Apron Population: Investigation of Amazonian Landscape Evolution

Science.gov (United States)

van Gasselt, S.; Orgel, C.; Schulz, J.

2014-04-01

Lobate debris aprons are considered to be indicators for the presence of ice and water reservoirs on Mars and are therefore sensitive to climate variability. The northern hemisphere of Mars is characterized by three major populations of debris aprons (see, e.g. [12]): (1) the Tempe Terra/Mareotis Fossae region [2, 5], (2) the Deuteronilus/Protonilus Mensae [1, 4, 8], and (3) the Phlegra Montes (PM) [3]. The broader PM area can subdivided inro a number of smaller populations dispersed across parts of Arcadia Planitia (see figure 1) of which the Erebus Montes located at 180-195oE, 25-41oN form a well-confined set of features. We here focus on age and erosional characteristics of the northern Erebus Montes (see inset in figure 1). Our study makes use of panchromatic image data obtained by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) [9, 6] onboard Mars Express and the Context Camera (CTX) [7] onboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Image data analyses are supported by digital terrain-model data derived from HRSC based stereo imaging [10] and from Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) [11]. We performed detailed geologic mapping at a scale of 1:10,000 and analysed age relationships and erosion rates based on a similar approach as outlined in [5] for the northern part of the Erebus Montes. The aim of this study is to compare feature characteristics to other populations in order to assess timing and the overarching control of landforms evolution in the Martian northern hemisphere. The EM compare geologically relatively well with the Phlegra Montes in terms of individual feature morphologies. The concentration based on cluster analysis (figure 1) shows an up to 10 times higher concentration of remnants per 25 km2 area peaking at 3.4×10-3 features for Erebus Montes. Debris aprons show well-defined age signals ranging from 15 Myr up to 145 Myr. Some units even show continuous degradation implying active denudation of the Noachian to Hesperian-aged remnant massifs. Based on the

Monte Carlo Methods in Physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santoso, B.

1997-01-01

Method of Monte Carlo integration is reviewed briefly and some of its applications in physics are explained. A numerical experiment on random generators used in the monte Carlo techniques is carried out to show the behavior of the randomness of various methods in generating them. To account for the weight function involved in the Monte Carlo, the metropolis method is used. From the results of the experiment, one can see that there is no regular patterns of the numbers generated, showing that the program generators are reasonably good, while the experimental results, shows a statistical distribution obeying statistical distribution law. Further some applications of the Monte Carlo methods in physics are given. The choice of physical problems are such that the models have available solutions either in exact or approximate values, in which comparisons can be mode, with the calculations using the Monte Carlo method. Comparison show that for the models to be considered, good agreement have been obtained

Monte Carlo techniques in radiation therapy

CERN Document Server

Verhaegen, Frank

2013-01-01

Modern cancer treatment relies on Monte Carlo simulations to help radiotherapists and clinical physicists better understand and compute radiation dose from imaging devices as well as exploit four-dimensional imaging data. With Monte Carlo-based treatment planning tools now available from commercial vendors, a complete transition to Monte Carlo-based dose calculation methods in radiotherapy could likely take place in the next decade. Monte Carlo Techniques in Radiation Therapy explores the use of Monte Carlo methods for modeling various features of internal and external radiation sources, including light ion beams. The book-the first of its kind-addresses applications of the Monte Carlo particle transport simulation technique in radiation therapy, mainly focusing on external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy. It presents the mathematical and technical aspects of the methods in particle transport simulations. The book also discusses the modeling of medical linacs and other irradiation devices; issues specific...

Statistical implications in Monte Carlo depletions - 051

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhiwen, Xu; Rhodes, J.; Smith, K.

2010-01-01

As a result of steady advances of computer power, continuous-energy Monte Carlo depletion analysis is attracting considerable attention for reactor burnup calculations. The typical Monte Carlo analysis is set up as a combination of a Monte Carlo neutron transport solver and a fuel burnup solver. Note that the burnup solver is a deterministic module. The statistical errors in Monte Carlo solutions are introduced into nuclide number densities and propagated along fuel burnup. This paper is towards the understanding of the statistical implications in Monte Carlo depletions, including both statistical bias and statistical variations in depleted fuel number densities. The deterministic Studsvik lattice physics code, CASMO-5, is modified to model the Monte Carlo depletion. The statistical bias in depleted number densities is found to be negligible compared to its statistical variations, which, in turn, demonstrates the correctness of the Monte Carlo depletion method. Meanwhile, the statistical variation in number densities generally increases with burnup. Several possible ways of reducing the statistical errors are discussed: 1) to increase the number of individual Monte Carlo histories; 2) to increase the number of time steps; 3) to run additional independent Monte Carlo depletion cases. Finally, a new Monte Carlo depletion methodology, called the batch depletion method, is proposed, which consists of performing a set of independent Monte Carlo depletions and is thus capable of estimating the overall statistical errors including both the local statistical error and the propagated statistical error. (authors)

Hamman Philippe, Blanc Christine, 2009, Sociologie du développement urbain durable. Projets et stratégies métropolitaines françaises, Bruxelles, P.I.E Peter Lang, 260p.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bruno Villalba

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Cet ouvrage, réalisé en collaboration avec Flore Henninger, préfacé par Viviane Claude et postfacé par Corinne Larrue, est dirigé par Philippe Hamman (maître de conférences en sociologie au département d’urbanisme de l’UFR de sciences sociales, pratiques sociales et développement de l’université de Strasbourg ; il a dirigé, en 2008, Penser le développement durable urbain : regards croisés, Paris, L’Harmattan et Christine Blanc (sociologue et urbaniste, chargée d’études au Centre de recherche...

Simulation of neutron transport equation using parallel Monte Carlo for deep penetration problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bekar, K. K.; Tombakoglu, M.; Soekmen, C. N.

2001-01-01

Neutron transport equation is simulated using parallel Monte Carlo method for deep penetration neutron transport problem. Monte Carlo simulation is parallelized by using three different techniques; direct parallelization, domain decomposition and domain decomposition with load balancing, which are used with PVM (Parallel Virtual Machine) software on LAN (Local Area Network). The results of parallel simulation are given for various model problems. The performances of the parallelization techniques are compared with each other. Moreover, the effects of variance reduction techniques on parallelization are discussed

Monte Carlo simulation for IRRMA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gardner, R.P.; Liu Lianyan

2000-01-01

Monte Carlo simulation is fast becoming a standard approach for many radiation applications that were previously treated almost entirely by experimental techniques. This is certainly true for Industrial Radiation and Radioisotope Measurement Applications - IRRMA. The reasons for this include: (1) the increased cost and inadequacy of experimentation for design and interpretation purposes; (2) the availability of low cost, large memory, and fast personal computers; and (3) the general availability of general purpose Monte Carlo codes that are increasingly user-friendly, efficient, and accurate. This paper discusses the history and present status of Monte Carlo simulation for IRRMA including the general purpose (GP) and specific purpose (SP) Monte Carlo codes and future needs - primarily from the experience of the authors

Floristic and phytosociology in dense "terra firme" rainforest in the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant influence area, Pará, Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Lemos, D A N; Ferreira, B G A; Siqueira, J D P; Oliveira, M M; Ferreira, A M

2015-08-01

The objective of the present study was to characterise the floristic and phytosociological composition on a stretch of dense "Terra Firme" rainforest located in the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant area of influence, located in the state of Pará, Brazil. All trees with DAP >10 cm situated in 75 permanent plots of 1 ha were inventoried. 27,126 individuals trees (361 ind.ha-1), distributed in 59 botanical families, comprising 481 species were observed. The families with the largest number of species were Fabaceae (94), Araceae (65) and Arecaceae (43), comprising 43.7% of total species. The species Alexa grandiflora (4.41), Cenostigma tocantinum (2.50) and Bertholletia excelsa (2.28) showed the highest importance values (IV). The ten species with greater IV are concentrated (22%). The forest community has high species richness and can be classified as diverse age trees, heterogeneous and of medium conservation condition.

Geology of Maxwell Montes, Venus

Science.gov (United States)

Head, J. W.; Campbell, D. B.; Peterfreund, A. R.; Zisk, S. A.

1984-01-01

Maxwell Montes represent the most distinctive topography on the surface of Venus, rising some 11 km above mean planetary radius. The multiple data sets of the Pioneer missing and Earth based radar observations to characterize Maxwell Montes are analyzed. Maxwell Montes is a porkchop shaped feature located at the eastern end of Lakshmi Planum. The main massif trends about North 20 deg West for approximately 1000 km and the narrow handle extends several hundred km West South-West WSW from the north end of the main massif, descending down toward Lakshmi Planum. The main massif is rectilinear and approximately 500 km wide. The southern and northern edges of Maxwell Montes coincide with major topographic boundaries defining the edge of Ishtar Terra.

RSW-MCFP: A Resource-Oriented Solid Waste Management System for a Mixed Rural-Urban Area through Monte Carlo Simulation-Based Fuzzy Programming

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Li

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The growth of global population and economy continually increases the waste volumes and consequently creates challenges to handle and dispose solid wastes. It becomes more challenging in mixed rural-urban areas (i.e., areas of mixed land use for rural and urban purposes where both agricultural waste (e.g., manure and municipal solid waste are generated. The efficiency and confidence of decisions in current management practices significantly rely on the accurate information and subjective judgments, which are usually compromised by uncertainties. This study proposed a resource-oriented solid waste management system for mixed rural-urban areas. The system is featured by a novel Monte Carlo simulation-based fuzzy programming approach. The developed system was tested by a real-world case with consideration of various resource-oriented treatment technologies and the associated uncertainties. The modeling results indicated that the community-based bio-coal and household-based CH4 facilities were necessary and would become predominant in the waste management system. The 95% confidence intervals of waste loadings to the CH4 and bio-coal facilities were 387, 450 and 178, 215 tonne/day (mixed flow, respectively. In general, the developed system has high capability in supporting solid waste management for mixed rural-urban areas in a cost-efficient and sustainable manner under uncertainty.

Advantages of Analytical Transformations in Monte Carlo Methods for Radiation Transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McKinley, M S; Brooks III, E D; Daffin, F

2004-01-01

Monte Carlo methods for radiation transport typically attempt to solve an integral by directly sampling analog or weighted particles, which are treated as physical entities. Improvements to the methods involve better sampling, probability games or physical intuition about the problem. We show that significant improvements can be achieved by recasting the equations with an analytical transform to solve for new, non-physical entities or fields. This paper looks at one such transform, the difference formulation for thermal photon transport, showing a significant advantage for Monte Carlo solution of the equations for time dependent transport. Other related areas are discussed that may also realize significant benefits from similar analytical transformations

(U) Introduction to Monte Carlo Methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hungerford, Aimee L. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2017-03-20

Monte Carlo methods are very valuable for representing solutions to particle transport problems. Here we describe a “cook book” approach to handling the terms in a transport equation using Monte Carlo methods. Focus is on the mechanics of a numerical Monte Carlo code, rather than the mathematical foundations of the method.

Delimitation of atmospheric isocontamination areas in the Universidad Nacional de Colombia campus by analysis of bioindicators (epiphytic lichens)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rubiano Olaya, Luis Juan; Chaparro de Valencia, Martha

2006-01-01

A map of areas of atmospheric isocontamination was elaborated in the campus of the university, using the bioindicator capacity of lichens to detect changes in air quality. Four areas of contamination were determined according to Le Blanc and De Sloover methodology (1970): maximum contamination, high contamination, moderate contamination and low contamination. The polluted areas for mobile sources are located towards the entrances located at 26 and 45 streets. The perimeter of the campus is also very polluted mainly towards the 38 and 30 avenues and 26 streets. The contamination of these areas relates with the absence of barriers or arboreal hedges in this perimeter. Fixed sources of contamination such as chimneys, exhausts, boilers and extractors of laboratories and the extended parking areas influence the areas of maximum contamination, to the interior of the university. Physicochemical measurements of fixed emissions are scarce or null for most of the cases. The less polluted sector of the campus is located towards its center as a result of the protective effect of groves and constructions, giving an effect of continuous barrier that blocks the external emissions efficiently

The Monte Carlo code MCBEND - where it is and where it's going

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chukas, S.J.; Miller, P.C.; Power, S.W.

1990-05-01

The Monte Carlo method forms a corner stone to the calculational procedures established in the UK for shielding design and assessment. The emphasis of the work in the shielding area is centred on the Monte Carlo code MCBEND. The work programme in support of the code is broadly directed towards utilisation of new hardware, the development of improved modelling algorithms, the development of new acceleration methods for specific applications and enhancements to user image. This paper summarises the current status of MCBEND and reviews developments carried out over the past two years and planned for the future. (author)

Lectures on Monte Carlo methods

CERN Document Server

Madras, Neal

2001-01-01

Monte Carlo methods form an experimental branch of mathematics that employs simulations driven by random number generators. These methods are often used when others fail, since they are much less sensitive to the "curse of dimensionality", which plagues deterministic methods in problems with a large number of variables. Monte Carlo methods are used in many fields: mathematics, statistics, physics, chemistry, finance, computer science, and biology, for instance. This book is an introduction to Monte Carlo methods for anyone who would like to use these methods to study various kinds of mathemati

A new Monte Carlo code for simulation of the effect of irregular surfaces on X-ray spectra

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brunetti, Antonio, E-mail: brunetti@uniss.it; Golosio, Bruno

2014-04-01

Generally, quantitative X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis estimates the content of chemical elements in a sample based on the areas of the fluorescence peaks in the energy spectrum. Besides the concentration of the elements, the peak areas depend also on the geometrical conditions. In fact, the estimate of the peak areas is simple if the sample surface is smooth and if the spectrum shows a good statistic (large-area peaks). For this reason often the sample is prepared as a pellet. However, this approach is not always feasible, for instance when cultural heritage or valuable samples must be analyzed. In this case, the sample surface cannot be smoothed. In order to address this problem, several works have been reported in the literature, based on experimental measurements on a few sets of specific samples or on Monte Carlo simulations. The results obtained with the first approach are limited by the specific class of samples analyzed, while the second approach cannot be applied to arbitrarily irregular surfaces. The present work describes a more general analysis tool based on a new fast Monte Carlo algorithm, which is virtually able to simulate any kind of surface. At the best of our knowledge, it is the first Monte Carlo code with this option. A study of the influence of surface irregularities on the measured spectrum is performed and some results reported. - Highlights: • We present a fast Monte Carlo code with the possibility to simulate any irregularly rough surfaces. • We show applications to multilayer measurements. • Real time simulations are available.

Hybrid SN/Monte Carlo research and results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baker, R.S.

1993-01-01

The neutral particle transport equation is solved by a hybrid method that iteratively couples regions where deterministic (S N ) and stochastic (Monte Carlo) methods are applied. The Monte Carlo and S N regions are fully coupled in the sense that no assumption is made about geometrical separation or decoupling. The hybrid Monte Carlo/S N method provides a new means of solving problems involving both optically thick and optically thin regions that neither Monte Carlo nor S N is well suited for by themselves. The hybrid method has been successfully applied to realistic shielding problems. The vectorized Monte Carlo algorithm in the hybrid method has been ported to the massively parallel architecture of the Connection Machine. Comparisons of performance on a vector machine (Cray Y-MP) and the Connection Machine (CM-2) show that significant speedups are obtainable for vectorized Monte Carlo algorithms on massively parallel machines, even when realistic problems requiring variance reduction are considered. However, the architecture of the Connection Machine does place some limitations on the regime in which the Monte Carlo algorithm may be expected to perform well

Monte Carlo simulation in nuclear medicine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morel, Ch.

2007-01-01

The Monte Carlo method allows for simulating random processes by using series of pseudo-random numbers. It became an important tool in nuclear medicine to assist in the design of new medical imaging devices, optimise their use and analyse their data. Presently, the sophistication of the simulation tools allows the introduction of Monte Carlo predictions in data correction and image reconstruction processes. The availability to simulate time dependent processes opens up new horizons for Monte Carlo simulation in nuclear medicine. In a near future, these developments will allow to tackle simultaneously imaging and dosimetry issues and soon, case system Monte Carlo simulations may become part of the nuclear medicine diagnostic process. This paper describes some Monte Carlo method basics and the sampling methods that were developed for it. It gives a referenced list of different simulation software used in nuclear medicine and enumerates some of their present and prospective applications. (author)

Instantaneous variance scaling of AIRS thermodynamic profiles using a circular area Monte Carlo approach

Science.gov (United States)

Dorrestijn, Jesse; Kahn, Brian H.; Teixeira, João; Irion, Fredrick W.

2018-05-01

Satellite observations are used to obtain vertical profiles of variance scaling of temperature (T) and specific humidity (q) in the atmosphere. A higher spatial resolution nadir retrieval at 13.5 km complements previous Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) investigations with 45 km resolution retrievals and enables the derivation of power law scaling exponents to length scales as small as 55 km. We introduce a variable-sized circular-area Monte Carlo methodology to compute exponents instantaneously within the swath of AIRS that yields additional insight into scaling behavior. While this method is approximate and some biases are likely to exist within non-Gaussian portions of the satellite observational swaths of T and q, this method enables the estimation of scale-dependent behavior within instantaneous swaths for individual tropical and extratropical systems of interest. Scaling exponents are shown to fluctuate between β = -1 and -3 at scales ≥ 500 km, while at scales ≤ 500 km they are typically near β ≈ -2, with q slightly lower than T at the smallest scales observed. In the extratropics, the large-scale β is near -3. Within the tropics, however, the large-scale β for T is closer to -1 as small-scale moist convective processes dominate. In the tropics, q exhibits large-scale β between -2 and -3. The values of β are generally consistent with previous works of either time-averaged spatial variance estimates, or aircraft observations that require averaging over numerous flight observational segments. The instantaneous variance scaling methodology is relevant for cloud parameterization development and the assessment of time variability of scaling exponents.

CERN takes part in the GE200.CH celebrations | 30 May - 1 June

CERN Multimedia

2014-01-01

Come and discover the universe of CERN at the Mont Blanc rotunda during a weekend of celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the confederate troops at Geneva’s Port Noir.   CERN will also be taking part in the procession through the city centre from 2.30 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. on Saturday 31 May. Starting at the Parc des Bastions, the procession will pass through the Rues Basses and along the lake to the Port Noir. More information on this event here.  

Exploring pseudo- and chaotic random Monte Carlo simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Blais, J. A. Rod; Zhang, Zhan

2011-07-01

Computer simulations are an increasingly important area of geoscience research and development. At the core of stochastic or Monte Carlo simulations are the random number sequences that are assumed to be distributed with specific characteristics. Computer-generated random numbers, uniformly distributed on (0, 1), can be very different depending on the selection of pseudo-random number (PRN) or chaotic random number (CRN) generators. In the evaluation of some definite integrals, the resulting error variances can even be of different orders of magnitude. Furthermore, practical techniques for variance reduction such as importance sampling and stratified sampling can be applied in most Monte Carlo simulations and significantly improve the results. A comparative analysis of these strategies has been carried out for computational applications in planar and spatial contexts. Based on these experiments, and on some practical examples of geodetic direct and inverse problems, conclusions and recommendations concerning their performance and general applicability are included.

A Monte Carlo code for ion beam therapy

CERN Multimedia

Anaïs Schaeffer

2012-01-01

Initially developed for applications in detector and accelerator physics, the modern Fluka Monte Carlo code is now used in many different areas of nuclear science. Over the last 25 years, the code has evolved to include new features, such as ion beam simulations. Given the growing use of these beams in cancer treatment, Fluka simulations are being used to design treatment plans in several hadron-therapy centres in Europe.   Fluka calculates the dose distribution for a patient treated at CNAO with proton beams. The colour-bar displays the normalized dose values. Fluka is a Monte Carlo code that very accurately simulates electromagnetic and nuclear interactions in matter. In the 1990s, in collaboration with NASA, the code was developed to predict potential radiation hazards received by space crews during possible future trips to Mars. Over the years, it has become the standard tool to investigate beam-machine interactions, radiation damage and radioprotection issues in the CERN accelerator com...

Risk Consideration and Cost Estimation in Construction Projects Using Monte Carlo Simulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudius A. Peleskei

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Construction projects usually involve high investments. It is, therefore, a risky adventure for companies as actual costs of construction projects nearly always exceed the planed scenario. This is due to the various risks and the large uncertainty existing within this industry. Determination and quantification of risks and their impact on project costs within the construction industry is described to be one of the most difficult areas. This paper analyses how the cost of construction projects can be estimated using Monte Carlo Simulation. It investigates if the different cost elements in a construction project follow a specific probability distribution. The research examines the effect of correlation between different project costs on the result of the Monte Carlo Simulation. The paper finds out that Monte Carlo Simulation can be a helpful tool for risk managers and can be used for cost estimation of construction projects. The research has shown that cost distributions are positively skewed and cost elements seem to have some interdependent relationships.

Belo Monte hydropower project: actual studies; AHE Belo Monte: os estudos atuais

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Figueira Netto, Carlos Alberto de Moya [CNEC Engenharia S.A., Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil); Rezende, Paulo Fernando Vieira Souto [Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A. (ELETROBRAS), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2008-07-01

This article presents the evolution of the studies of Belo Monte Hydro Power Project (HPP) since the initial inventory studies of the Xingu River in 1979 until the current studies for conclusion of the Technical, Economic and Environmental Feasibility Studies the Belo Monte Hydro Power Project, as authorized by Brazilian National Congress. The current studies characterize the Belo Monte HPP with an installed capacity of 11,181.3 MW (20 units of 550 MW in the main power house and 7 units of 25.9 MW in the additional power house), connected to the Brazilian Interconnected Power Grid, allowing to generate 4,796 mean MW of firm energy, without depending on any flow rate regularization of the upstream Xingu river flooding only 441 k m2, of which approximately 200 k m2, correspond to the normal annual wet season flooding of the Xingu River. (author)

Advanced Multilevel Monte Carlo Methods

KAUST Repository

Jasra, Ajay

2017-04-24

This article reviews the application of advanced Monte Carlo techniques in the context of Multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC). MLMC is a strategy employed to compute expectations which can be biased in some sense, for instance, by using the discretization of a associated probability law. The MLMC approach works with a hierarchy of biased approximations which become progressively more accurate and more expensive. Using a telescoping representation of the most accurate approximation, the method is able to reduce the computational cost for a given level of error versus i.i.d. sampling from this latter approximation. All of these ideas originated for cases where exact sampling from couples in the hierarchy is possible. This article considers the case where such exact sampling is not currently possible. We consider Markov chain Monte Carlo and sequential Monte Carlo methods which have been introduced in the literature and we describe different strategies which facilitate the application of MLMC within these methods.

Advanced Multilevel Monte Carlo Methods

KAUST Repository

Jasra, Ajay; Law, Kody; Suciu, Carina

2017-01-01

This article reviews the application of advanced Monte Carlo techniques in the context of Multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC). MLMC is a strategy employed to compute expectations which can be biased in some sense, for instance, by using the discretization of a associated probability law. The MLMC approach works with a hierarchy of biased approximations which become progressively more accurate and more expensive. Using a telescoping representation of the most accurate approximation, the method is able to reduce the computational cost for a given level of error versus i.i.d. sampling from this latter approximation. All of these ideas originated for cases where exact sampling from couples in the hierarchy is possible. This article considers the case where such exact sampling is not currently possible. We consider Markov chain Monte Carlo and sequential Monte Carlo methods which have been introduced in the literature and we describe different strategies which facilitate the application of MLMC within these methods.

Dynamic study of yeast species and Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains during the spontaneous fermentations of Muscat blanc in Jingyang, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Chunxiao; Liu, Yanlin

2013-04-01

The evolution of yeast species and Saccharomyces cerevisiae genotypes during spontaneous fermentations of Muscat blanc planted in 1957 in Jingyang region of China was followed in this study. Using a combination of colony morphology on Wallerstein Nutrient (WLN) medium, sequence analysis of the 26S rDNA D1/D2 domain and 5.8S-ITS-RFLP analysis, a total of 686 isolates were identified at the species level. The six species identified were S. cerevisiae, Hanseniaspora uvarum, Hanseniaspora opuntiae, Issatchenkia terricola, Pichia kudriavzevii (Issatchenkia orientalis) and Trichosporon coremiiforme. This is the first report of T. coremiiforme as an inhabitant of grape must. Three new colony morphologies on WLN medium and one new 5.8S-ITS-RFLP profile are described. Species of non-Saccharomyces, predominantly H. opuntiae, were found in early stages of fermentation. Subsequently, S. cerevisiae prevailed followed by large numbers of P. kudriavzevii that dominated at the end of fermentations. Six native genotypes of S. cerevisiae were determined by interdelta sequence analysis. Genotypes III and IV were predominant. As a first step in exploring untapped yeast resources of the region, this study is important for monitoring the yeast ecology in native fermentations and screening indigenous yeasts that will produce wines with regional characteristics. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Monte Carlo simulation of experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Opat, G.I.

1977-07-01

An outline of the technique of computer simulation of particle physics experiments by the Monte Carlo method is presented. Useful special purpose subprograms are listed and described. At each stage the discussion is made concrete by direct reference to the programs SIMUL8 and its variant MONTE-PION, written to assist in the analysis of the radiative decay experiments μ + → e + ν sub(e) antiνγ and π + → e + ν sub(e)γ, respectively. These experiments were based on the use of two large sodium iodide crystals, TINA and MINA, as e and γ detectors. Instructions for the use of SIMUL8 and MONTE-PION are given. (author)

Fast sequential Monte Carlo methods for counting and optimization

CERN Document Server

Rubinstein, Reuven Y; Vaisman, Radislav

2013-01-01

A comprehensive account of the theory and application of Monte Carlo methods Based on years of research in efficient Monte Carlo methods for estimation of rare-event probabilities, counting problems, and combinatorial optimization, Fast Sequential Monte Carlo Methods for Counting and Optimization is a complete illustration of fast sequential Monte Carlo techniques. The book provides an accessible overview of current work in the field of Monte Carlo methods, specifically sequential Monte Carlo techniques, for solving abstract counting and optimization problems. Written by authorities in the

Clonal differences and impact of defoliation on Sauvignon blanc (Vitis vinifera L.) wines: a chemical and sensory investigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Šuklje, Katja; Antalick, Guillaume; Buica, Astrid; Langlois, Jennifer; Coetzee, Zelmari A; Gouot, Julia; Schmidtke, Leigh M; Deloire, Alain

2016-02-01

The aim of this study, performed on Sauvignon blanc clones SB11 and SB316, grafted on the same rootstock 101-14 Mgt (Vitis riparia × V. ruperstris) and grown at two adjacent vineyards, was two-fold: (1) to study wine chemical and sensory composition of both clones within an unaltered canopy; and (2) to determine the effect of defoliation (e.g. bunch microclimate) on wine chemical and sensory composition. Orthogonal projection to latent structures discriminate analysis (OPLS-DA) was applied to the concentration profiles of volatile compounds derived from gas chromatography-mass spectrometry data. The loadings directions inferred that 3-isobutyl-2-methoxypyrazine (IBMP) discriminated control treatments (shaded fruit zone) of both clones from defoliation treatments (exposed fruit zone), whereas 3-sulfanyl-hexan-1-ol (3SH), 3-sulfanylhexyl acetate (3SHA), hexanol, hexyl hexanoate and some other esters discriminated defoliated treatments from the controls. The OPLS-DA indicated the importance of IBMP, higher alcohol acetates and phenylethyl esters, for discrimination of clone SB11 from clone SB316 irrespective of the treatment. Defoliation in the fruit zone significantly decreased perceived greenness in clone SB11 and elevated fruitier aromas, whereas in clone SB316 the effect of defoliation on wine sensory perception was less noticeable regardless the decrease in IBMP concentrations. These findings highlight the importance of clone selection and bunch microclimate to diversify produced wine styles. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Overview and applications of the Monte Carlo radiation transport kit at LLNL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sale, K. E.

1999-01-01

Modern Monte Carlo radiation transport codes can be applied to model most applications of radiation, from optical to TeV photons, from thermal neutrons to heavy ions. Simulations can include any desired level of detail in three-dimensional geometries using the right level of detail in the reaction physics. The technology areas to which we have applied these codes include medical applications, defense, safety and security programs, nuclear safeguards and industrial and research system design and control. The main reason such applications are interesting is that by using these tools substantial savings of time and effort (i.e. money) can be realized. In addition it is possible to separate out and investigate computationally effects which can not be isolated and studied in experiments. In model calculations, just as in real life, one must take care in order to get the correct answer to the right question. Advancing computing technology allows extensions of Monte Carlo applications in two directions. First, as computers become more powerful more problems can be accurately modeled. Second, as computing power becomes cheaper Monte Carlo methods become accessible more widely. An overview of the set of Monte Carlo radiation transport tools in use a LLNL will be presented along with a few examples of applications and future directions

E-Area LLWF Vadose Zone Model: Probabilistic Model for Estimating Subsided-Area Infiltration Rates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dyer, J. [Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL); Flach, G. [Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL)

2017-12-12

A probabilistic model employing a Monte Carlo sampling technique was developed in Python to generate statistical distributions of the upslope-intact-area to subsided-area ratio (Area_UAi/Area_SAi) for closure cap subsidence scenarios that differ in assumed percent subsidence and the total number of intact plus subsided compartments. The plan is to use this model as a component in the probabilistic system model for the E-Area Performance Assessment (PA), contributing uncertainty in infiltration estimates.

Application of the Monte Carlo method to diagnostic radiology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Persliden, J.

1986-01-01

A Monte Carlo program for photon transport is developed. The program is used to investigate the energy imparted to water slabs (simulating patients), and the related backscattered and transmitted energies as functions of primary photon energy and water slab thickness. The accuracy of the results depends on the cross-section data for the probabilities of the various interactions in the slab and on the physical quantity calculated. Backscattered energy fractions can vary by as much as 10-20 %, using different sets of published data for the photoelectric cross section while imparted fractions are only slightly affected. The results are used to calculate improved conversion factors for determining the energy imparted to the patient in X-ray diagnostic examinations from measurements of the air collision kerma integrated over beam area. The small angle distribution of scattered photons transmitted through a water slab, relevant to problems of image quality, is calculated taking into account the diffraction phenomena of liquid water. The calculations are performed with a collision density estimator. This estimator makes it possible to calculate important physical quantities which are virtually impracticable to assess with the Monte Carlo codes commonly used in medical physics or in experiments. With the collision density estimator, the influence of air gaps on the reduction of scattered radiation is investigated for different detectors, field areas and primary X-ray spectra. Contrast degradation and contrast improvement factors are given as functions of field area for various air gaps. (With 105 refs.) (author)

The MC21 Monte Carlo Transport Code

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sutton TM; Donovan TJ; Trumbull TH; Dobreff PS; Caro E; Griesheimer DP; Tyburski LJ; Carpenter DC; Joo H

2007-01-01

MC21 is a new Monte Carlo neutron and photon transport code currently under joint development at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory and the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. MC21 is the Monte Carlo transport kernel of the broader Common Monte Carlo Design Tool (CMCDT), which is also currently under development. The vision for CMCDT is to provide an automated, computer-aided modeling and post-processing environment integrated with a Monte Carlo solver that is optimized for reactor analysis. CMCDT represents a strategy to push the Monte Carlo method beyond its traditional role as a benchmarking tool or ''tool of last resort'' and into a dominant design role. This paper describes various aspects of the code, including the neutron physics and nuclear data treatments, the geometry representation, and the tally and depletion capabilities

Monte Carlo Treatment Planning for Advanced Radiotherapy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cronholm, Rickard

This Ph.d. project describes the development of a workflow for Monte Carlo Treatment Planning for clinical radiotherapy plans. The workflow may be utilized to perform an independent dose verification of treatment plans. Modern radiotherapy treatment delivery is often conducted by dynamically...... modulating the intensity of the field during the irradiation. The workflow described has the potential to fully model the dynamic delivery, including gantry rotation during irradiation, of modern radiotherapy. Three corner stones of Monte Carlo Treatment Planning are identified: Building, commissioning...... and validation of a Monte Carlo model of a medical linear accelerator (i), converting a CT scan of a patient to a Monte Carlo compliant phantom (ii) and translating the treatment plan parameters (including beam energy, angles of incidence, collimator settings etc) to a Monte Carlo input file (iii). A protocol...

Floristic and phytosociology in dense “terra firme” rainforest in the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant influence area, Pará, Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

DAN. Lemos

Full Text Available Abstract The objective of the present study was to characterise the floristic and phytosociological composition on a stretch of dense “Terra Firme” rainforest located in the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant area of influence, located in the state of Pará, Brazil. All trees with DAP >10 cm situated in 75 permanent plots of 1 ha were inventoried. 27,126 individuals trees (361 ind.ha-1, distributed in 59 botanical families, comprising 481 species were observed. The families with the largest number of species were Fabaceae (94, Araceae (65 and Arecaceae (43, comprising 43.7% of total species. The species Alexa grandiflora (4.41, Cenostigma tocantinum (2.50 and Bertholletia excelsa (2.28 showed the highest importance values (IV. The ten species with greater IV are concentrated (22%. The forest community has high species richness and can be classified as diverse age trees, heterogeneous and of medium conservation condition.

Investigating the impossible: Monte Carlo simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kramer, Gary H.; Crowley, Paul; Burns, Linda C.

2000-01-01

Designing and testing new equipment can be an expensive and time consuming process or the desired performance characteristics may preclude its construction due to technological shortcomings. Cost may also prevent equipment being purchased for other scenarios to be tested. An alternative is to use Monte Carlo simulations to make the investigations. This presentation exemplifies how Monte Carlo code calculations can be used to fill the gap. An example is given for the investigation of two sizes of germanium detector (70 mm and 80 mm diameter) at four different crystal thicknesses (15, 20, 25, and 30 mm) and makes predictions on how the size affects the counting efficiency and the Minimum Detectable Activity (MDA). The Monte Carlo simulations have shown that detector efficiencies can be adequately modelled using photon transport if the data is used to investigate trends. The investigation of the effect of detector thickness on the counting efficiency has shown that thickness for a fixed diameter detector of either 70 mm or 80 mm is unimportant up to 60 keV. At higher photon energies, the counting efficiency begins to decrease as the thickness decreases as expected. The simulations predict that the MDA of either the 70 mm or 80 mm diameter detectors does not differ by more than a factor of 1.15 at 17 keV or 1.2 at 60 keV when comparing detectors of equivalent thicknesses. The MDA is slightly increased at 17 keV, and rises by about 52% at 660 keV, when the thickness is decreased from 30 mm to 15 mm. One could conclude from this information that the extra cost associated with the larger area Ge detectors may not be justified for the slight improvement predicted in the MDA. (author)

Monte carlo simulation for soot dynamics

KAUST Repository

Zhou, Kun

2012-01-01

A new Monte Carlo method termed Comb-like frame Monte Carlo is developed to simulate the soot dynamics. Detailed stochastic error analysis is provided. Comb-like frame Monte Carlo is coupled with the gas phase solver Chemkin II to simulate soot formation in a 1-D premixed burner stabilized flame. The simulated soot number density, volume fraction, and particle size distribution all agree well with the measurement available in literature. The origin of the bimodal distribution of particle size distribution is revealed with quantitative proof.

Statistical estimation Monte Carlo for unreliability evaluation of highly reliable system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiao Gang; Su Guanghui; Jia Dounan; Li Tianduo

2000-01-01

Based on analog Monte Carlo simulation, statistical Monte Carlo methods for unreliable evaluation of highly reliable system are constructed, including direct statistical estimation Monte Carlo method and weighted statistical estimation Monte Carlo method. The basal element is given, and the statistical estimation Monte Carlo estimators are derived. Direct Monte Carlo simulation method, bounding-sampling method, forced transitions Monte Carlo method, direct statistical estimation Monte Carlo and weighted statistical estimation Monte Carlo are used to evaluate unreliability of a same system. By comparing, weighted statistical estimation Monte Carlo estimator has smallest variance, and has highest calculating efficiency

Applications of Monte Carlo method in Medical Physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Diez Rios, A.; Labajos, M.

1989-01-01

The basic ideas of Monte Carlo techniques are presented. Random numbers and their generation by congruential methods, which underlie Monte Carlo calculations are shown. Monte Carlo techniques to solve integrals are discussed. The evaluation of a simple monodimensional integral with a known answer, by means of two different Monte Carlo approaches are discussed. The basic principles to simualate on a computer photon histories reduce variance and the current applications in Medical Physics are commented. (Author)

Multilevel sequential Monte Carlo samplers

KAUST Repository

Beskos, Alexandros; Jasra, Ajay; Law, Kody; Tempone, Raul; Zhou, Yan

2016-01-01

In this article we consider the approximation of expectations w.r.t. probability distributions associated to the solution of partial differential equations (PDEs); this scenario appears routinely in Bayesian inverse problems. In practice, one often has to solve the associated PDE numerically, using, for instance finite element methods which depend on the step-size level . hL. In addition, the expectation cannot be computed analytically and one often resorts to Monte Carlo methods. In the context of this problem, it is known that the introduction of the multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) method can reduce the amount of computational effort to estimate expectations, for a given level of error. This is achieved via a telescoping identity associated to a Monte Carlo approximation of a sequence of probability distributions with discretization levels . ∞>h0>h1⋯>hL. In many practical problems of interest, one cannot achieve an i.i.d. sampling of the associated sequence and a sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) version of the MLMC method is introduced to deal with this problem. It is shown that under appropriate assumptions, the attractive property of a reduction of the amount of computational effort to estimate expectations, for a given level of error, can be maintained within the SMC context. That is, relative to exact sampling and Monte Carlo for the distribution at the finest level . hL. The approach is numerically illustrated on a Bayesian inverse problem. © 2016 Elsevier B.V.

Multilevel sequential Monte Carlo samplers

KAUST Repository

Beskos, Alexandros

2016-08-29

In this article we consider the approximation of expectations w.r.t. probability distributions associated to the solution of partial differential equations (PDEs); this scenario appears routinely in Bayesian inverse problems. In practice, one often has to solve the associated PDE numerically, using, for instance finite element methods which depend on the step-size level . hL. In addition, the expectation cannot be computed analytically and one often resorts to Monte Carlo methods. In the context of this problem, it is known that the introduction of the multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) method can reduce the amount of computational effort to estimate expectations, for a given level of error. This is achieved via a telescoping identity associated to a Monte Carlo approximation of a sequence of probability distributions with discretization levels . ∞>h0>h1⋯>hL. In many practical problems of interest, one cannot achieve an i.i.d. sampling of the associated sequence and a sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) version of the MLMC method is introduced to deal with this problem. It is shown that under appropriate assumptions, the attractive property of a reduction of the amount of computational effort to estimate expectations, for a given level of error, can be maintained within the SMC context. That is, relative to exact sampling and Monte Carlo for the distribution at the finest level . hL. The approach is numerically illustrated on a Bayesian inverse problem. © 2016 Elsevier B.V.

Guideline of Monte Carlo calculation. Neutron/gamma ray transport simulation by Monte Carlo method

CERN Document Server

2002-01-01

This report condenses basic theories and advanced applications of neutron/gamma ray transport calculations in many fields of nuclear energy research. Chapters 1 through 5 treat historical progress of Monte Carlo methods, general issues of variance reduction technique, cross section libraries used in continuous energy Monte Carlo codes. In chapter 6, the following issues are discussed: fusion benchmark experiments, design of ITER, experiment analyses of fast critical assembly, core analyses of JMTR, simulation of pulsed neutron experiment, core analyses of HTTR, duct streaming calculations, bulk shielding calculations, neutron/gamma ray transport calculations of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. Chapters 8 and 9 treat function enhancements of MCNP and MVP codes, and a parallel processing of Monte Carlo calculation, respectively. An important references are attached at the end of this report.

Experience with the Monte Carlo Method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hussein, E M.A. [Department of Mechanical Engineering University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, N.B., (Canada)

2007-06-15

Monte Carlo simulation of radiation transport provides a powerful research and design tool that resembles in many aspects laboratory experiments. Moreover, Monte Carlo simulations can provide an insight not attainable in the laboratory. However, the Monte Carlo method has its limitations, which if not taken into account can result in misleading conclusions. This paper will present the experience of this author, over almost three decades, in the use of the Monte Carlo method for a variety of applications. Examples will be shown on how the method was used to explore new ideas, as a parametric study and design optimization tool, and to analyze experimental data. The consequences of not accounting in detail for detector response and the scattering of radiation by surrounding structures are two of the examples that will be presented to demonstrate the pitfall of condensed.

Experience with the Monte Carlo Method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hussein, E.M.A.

2007-01-01

Monte Carlo simulation of radiation transport provides a powerful research and design tool that resembles in many aspects laboratory experiments. Moreover, Monte Carlo simulations can provide an insight not attainable in the laboratory. However, the Monte Carlo method has its limitations, which if not taken into account can result in misleading conclusions. This paper will present the experience of this author, over almost three decades, in the use of the Monte Carlo method for a variety of applications. Examples will be shown on how the method was used to explore new ideas, as a parametric study and design optimization tool, and to analyze experimental data. The consequences of not accounting in detail for detector response and the scattering of radiation by surrounding structures are two of the examples that will be presented to demonstrate the pitfall of condensed

Monte Carlo alpha calculation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brockway, D.; Soran, P.; Whalen, P.

1985-01-01

A Monte Carlo algorithm to efficiently calculate static alpha eigenvalues, N = ne/sup ..cap alpha..t/, for supercritical systems has been developed and tested. A direct Monte Carlo approach to calculating a static alpha is to simply follow the buildup in time of neutrons in a supercritical system and evaluate the logarithmic derivative of the neutron population with respect to time. This procedure is expensive, and the solution is very noisy and almost useless for a system near critical. The modified approach is to convert the time-dependent problem to a static ..cap alpha../sup -/eigenvalue problem and regress ..cap alpha.. on solutions of a/sup -/ k/sup -/eigenvalue problem. In practice, this procedure is much more efficient than the direct calculation, and produces much more accurate results. Because the Monte Carlo codes are intrinsically three-dimensional and use elaborate continuous-energy cross sections, this technique is now used as a standard for evaluating other calculational techniques in odd geometries or with group cross sections.

Modeling Dynamic Objects in Monte Carlo Particle Transport Calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yegin, G.

2008-01-01

In this study, the Multi-Geometry geometry modeling technique was improved in order to handle moving objects in a Monte Carlo particle transport calculation. In the Multi-Geometry technique, the geometry is a superposition of objects not surfaces. By using this feature, we developed a new algorithm which allows a user to make enable or disable geometry elements during particle transport. A disabled object can be ignored at a certain stage of a calculation and switching among identical copies of the same object located adjacent poins during a particle simulation corresponds to the movement of that object in space. We called this powerfull feature as Dynamic Multi-Geometry technique (DMG) which is used for the first time in Brachy Dose Monte Carlo code to simulate HDR brachytherapy treatment systems. Our results showed that having disabled objects in a geometry does not effect calculated dose values. This technique is also suitable to be used in other areas such as IMRT treatment planning systems

Monte Carlo advances for the Eolus Asci Project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hendrick, J. S.; McKinney, G. W.; Cox, L. J.

2000-01-01

The Eolus ASCI project includes parallel, 3-D transport simulation for various nuclear applications. The codes developed within this project provide neutral and charged particle transport, detailed interaction physics, numerous source and tally capabilities, and general geometry packages. One such code is MCNPW which is a general purpose, 3-dimensional, time-dependent, continuous-energy Monte Carlo fully-coupled N-Particle transport code. Significant advances are also being made in the areas of modern software engineering and parallel computing. These advances are described in detail

Linear filtering applied to Monte Carlo criticality calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morrison, G.W.; Pike, D.H.; Petrie, L.M.

1975-01-01

A significant improvement in the acceleration of the convergence of the eigenvalue computed by Monte Carlo techniques has been developed by applying linear filtering theory to Monte Carlo calculations for multiplying systems. A Kalman filter was applied to a KENO Monte Carlo calculation of an experimental critical system consisting of eight interacting units of fissile material. A comparison of the filter estimate and the Monte Carlo realization was made. The Kalman filter converged in five iterations to 0.9977. After 95 iterations, the average k-eff from the Monte Carlo calculation was 0.9981. This demonstrates that the Kalman filter has the potential of reducing the calculational effort of multiplying systems. Other examples and results are discussed

Burnup calculations using Monte Carlo method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghosh, Biplab; Degweker, S.B.

2009-01-01

In the recent years, interest in burnup calculations using Monte Carlo methods has gained momentum. Previous burn up codes have used multigroup transport theory based calculations followed by diffusion theory based core calculations for the neutronic portion of codes. The transport theory methods invariably make approximations with regard to treatment of the energy and angle variables involved in scattering, besides approximations related to geometry simplification. Cell homogenisation to produce diffusion, theory parameters adds to these approximations. Moreover, while diffusion theory works for most reactors, it does not produce accurate results in systems that have strong gradients, strong absorbers or large voids. Also, diffusion theory codes are geometry limited (rectangular, hexagonal, cylindrical, and spherical coordinates). Monte Carlo methods are ideal to solve very heterogeneous reactors and/or lattices/assemblies in which considerable burnable poisons are used. The key feature of this approach is that Monte Carlo methods permit essentially 'exact' modeling of all geometrical detail, without resort to ene and spatial homogenization of neutron cross sections. Monte Carlo method would also be better for in Accelerator Driven Systems (ADS) which could have strong gradients due to the external source and a sub-critical assembly. To meet the demand for an accurate burnup code, we have developed a Monte Carlo burnup calculation code system in which Monte Carlo neutron transport code is coupled with a versatile code (McBurn) for calculating the buildup and decay of nuclides in nuclear materials. McBurn is developed from scratch by the authors. In this article we will discuss our effort in developing the continuous energy Monte Carlo burn-up code, McBurn. McBurn is intended for entire reactor core as well as for unit cells and assemblies. Generally, McBurn can do burnup of any geometrical system which can be handled by the underlying Monte Carlo transport code

On the possibility of a two-bang supernova collapse

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berezinsky, V.S.; Castagnoli, C.; Dokuchaev, V.I.; Galeotti, P.

1988-01-01

The possibility of a two-bang stellar collapse originating SN 1987a, and having the characteristics of the events recorded in Mont Blanc and Kamiokande, is discussed here. According to the ''standard'' collapse models of nonrotating stars, which predict the formation of a neutrino-sphere with a nondegenerate neutrino gas inside the star, the Mont Blanc and kamiokande data for the first burst give a too large stellar mass. On the contrary, a degenerate neutrino gas with low temperature T ∼ 0.5 MeV, and chemical potential μ ∼ (12-15), predicts a relatively low total energy outflow W ν ∼ (2-6) x 10 54 erg, and a small number of expected interactions in Kamiokande. A possible scenario is suggested: a massive (M ∼ 20M o ) rotating star is fragmented into two pieces, one light and the other heavy, at the onset of the collapse.The massive component collapses to a black hole, and produces the first burst. Neutrinos are trapped inside the collapsing star because of elastic scattering in the outer core off heavy nuclei, with A ∼ 300. It is shown that neutrinos fill up the quantum states, producing a degenerate neutrino gas. The second burst is explained by coalescence of the light fragment (M ∼ (1-3)M o ) onto the massive black hole. The time delay between the two observed bursts (4.7h) is mostly connected with gravitational braking, when the light fragment falls down onto the black hole, with an accompanying emission of gravitational waves for times of order of hours

Monte Carlo simulations for plasma physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okamoto, M.; Murakami, S.; Nakajima, N.; Wang, W.X.

2000-07-01

Plasma behaviours are very complicated and the analyses are generally difficult. However, when the collisional processes play an important role in the plasma behaviour, the Monte Carlo method is often employed as a useful tool. For examples, in neutral particle injection heating (NBI heating), electron or ion cyclotron heating, and alpha heating, Coulomb collisions slow down high energetic particles and pitch angle scatter them. These processes are often studied by the Monte Carlo technique and good agreements can be obtained with the experimental results. Recently, Monte Carlo Method has been developed to study fast particle transports associated with heating and generating the radial electric field. Further it is applied to investigating the neoclassical transport in the plasma with steep gradients of density and temperatures which is beyong the conventional neoclassical theory. In this report, we briefly summarize the researches done by the present authors utilizing the Monte Carlo method. (author)

Analysis and modeling of localized heat generation by tumor-targeted nanoparticles (Monte Carlo methods)

Science.gov (United States)

Sanattalab, Ehsan; SalmanOgli, Ahmad; Piskin, Erhan

2016-04-01

We investigated the tumor-targeted nanoparticles that influence heat generation. We suppose that all nanoparticles are fully functionalized and can find the target using active targeting methods. Unlike the commonly used methods, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the treatment procedure proposed in this study is purely noninvasive, which is considered to be a significant merit. It is found that the localized heat generation due to targeted nanoparticles is significantly higher than other areas. By engineering the optical properties of nanoparticles, including scattering, absorption coefficients, and asymmetry factor (cosine scattering angle), the heat generated in the tumor's area reaches to such critical state that can burn the targeted tumor. The amount of heat generated by inserting smart agents, due to the surface Plasmon resonance, will be remarkably high. The light-matter interactions and trajectory of incident photon upon targeted tissues are simulated by MIE theory and Monte Carlo method, respectively. Monte Carlo method is a statistical one by which we can accurately probe the photon trajectories into a simulation area.

Neutrino oscillation parameter sampling with MonteCUBES

Science.gov (United States)

Blennow, Mattias; Fernandez-Martinez, Enrique

2010-01-01

We present MonteCUBES ("Monte Carlo Utility Based Experiment Simulator"), a software package designed to sample the neutrino oscillation parameter space through Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms. MonteCUBES makes use of the GLoBES software so that the existing experiment definitions for GLoBES, describing long baseline and reactor experiments, can be used with MonteCUBES. MonteCUBES consists of two main parts: The first is a C library, written as a plug-in for GLoBES, implementing the Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm to sample the parameter space. The second part is a user-friendly graphical Matlab interface to easily read, analyze, plot and export the results of the parameter space sampling. Program summaryProgram title: MonteCUBES (Monte Carlo Utility Based Experiment Simulator) Catalogue identifier: AEFJ_v1_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEFJ_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: GNU General Public Licence No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 69 634 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 3 980 776 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: C Computer: MonteCUBES builds and installs on 32 bit and 64 bit Linux systems where GLoBES is installed Operating system: 32 bit and 64 bit Linux RAM: Typically a few MBs Classification: 11.1 External routines: GLoBES [1,2] and routines/libraries used by GLoBES Subprograms used:Cat Id ADZI_v1_0, Title GLoBES, Reference CPC 177 (2007) 439 Nature of problem: Since neutrino masses do not appear in the standard model of particle physics, many models of neutrino masses also induce other types of new physics, which could affect the outcome of neutrino oscillation experiments. In general, these new physics imply high-dimensional parameter spaces that are difficult to explore using classical methods such as multi-dimensional projections and minimizations, such as those

Environmental radiation at the Monte Bello Islands from nuclear weapons tests conducted in 1952 and 1956

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moroney, J.R.; Cooper, M.B.

1982-12-01

The results from the 1962 and 1968 surveys of environmental radiation at the Monte Bello Islands are presented. These were the first of the series of surveys of radioactive contamination of the Islands to be carried out following nuclear weapons tests conducted in 1952 and 1956. Detailed comparison is made with the results obtained in the subsequent surveys in 1972 and 1978. For more than 20 years, no area at the Monte Bello Islands has presented an acute hazard due to external exposure to environmental radiation

A fully coupled Monte Carlo/discrete ordinates solution to the neutron transport equation. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baker, Randal Scott [Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)

1990-01-01

The neutron transport equation is solved by a hybrid method that iteratively couples regions where deterministic (S_N) and stochastic (Monte Carlo) methods are applied. Unlike previous hybrid methods, the Monte Carlo and S_N regions are fully coupled in the sense that no assumption is made about geometrical separation or decoupling. The hybrid method provides a new means of solving problems involving both optically thick and optically thin regions that neither Monte Carlo nor S_N is well suited for by themselves. The fully coupled Monte Carlo/S_N technique consists of defining spatial and/or energy regions of a problem in which either a Monte Carlo calculation or an S_N calculation is to be performed. The Monte Carlo region may comprise the entire spatial region for selected energy groups, or may consist of a rectangular area that is either completely or partially embedded in an arbitrary S_N region. The Monte Carlo and S_N regions are then connected through the common angular boundary fluxes, which are determined iteratively using the response matrix technique, and volumetric sources. The hybrid method has been implemented in the S_N code TWODANT by adding special-purpose Monte Carlo subroutines to calculate the response matrices and volumetric sources, and linkage subrountines to carry out the interface flux iterations. The common angular boundary fluxes are included in the S_N code as interior boundary sources, leaving the logic for the solution of the transport flux unchanged, while, with minor modifications, the diffusion synthetic accelerator remains effective in accelerating S_N calculations. The special-purpose Monte Carlo routines used are essentially analog, with few variance reduction techniques employed. However, the routines have been successfully vectorized, with approximately a factor of five increase in speed over the non-vectorized version.

Monte Carlo approaches to light nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carlson, J.

1990-01-01

Significant progress has been made recently in the application of Monte Carlo methods to the study of light nuclei. We review new Green's function Monte Carlo results for the alpha particle, Variational Monte Carlo studies of 16 O, and methods for low-energy scattering and transitions. Through these calculations, a coherent picture of the structure and electromagnetic properties of light nuclei has arisen. In particular, we examine the effect of the three-nucleon interaction and the importance of exchange currents in a variety of experimentally measured properties, including form factors and capture cross sections. 29 refs., 7 figs

Monte Carlo approaches to light nuclei

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlson, J.

1990-01-01

Significant progress has been made recently in the application of Monte Carlo methods to the study of light nuclei. We review new Green's function Monte Carlo results for the alpha particle, Variational Monte Carlo studies of {sup 16}O, and methods for low-energy scattering and transitions. Through these calculations, a coherent picture of the structure and electromagnetic properties of light nuclei has arisen. In particular, we examine the effect of the three-nucleon interaction and the importance of exchange currents in a variety of experimentally measured properties, including form factors and capture cross sections. 29 refs., 7 figs.

SU-F-T-575: Verification of a Monte-Carlo Small Field SRS/SBRT Dose Calculation System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sudhyadhom, A; McGuinness, C; Descovich, M

2016-01-01

Purpose: To develop a methodology for validation of a Monte-Carlo dose calculation model for robotic small field SRS/SBRT deliveries. Methods: In a robotic treatment planning system, a Monte-Carlo model was iteratively optimized to match with beam data. A two-part analysis was developed to verify this model. 1) The Monte-Carlo model was validated in a simulated water phantom versus a Ray-Tracing calculation on a single beam collimator-by-collimator calculation. 2) The Monte-Carlo model was validated to be accurate in the most challenging situation, lung, by acquiring in-phantom measurements. A plan was created and delivered in a CIRS lung phantom with film insert. Separately, plans were delivered in an in-house created lung phantom with a PinPoint chamber insert within a lung simulating material. For medium to large collimator sizes, a single beam was delivered to the phantom. For small size collimators (10, 12.5, and 15mm), a robotically delivered plan was created to generate a uniform dose field of irradiation over a 2×2cm 2 area. Results: Dose differences in simulated water between Ray-Tracing and Monte-Carlo were all within 1% at dmax and deeper. Maximum dose differences occurred prior to dmax but were all within 3%. Film measurements in a lung phantom show high correspondence of over 95% gamma at the 2%/2mm level for Monte-Carlo. Ion chamber measurements for collimator sizes of 12.5mm and above were within 3% of Monte-Carlo calculated values. Uniform irradiation involving the 10mm collimator resulted in a dose difference of ∼8% for both Monte-Carlo and Ray-Tracing indicating that there may be limitations with the dose calculation. Conclusion: We have developed a methodology to validate a Monte-Carlo model by verifying that it matches in water and, separately, that it corresponds well in lung simulating materials. The Monte-Carlo model and algorithm tested may have more limited accuracy for 10mm fields and smaller.

Nota biobibliográfica + poética + creaciones («Rebel·lió: problema visual», «Tarot de Marsella: poema aleatorio», «Codex mundi. Contingencia: escritura fractal II-3», «Blanc o nada. Topoemalogía (trilingüe», «New York, Portbou, Benjamin» y «Bar 12 heures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramon Dachs

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Nota biobibliográfica + poética + creaciones («Rebel·lió: problema visual», «Tarot de Marsella: poema aleatorio», «Codex mundi. Contingencia: escritura fractal II-3», «Blanc o nada. Topoemalogía (trilingüe», «New York, Portbou, Benjamin» y «Bar 12 heures» + cuestionario (Victoria Pineda

Performance of the SLD Warm Iron Calorimeter prototype

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Callegari, G.; Piemontese, L.; De Sangro, R.; Peruzzi, I.; Piccolo, M.; Busza, W.; Friedman, J.; Johnson, A.; Kendall, H.; Kistiakowsky, V.

1986-03-01

A prototype hadron calorimeter, of similar design to the Warm Iron Calorimeter (WIC) planned for the SLD experiment, has been built and its performance has been studied in a test beam. The WIC is an iron sampling calorimeter whose active elements are plastic streamer tubes similar to those used for the Mont-Blanc proton decay experiment. The construction and operation of the tubes will be briefly described together with their use in an iron calorimeter - muon tracker. Efficiency, resolution and linearity have been measured in a hadron/muon beam up to 11 GeV. The measured values correspond to the SLD design goals

Lecture 1. Monte Carlo basics. Lecture 2. Adjoint Monte Carlo. Lecture 3. Coupled Forward-Adjoint calculations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoogenboom, J.E. [Delft University of Technology, Interfaculty Reactor Institute, Delft (Netherlands)

2000-07-01

The Monte Carlo method is a statistical method to solve mathematical and physical problems using random numbers. The principle of the methods will be demonstrated for a simple mathematical problem and for neutron transport. Various types of estimators will be discussed, as well as generally applied variance reduction methods like splitting, Russian roulette and importance biasing. The theoretical formulation for solving eigenvalue problems for multiplying systems will be shown. Some reflections will be given about the applicability of the Monte Carlo method, its limitations and its future prospects for reactor physics calculations. Adjoint Monte Carlo is a Monte Carlo game to solve the adjoint neutron (or photon) transport equation. The adjoint transport equation can be interpreted in terms of simulating histories of artificial particles, which show properties of neutrons that move backwards in history. These particles will start their history at the detector from which the response must be estimated and give a contribution to the estimated quantity when they hit or pass through the neutron source. Application to multigroup transport formulation will be demonstrated Possible implementation for the continuous energy case will be outlined. The inherent advantages and disadvantages of the method will be discussed. The Midway Monte Carlo method will be presented for calculating a detector response due to a (neutron or photon) source. A derivation will be given of the basic formula for the Midway Monte Carlo method The black absorber technique, allowing for a cutoff of particle histories when reaching the midway surface in one of the calculations will be derived. An extension of the theory to coupled neutron-photon problems is given. The method will be demonstrated for an oil well logging problem, comprising a neutron source in a borehole and photon detectors to register the photons generated by inelastic neutron scattering. (author)

Lecture 1. Monte Carlo basics. Lecture 2. Adjoint Monte Carlo. Lecture 3. Coupled Forward-Adjoint calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoogenboom, J.E.

2000-01-01

The Monte Carlo method is a statistical method to solve mathematical and physical problems using random numbers. The principle of the methods will be demonstrated for a simple mathematical problem and for neutron transport. Various types of estimators will be discussed, as well as generally applied variance reduction methods like splitting, Russian roulette and importance biasing. The theoretical formulation for solving eigenvalue problems for multiplying systems will be shown. Some reflections will be given about the applicability of the Monte Carlo method, its limitations and its future prospects for reactor physics calculations. Adjoint Monte Carlo is a Monte Carlo game to solve the adjoint neutron (or photon) transport equation. The adjoint transport equation can be interpreted in terms of simulating histories of artificial particles, which show properties of neutrons that move backwards in history. These particles will start their history at the detector from which the response must be estimated and give a contribution to the estimated quantity when they hit or pass through the neutron source. Application to multigroup transport formulation will be demonstrated Possible implementation for the continuous energy case will be outlined. The inherent advantages and disadvantages of the method will be discussed. The Midway Monte Carlo method will be presented for calculating a detector response due to a (neutron or photon) source. A derivation will be given of the basic formula for the Midway Monte Carlo method The black absorber technique, allowing for a cutoff of particle histories when reaching the midway surface in one of the calculations will be derived. An extension of the theory to coupled neutron-photon problems is given. The method will be demonstrated for an oil well logging problem, comprising a neutron source in a borehole and photon detectors to register the photons generated by inelastic neutron scattering. (author)

Glacial and periglacial environment monitoring in Aosta Valley - Northwestern Italian Alps

Science.gov (United States)

Motta, Elena; Cremonese, Edoardo; Morra di Cella, Umberto; Pogliotti, Paolo; Vagliasindi, Marco

2010-05-01

Aosta Valley is a small alpine region of about 3.300 km2 located in the NW Italy, on the southern side of the Alps and surrounded by the highest Alpine peaks such as Mont Blanc (4810m), Mont Rose (4634m) and Cervino (4478m), More than 50% of the territory has an elevation above 2000 metres asl. High mountain, glacial and periglacial environments cover a significant part of the territory. As the cryosphere is strongly sensitive to climate change, global warming effects are particularly evident in this alpine region, and they often affect environment and social and economic life, thus representing a key issue for politicians and people working and living in the valley. Among these effects, some of the most important are the decrease of water storage due to glaciers retreat and the increasing natural hazards as a consequence of rapid environmental dynamics. Hence the importance of monitoring glacial and periglacial environment, in order to quantify effects of climate change, to detect new dynamics and to manage consequences on the environment and the social life. In Aosta Valley the understanding of these phenomena is carried out by means of several actions, both at a regional scale and on specific representative sites. A multi-temporal analysis of aerial photographs, orthophotos and satellite imagery allows to detect glaciers evolution trend at a regional scale. All this information is collected in a Regional Glacier inventory, according to the World Glaciers Inventory standard and recommendations. Analysis of the information collected in the Inventory show that the total area presently covered by glaciers is about 135 km2; area changes occurred in the past has been about -44.3 km2, and -17 km2. between 1975 and 2005. Glacier inventory also gathers - for each of the about 200 glaciers - morphological data, information about events and photos both historical and present. Glacier mass balance (the difference resulting from the mass gained by the glacier through the

Monte Carlo Techniques for Nuclear Systems - Theory Lectures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, Forrest B.; Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

2016-01-01

These are lecture notes for a Monte Carlo class given at the University of New Mexico. The following topics are covered: course information; nuclear eng. review & MC; random numbers and sampling; computational geometry; collision physics; tallies and statistics; eigenvalue calculations I; eigenvalue calculations II; eigenvalue calculations III; variance reduction; parallel Monte Carlo; parameter studies; fission matrix and higher eigenmodes; doppler broadening; Monte Carlo depletion; HTGR modeling; coupled MC and T/H calculations; fission energy deposition. Solving particle transport problems with the Monte Carlo method is simple - just simulate the particle behavior. The devil is in the details, however. These lectures provide a balanced approach to the theory and practice of Monte Carlo simulation codes. The first lectures provide an overview of Monte Carlo simulation methods, covering the transport equation, random sampling, computational geometry, collision physics, and statistics. The next lectures focus on the state-of-the-art in Monte Carlo criticality simulations, covering the theory of eigenvalue calculations, convergence analysis, dominance ratio calculations, bias in Keff and tallies, bias in uncertainties, a case study of a realistic calculation, and Wielandt acceleration techniques. The remaining lectures cover advanced topics, including HTGR modeling and stochastic geometry, temperature dependence, fission energy deposition, depletion calculations, parallel calculations, and parameter studies. This portion of the class focuses on using MCNP to perform criticality calculations for reactor physics and criticality safety applications. It is an intermediate level class, intended for those with at least some familiarity with MCNP. Class examples provide hands-on experience at running the code, plotting both geometry and results, and understanding the code output. The class includes lectures & hands-on computer use for a variety of Monte Carlo calculations

Monte Carlo Techniques for Nuclear Systems - Theory Lectures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brown, Forrest B. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Monte Carlo Methods, Codes, and Applications Group; Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States). Nuclear Engineering Dept.

2016-11-29

These are lecture notes for a Monte Carlo class given at the University of New Mexico. The following topics are covered: course information; nuclear eng. review & MC; random numbers and sampling; computational geometry; collision physics; tallies and statistics; eigenvalue calculations I; eigenvalue calculations II; eigenvalue calculations III; variance reduction; parallel Monte Carlo; parameter studies; fission matrix and higher eigenmodes; doppler broadening; Monte Carlo depletion; HTGR modeling; coupled MC and T/H calculations; fission energy deposition. Solving particle transport problems with the Monte Carlo method is simple - just simulate the particle behavior. The devil is in the details, however. These lectures provide a balanced approach to the theory and practice of Monte Carlo simulation codes. The first lectures provide an overview of Monte Carlo simulation methods, covering the transport equation, random sampling, computational geometry, collision physics, and statistics. The next lectures focus on the state-of-the-art in Monte Carlo criticality simulations, covering the theory of eigenvalue calculations, convergence analysis, dominance ratio calculations, bias in Keff and tallies, bias in uncertainties, a case study of a realistic calculation, and Wielandt acceleration techniques. The remaining lectures cover advanced topics, including HTGR modeling and stochastic geometry, temperature dependence, fission energy deposition, depletion calculations, parallel calculations, and parameter studies. This portion of the class focuses on using MCNP to perform criticality calculations for reactor physics and criticality safety applications. It is an intermediate level class, intended for those with at least some familiarity with MCNP. Class examples provide hands-on experience at running the code, plotting both geometry and results, and understanding the code output. The class includes lectures & hands-on computer use for a variety of Monte Carlo calculations

Monte Carlo Transport for Electron Thermal Transport

Science.gov (United States)

Chenhall, Jeffrey; Cao, Duc; Moses, Gregory

2015-11-01

The iSNB (implicit Schurtz Nicolai Busquet multigroup electron thermal transport method of Cao et al. is adapted into a Monte Carlo transport method in order to better model the effects of non-local behavior. The end goal is a hybrid transport-diffusion method that combines Monte Carlo Transport with a discrete diffusion Monte Carlo (DDMC). The hybrid method will combine the efficiency of a diffusion method in short mean free path regions with the accuracy of a transport method in long mean free path regions. The Monte Carlo nature of the approach allows the algorithm to be massively parallelized. Work to date on the method will be presented. This work was supported by Sandia National Laboratory - Albuquerque and the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics.

Delimitation of atmospheric Iso contamination areas in the Universidad Nacional de Colombia campus by analysis of bio indicators (epiphytic lichens)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rubiano Olaya, Luis Juan; Chaparro de Valencia, Martha

2006-01-01

A map of areas of atmospheric iso contamination was elaborated in the campus of the university, using the bio-indicator capacity of lichens to detect changes in air quality. Four areas of contamination were determined according to Le Blanc and De Sloover methodology (1970): Maximum contamination, high contamination, moderate contamination and low contamination. The polluted areas for mobile sources are located towards the entrances located at 26 and 45 streets. The perimeter of the campus 15 also very polluted mainly towards the 38 and 30 avenues and 26 street. The contamination of these areas relates with the absence of barriers or arboreal hedges in this perimeter. Fixed sources of contamination such as chimneys, exhausts, boilers and extractors of laboratories and the extended parking areas influence the areas of maximum contamination, to the interior of the university. Physical-chemical measurements of fixed emissions are scarce or null for most of the cases. The less polluted sector of the campus is located towards its center as a result of the protective effect of groves and constructions, giving an effect of continuous barrier that blocks the external emissions efficiently

Generalized hybrid Monte Carlo - CMFD methods for fission source convergence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wolters, Emily R.; Larsen, Edward W.; Martin, William R.

2011-01-01

In this paper, we generalize the recently published 'CMFD-Accelerated Monte Carlo' method and present two new methods that reduce the statistical error in CMFD-Accelerated Monte Carlo. The CMFD-Accelerated Monte Carlo method uses Monte Carlo to estimate nonlinear functionals used in low-order CMFD equations for the eigenfunction and eigenvalue. The Monte Carlo fission source is then modified to match the resulting CMFD fission source in a 'feedback' procedure. The two proposed methods differ from CMFD-Accelerated Monte Carlo in the definition of the required nonlinear functionals, but they have identical CMFD equations. The proposed methods are compared with CMFD-Accelerated Monte Carlo on a high dominance ratio test problem. All hybrid methods converge the Monte Carlo fission source almost immediately, leading to a large reduction in the number of inactive cycles required. The proposed methods stabilize the fission source more efficiently than CMFD-Accelerated Monte Carlo, leading to a reduction in the number of active cycles required. Finally, as in CMFD-Accelerated Monte Carlo, the apparent variance of the eigenfunction is approximately equal to the real variance, so the real error is well-estimated from a single calculation. This is an advantage over standard Monte Carlo, in which the real error can be underestimated due to inter-cycle correlation. (author)

Is Monte Carlo embarrassingly parallel?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoogenboom, J. E. [Delft Univ. of Technology, Mekelweg 15, 2629 JB Delft (Netherlands); Delft Nuclear Consultancy, IJsselzoom 2, 2902 LB Capelle aan den IJssel (Netherlands)

2012-07-01

Monte Carlo is often stated as being embarrassingly parallel. However, running a Monte Carlo calculation, especially a reactor criticality calculation, in parallel using tens of processors shows a serious limitation in speedup and the execution time may even increase beyond a certain number of processors. In this paper the main causes of the loss of efficiency when using many processors are analyzed using a simple Monte Carlo program for criticality. The basic mechanism for parallel execution is MPI. One of the bottlenecks turn out to be the rendez-vous points in the parallel calculation used for synchronization and exchange of data between processors. This happens at least at the end of each cycle for fission source generation in order to collect the full fission source distribution for the next cycle and to estimate the effective multiplication factor, which is not only part of the requested results, but also input to the next cycle for population control. Basic improvements to overcome this limitation are suggested and tested. Also other time losses in the parallel calculation are identified. Moreover, the threading mechanism, which allows the parallel execution of tasks based on shared memory using OpenMP, is analyzed in detail. Recommendations are given to get the maximum efficiency out of a parallel Monte Carlo calculation. (authors)

Is Monte Carlo embarrassingly parallel?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoogenboom, J. E.

2012-01-01

Monte Carlo is often stated as being embarrassingly parallel. However, running a Monte Carlo calculation, especially a reactor criticality calculation, in parallel using tens of processors shows a serious limitation in speedup and the execution time may even increase beyond a certain number of processors. In this paper the main causes of the loss of efficiency when using many processors are analyzed using a simple Monte Carlo program for criticality. The basic mechanism for parallel execution is MPI. One of the bottlenecks turn out to be the rendez-vous points in the parallel calculation used for synchronization and exchange of data between processors. This happens at least at the end of each cycle for fission source generation in order to collect the full fission source distribution for the next cycle and to estimate the effective multiplication factor, which is not only part of the requested results, but also input to the next cycle for population control. Basic improvements to overcome this limitation are suggested and tested. Also other time losses in the parallel calculation are identified. Moreover, the threading mechanism, which allows the parallel execution of tasks based on shared memory using OpenMP, is analyzed in detail. Recommendations are given to get the maximum efficiency out of a parallel Monte Carlo calculation. (authors)

Mean field simulation for Monte Carlo integration

CERN Document Server

Del Moral, Pierre

2013-01-01

In the last three decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of interacting particle methods as a powerful tool in real-world applications of Monte Carlo simulation in computational physics, population biology, computer sciences, and statistical machine learning. Ideally suited to parallel and distributed computation, these advanced particle algorithms include nonlinear interacting jump diffusions; quantum, diffusion, and resampled Monte Carlo methods; Feynman-Kac particle models; genetic and evolutionary algorithms; sequential Monte Carlo methods; adaptive and interacting Marko

Variational Variance Reduction for Monte Carlo Criticality Calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Densmore, Jeffery D.; Larsen, Edward W.

2001-01-01

A new variational variance reduction (VVR) method for Monte Carlo criticality calculations was developed. This method employs (a) a variational functional that is more accurate than the standard direct functional, (b) a representation of the deterministically obtained adjoint flux that is especially accurate for optically thick problems with high scattering ratios, and (c) estimates of the forward flux obtained by Monte Carlo. The VVR method requires no nonanalog Monte Carlo biasing, but it may be used in conjunction with Monte Carlo biasing schemes. Some results are presented from a class of criticality calculations involving alternating arrays of fuel and moderator regions

Monte Carlo Solutions for Blind Phase Noise Estimation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Çırpan Hakan

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the use of Monte Carlo sampling methods for phase noise estimation on additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN channels. The main contributions of the paper are (i the development of a Monte Carlo framework for phase noise estimation, with special attention to sequential importance sampling and Rao-Blackwellization, (ii the interpretation of existing Monte Carlo solutions within this generic framework, and (iii the derivation of a novel phase noise estimator. Contrary to the ad hoc phase noise estimators that have been proposed in the past, the estimators considered in this paper are derived from solid probabilistic and performance-determining arguments. Computer simulations demonstrate that, on one hand, the Monte Carlo phase noise estimators outperform the existing estimators and, on the other hand, our newly proposed solution exhibits a lower complexity than the existing Monte Carlo solutions.

Monte Carlo based diffusion coefficients for LMFBR analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Rooijen, Willem F.G.; Takeda, Toshikazu; Hazama, Taira

2010-01-01

A method based on Monte Carlo calculations is developed to estimate the diffusion coefficient of unit cells. The method uses a geometrical model similar to that used in lattice theory, but does not use the assumption of a separable fundamental mode used in lattice theory. The method uses standard Monte Carlo flux and current tallies, and the continuous energy Monte Carlo code MVP was used without modifications. Four models are presented to derive the diffusion coefficient from tally results of flux and partial currents. In this paper the method is applied to the calculation of a plate cell of the fast-spectrum critical facility ZEBRA. Conventional calculations of the diffusion coefficient diverge in the presence of planar voids in the lattice, but our Monte Carlo method can treat this situation without any problem. The Monte Carlo method was used to investigate the influence of geometrical modeling as well as the directional dependence of the diffusion coefficient. The method can be used to estimate the diffusion coefficient of complicated unit cells, the limitation being the capabilities of the Monte Carlo code. The method will be used in the future to confirm results for the diffusion coefficient obtained of the Monte Carlo code. The method will be used in the future to confirm results for the diffusion coefficient obtained with deterministic codes. (author)

Effects of Grapevine Leafroll associated Virus 3 (GLRaV-3) and duration of infection on fruit composition and wine chemical profile of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Sauvignon blanc.

Science.gov (United States)

Montero, R; Mundy, D; Albright, A; Grose, C; Trought, M C T; Cohen, D; Chooi, K M; MacDiarmid, R; Flexas, J; Bota, J

2016-04-15

In order to determine the effects of Grapevine Leafroll associated Virus 3 (GLRaV-3) on fruit composition and chemical profile of juice and wine from Vitis vinifera L. cv. Sauvignon blanc grown in New Zealand, composition variables were measured on fruit from vines either infected with GLRaV-3 (established or recent infections) or uninfected vines. Physiological ripeness (20.4°Brix) was the criterion established to determine the harvest date for each of the three treatments. Date of grape ripeness was strongly affected by virus infection. In juice and wine, GLRaV-3 infection prior to 2008 reduced titratable acidity compared with the uninfected control. Differences observed in amino acids from the three infection status groups did not modify basic wine chemical properties. In conclusion, GLRaV-3 infection slowed grape ripening, but at equivalent ripeness to result in minimal effects on the juice and wine chemistry. Time of infection produced differences in specific plant physiological variables. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Computer system for Monte Carlo experimentation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grier, D.A.

1986-01-01

A new computer system for Monte Carlo Experimentation is presented. The new system speeds and simplifies the process of coding and preparing a Monte Carlo Experiment; it also encourages the proper design of Monte Carlo Experiments, and the careful analysis of the experimental results. A new functional language is the core of this system. Monte Carlo Experiments, and their experimental designs, are programmed in this new language; those programs are compiled into Fortran output. The Fortran output is then compiled and executed. The experimental results are analyzed with a standard statistics package such as Si, Isp, or Minitab or with a user-supplied program. Both the experimental results and the experimental design may be directly loaded into the workspace of those packages. The new functional language frees programmers from many of the details of programming an experiment. Experimental designs such as factorial, fractional factorial, or latin square are easily described by the control structures and expressions of the language. Specific mathematical modes are generated by the routines of the language

Random Numbers and Monte Carlo Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Scherer, Philipp O. J.

Many-body problems often involve the calculation of integrals of very high dimension which cannot be treated by standard methods. For the calculation of thermodynamic averages Monte Carlo methods are very useful which sample the integration volume at randomly chosen points. After summarizing some basic statistics, we discuss algorithms for the generation of pseudo-random numbers with given probability distribution which are essential for all Monte Carlo methods. We show how the efficiency of Monte Carlo integration can be improved by sampling preferentially the important configurations. Finally the famous Metropolis algorithm is applied to classical many-particle systems. Computer experiments visualize the central limit theorem and apply the Metropolis method to the traveling salesman problem.

LCG Monte-Carlo Data Base

CERN Document Server

Bartalini, P.; Kryukov, A.; Selyuzhenkov, Ilya V.; Sherstnev, A.; Vologdin, A.

2004-01-01

We present the Monte-Carlo events Data Base (MCDB) project and its development plans. MCDB facilitates communication between authors of Monte-Carlo generators and experimental users. It also provides a convenient book-keeping and an easy access to generator level samples. The first release of MCDB is now operational for the CMS collaboration. In this paper we review the main ideas behind MCDB and discuss future plans to develop this Data Base further within the CERN LCG framework.

Alternative implementations of the Monte Carlo power method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blomquist, R.N.; Gelbard, E.M.

2002-01-01

We compare nominal efficiencies, i.e. variances in power shapes for equal running time, of different versions of the Monte Carlo eigenvalue computation, as applied to criticality safety analysis calculations. The two main methods considered here are ''conventional'' Monte Carlo and the superhistory method, and both are used in criticality safety codes. Within each of these major methods, different variants are available for the main steps of the basic Monte Carlo algorithm. Thus, for example, different treatments of the fission process may vary in the extent to which they follow, in analog fashion, the details of real-world fission, or may vary in details of the methods by which they choose next-generation source sites. In general the same options are available in both the superhistory method and conventional Monte Carlo, but there seems not to have been much examination of the special properties of the two major methods and their minor variants. We find, first, that the superhistory method is just as efficient as conventional Monte Carlo and, secondly, that use of different variants of the basic algorithms may, in special cases, have a surprisingly large effect on Monte Carlo computational efficiency

Igo - A Monte Carlo Code For Radiotherapy Planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goldstein, M.; Regev, D.

1999-01-01

The goal of radiation therapy is to deliver a lethal dose to the tumor, while minimizing the dose to normal tissues and vital organs. To carry out this task, it is critical to calculate correctly the 3-D dose delivered. Monte Carlo transport methods (especially the Adjoint Monte Carlo have the potential to provide more accurate predictions of the 3-D dose the currently used methods. IG0 is a Monte Carlo code derived from the general Monte Carlo Program - MCNP, tailored specifically for calculating the effects of radiation therapy. This paper describes the IG0 transport code, the PIG0 interface and some preliminary results

Odd-flavor Simulations by the Hybrid Monte Carlo

CERN Document Server

Takaishi, Tetsuya; Takaishi, Tetsuya; De Forcrand, Philippe

2001-01-01

The standard hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm is known to simulate even flavors QCD only. Simulations of odd flavors QCD, however, can be also performed in the framework of the hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm where the inverse of the fermion matrix is approximated by a polynomial. In this exploratory study we perform three flavors QCD simulations. We make a comparison of the hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm and the R-algorithm which also simulates odd flavors systems but has step-size errors. We find that results from our hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm are in agreement with those from the R-algorithm obtained at very small step-size.

Quantum Monte Carlo approaches for correlated systems

CERN Document Server

Becca, Federico

2017-01-01

Over the past several decades, computational approaches to studying strongly-interacting systems have become increasingly varied and sophisticated. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to state-of-the-art quantum Monte Carlo techniques relevant for applications in correlated systems. Providing a clear overview of variational wave functions, and featuring a detailed presentation of stochastic samplings including Markov chains and Langevin dynamics, which are developed into a discussion of Monte Carlo methods. The variational technique is described, from foundations to a detailed description of its algorithms. Further topics discussed include optimisation techniques, real-time dynamics and projection methods, including Green's function, reptation and auxiliary-field Monte Carlo, from basic definitions to advanced algorithms for efficient codes, and the book concludes with recent developments on the continuum space. Quantum Monte Carlo Approaches for Correlated Systems provides an extensive reference ...

Track 4: basic nuclear science variance reduction for Monte Carlo criticality simulations. 6. Variational Variance Reduction for Monte Carlo Criticality Calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Densmore, Jeffery D.; Larsen, Edward W.

2001-01-01

Recently, it has been shown that the figure of merit (FOM) of Monte Carlo source-detector problems can be enhanced by using a variational rather than a direct functional to estimate the detector response. The direct functional, which is traditionally employed in Monte Carlo simulations, requires an estimate of the solution of the forward problem within the detector region. The variational functional is theoretically more accurate than the direct functional, but it requires estimates of the solutions of the forward and adjoint source-detector problems over the entire phase-space of the problem. In recent work, we have performed Monte Carlo simulations using the variational functional by (a) approximating the adjoint solution deterministically and representing this solution as a function in phase-space and (b) estimating the forward solution using Monte Carlo. We have called this general procedure variational variance reduction (VVR). The VVR method is more computationally expensive per history than traditional Monte Carlo because extra information must be tallied and processed. However, the variational functional yields a more accurate estimate of the detector response. Our simulations have shown that the VVR reduction in variance usually outweighs the increase in cost, resulting in an increased FOM. In recent work on source-detector problems, we have calculated the adjoint solution deterministically and represented this solution as a linear-in-angle, histogram-in-space function. This procedure has several advantages over previous implementations: (a) it requires much less adjoint information to be stored and (b) it is highly efficient for diffusive problems, due to the accurate linear-in-angle representation of the adjoint solution. (Traditional variance-reduction methods perform poorly for diffusive problems.) Here, we extend this VVR method to Monte Carlo criticality calculations, which are often diffusive and difficult for traditional variance-reduction methods

Non statistical Monte-Carlo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mercier, B.

1985-04-01

We have shown that the transport equation can be solved with particles, like the Monte-Carlo method, but without random numbers. In the Monte-Carlo method, particles are created from the source, and are followed from collision to collision until either they are absorbed or they leave the spatial domain. In our method, particles are created from the original source, with a variable weight taking into account both collision and absorption. These particles are followed until they leave the spatial domain, and we use them to determine a first collision source. Another set of particles is then created from this first collision source, and tracked to determine a second collision source, and so on. This process introduces an approximation which does not exist in the Monte-Carlo method. However, we have analyzed the effect of this approximation, and shown that it can be limited. Our method is deterministic, gives reproducible results. Furthermore, when extra accuracy is needed in some region, it is easier to get more particles to go there. It has the same kind of applications: rather problems where streaming is dominant than collision dominated problems

The vector and parallel processing of MORSE code on Monte Carlo Machine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hasegawa, Yukihiro; Higuchi, Kenji.

1995-11-01

Multi-group Monte Carlo Code for particle transport, MORSE is modified for high performance computing on Monte Carlo Machine Monte-4. The method and the results are described. Monte-4 was specially developed to realize high performance computing of Monte Carlo codes for particle transport, which have been difficult to obtain high performance in vector processing on conventional vector processors. Monte-4 has four vector processor units with the special hardware called Monte Carlo pipelines. The vectorization and parallelization of MORSE code and the performance evaluation on Monte-4 are described. (author)

Structural characterization of polysaccharides from Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc wines: Anti-inflammatory activity in LPS stimulated RAW 264.7 cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Bezerra, Iglesias de Lacerda; Caillot, Adriana Rute Cordeiro; Palhares, Lais Cristina Gusmão Ferreira; Santana-Filho, Arquimedes Paixão; Chavante, Suely Ferreira; Sassaki, Guilherme Lanzi

2018-04-15

The structural characterization of the polysaccharides and in vitro anti-inflammatory properties of Cabernet Franc (WCF), Cabernet Sauvignon (WCS) and Sauvignon Blanc (WSB) wines were studied for the first time in this work. The polysaccharides of wines gave rise to three fractions of polysaccharides, namely (WCF) 0.16%, (WCS) 0.05% and (WSB) 0.02%; the highest one was chosen for isolation of polysaccharides (WCF). It was identified the presence of mannan, formed by a sequence of α-d-Manp (1 → 6)-linked and side chains O-2 substituted for α-d-mannan (1 → 2)-linked; type II arabinogalactan, formed by (1 → 3)-linked β-d-Galp main chain, substituted at O-6 by (1 → 6)-linked β-d-Galp side chains, and nonreducing end-units of arabinose 3-O-substituted; type I rhamnogalacturonan formed by repeating (1 → 4)-α-d-GalpA-(1 → 2)-α-L-Rhap groups; and traces of type II rhamnogalacturonan. The polysaccharide mixture and isolated fractions inhibited the production of inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and IL-1β) and mediator (NO) in RAW 264.7 cells stimulated with LPS. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Biases in Monte Carlo eigenvalue calculations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gelbard, E.M.

1992-12-01

The Monte Carlo method has been used for many years to analyze the neutronics of nuclear reactors. In fact, as the power of computers has increased the importance of Monte Carlo in neutronics has also increased, until today this method plays a central role in reactor analysis and design. Monte Carlo is used in neutronics for two somewhat different purposes, i.e., (a) to compute the distribution of neutrons in a given medium when the neutron source-density is specified, and (b) to compute the neutron distribution in a self-sustaining chain reaction, in which case the source is determined as the eigenvector of a certain linear operator. In (b), then, the source is not given, but must be computed. In the first case (the ``fixed-source`` case) the Monte Carlo calculation is unbiased. That is to say that, if the calculation is repeated (``replicated``) over and over, with independent random number sequences for each replica, then averages over all replicas will approach the correct neutron distribution as the number of replicas goes to infinity. Unfortunately, the computation is not unbiased in the second case, which we discuss here.

Biases in Monte Carlo eigenvalue calculations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gelbard, E.M.

1992-01-01

The Monte Carlo method has been used for many years to analyze the neutronics of nuclear reactors. In fact, as the power of computers has increased the importance of Monte Carlo in neutronics has also increased, until today this method plays a central role in reactor analysis and design. Monte Carlo is used in neutronics for two somewhat different purposes, i.e., (a) to compute the distribution of neutrons in a given medium when the neutron source-density is specified, and (b) to compute the neutron distribution in a self-sustaining chain reaction, in which case the source is determined as the eigenvector of a certain linear operator. In (b), then, the source is not given, but must be computed. In the first case (the fixed-source'' case) the Monte Carlo calculation is unbiased. That is to say that, if the calculation is repeated ( replicated'') over and over, with independent random number sequences for each replica, then averages over all replicas will approach the correct neutron distribution as the number of replicas goes to infinity. Unfortunately, the computation is not unbiased in the second case, which we discuss here.

Biases in Monte Carlo eigenvalue calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gelbard, E.M.

1992-01-01

The Monte Carlo method has been used for many years to analyze the neutronics of nuclear reactors. In fact, as the power of computers has increased the importance of Monte Carlo in neutronics has also increased, until today this method plays a central role in reactor analysis and design. Monte Carlo is used in neutronics for two somewhat different purposes, i.e., (a) to compute the distribution of neutrons in a given medium when the neutron source-density is specified, and (b) to compute the neutron distribution in a self-sustaining chain reaction, in which case the source is determined as the eigenvector of a certain linear operator. In (b), then, the source is not given, but must be computed. In the first case (the ''fixed-source'' case) the Monte Carlo calculation is unbiased. That is to say that, if the calculation is repeated (''replicated'') over and over, with independent random number sequences for each replica, then averages over all replicas will approach the correct neutron distribution as the number of replicas goes to infinity. Unfortunately, the computation is not unbiased in the second case, which we discuss here

Importance iteration in MORSE Monte Carlo calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kloosterman, J.L.; Hoogenboom, J.E.

1994-01-01

An expression to calculate point values (the expected detector response of a particle emerging from a collision or the source) is derived and implemented in the MORSE-SGC/S Monte Carlo code. It is outlined how these point values can be smoothed as a function of energy and as a function of the optical thickness between the detector and the source. The smoothed point values are subsequently used to calculate the biasing parameters of the Monte Carlo runs to follow. The method is illustrated by an example that shows that the obtained biasing parameters lead to a more efficient Monte Carlo calculation

Importance iteration in MORSE Monte Carlo calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kloosterman, J.L.; Hoogenboom, J.E.

1994-02-01

An expression to calculate point values (the expected detector response of a particle emerging from a collision or the source) is derived and implemented in the MORSE-SGC/S Monte Carlo code. It is outlined how these point values can be smoothed as a function of energy and as a function of the optical thickness between the detector and the source. The smoothed point values are subsequently used to calculate the biasing parameters of the Monte Carlo runs to follow. The method is illustrated by an example, which shows that the obtained biasing parameters lead to a more efficient Monte Carlo calculation. (orig.)

Advanced Computational Methods for Monte Carlo Calculations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brown, Forrest B. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2018-01-12

This course is intended for graduate students who already have a basic understanding of Monte Carlo methods. It focuses on advanced topics that may be needed for thesis research, for developing new state-of-the-art methods, or for working with modern production Monte Carlo codes.

Evaluation of occupational exposure in interventionist procedures using Monte Carlo Method; Avaliacao das exposicoes dos envolvidos em procedimentos intervencionistas usando metodo Monte Carlo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Santos, William S.; Neves, Lucio P.; Perini, Ana P.; Caldas, Linda V.E., E-mail: williathan@yahoo.com.br [Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN/CNEN-SP), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil); Belinato, Walmir; Maia, Ana F. [Universidade Federal de Sergipe (UFS), Sao Cristovao, SE (Brazil). Departamento de Fisica

2014-07-01

This study presents a computational model of exposure for a patient, cardiologist and nurse in a typical scenario of cardiac interventional procedures. In this case a set of conversion coefficient (CC) for effective dose (E) in terms of kerma-area product (KAP) for all individuals involved using seven different energy spectra and eight beam projections. The CC was also calculated for the entrance skin dose (ESD) normalized to the PKA for the patient. All individuals were represented by anthropomorphic phantoms incorporated in a radiation transport code based on Monte Carlo simulation. (author)

Prospect on general software of Monte Carlo method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pei Lucheng

1992-01-01

This is a short paper on the prospect of Monte Carlo general software. The content consists of cluster sampling method, zero variance technique, self-improved method, and vectorized Monte Carlo method

Strategije drevesnega preiskovanja Monte Carlo

OpenAIRE

VODOPIVEC, TOM

2018-01-01

Po preboju pri igri go so metode drevesnega preiskovanja Monte Carlo (ang. Monte Carlo tree search – MCTS) sprožile bliskovit napredek agentov za igranje iger: raziskovalna skupnost je od takrat razvila veliko variant in izboljšav algoritma MCTS ter s tem zagotovila napredek umetne inteligence ne samo pri igrah, ampak tudi v številnih drugih domenah. Čeprav metode MCTS združujejo splošnost naključnega vzorčenja z natančnostjo drevesnega preiskovanja, imajo lahko v praksi težave s počasno konv...

Monte Carlo electron/photon transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mack, J.M.; Morel, J.E.; Hughes, H.G.

1985-01-01

A review of nonplasma coupled electron/photon transport using Monte Carlo method is presented. Remarks are mainly restricted to linerarized formalisms at electron energies from 1 keV to 1000 MeV. Applications involving pulse-height estimation, transport in external magnetic fields, and optical Cerenkov production are discussed to underscore the importance of this branch of computational physics. Advances in electron multigroup cross-section generation is reported, and its impact on future code development assessed. Progress toward the transformation of MCNP into a generalized neutral/charged-particle Monte Carlo code is described. 48 refs

Upper limit of peak area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Helene, O.A.M.

1982-08-01

The determination of the upper limit of peak area in a multi-channel spectra, with a known significance level is discussed. This problem is specially important when the peak area is masked by the background statistical fluctuations. The problem is exactly solved and, thus, the results are valid in experiments with small number of events. The results are submitted to a Monte Carlo test and applied to the 92 Nb beta decay. (Author) [pt

A Monte-Carlo Benchmark of TRIPOLI-4® and MCNP on ITER neutronics

Science.gov (United States)

Blanchet, David; Pénéliau, Yannick; Eschbach, Romain; Fontaine, Bruno; Cantone, Bruno; Ferlet, Marc; Gauthier, Eric; Guillon, Christophe; Letellier, Laurent; Proust, Maxime; Mota, Fernando; Palermo, Iole; Rios, Luis; Guern, Frédéric Le; Kocan, Martin; Reichle, Roger

2017-09-01

Radiation protection and shielding studies are often based on the extensive use of 3D Monte-Carlo neutron and photon transport simulations. ITER organization hence recommends the use of MCNP-5 code (version 1.60), in association with the FENDL-2.1 neutron cross section data library, specifically dedicated to fusion applications. The MCNP reference model of the ITER tokamak, the `C-lite', is being continuously developed and improved. This article proposes to develop an alternative model, equivalent to the 'C-lite', but for the Monte-Carlo code TRIPOLI-4®. A benchmark study is defined to test this new model. Since one of the most critical areas for ITER neutronics analysis concerns the assessment of radiation levels and Shutdown Dose Rates (SDDR) behind the Equatorial Port Plugs (EPP), the benchmark is conducted to compare the neutron flux through the EPP. This problem is quite challenging with regard to the complex geometry and considering the important neutron flux attenuation ranging from 1014 down to 108 n•cm-2•s-1. Such code-to-code comparison provides independent validation of the Monte-Carlo simulations, improving the confidence in neutronic results.

Monte Carlo method for array criticality calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dickinson, D.; Whitesides, G.E.

1976-01-01

The Monte Carlo method for solving neutron transport problems consists of mathematically tracing paths of individual neutrons collision by collision until they are lost by absorption or leakage. The fate of the neutron after each collision is determined by the probability distribution functions that are formed from the neutron cross-section data. These distributions are sampled statistically to establish the successive steps in the neutron's path. The resulting data, accumulated from following a large number of batches, are analyzed to give estimates of k/sub eff/ and other collision-related quantities. The use of electronic computers to produce the simulated neutron histories, initiated at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, made the use of the Monte Carlo method practical for many applications. In analog Monte Carlo simulation, the calculation follows the physical events of neutron scattering, absorption, and leakage. To increase calculational efficiency, modifications such as the use of statistical weights are introduced. The Monte Carlo method permits the use of a three-dimensional geometry description and a detailed cross-section representation. Some of the problems in using the method are the selection of the spatial distribution for the initial batch, the preparation of the geometry description for complex units, and the calculation of error estimates for region-dependent quantities such as fluxes. The Monte Carlo method is especially appropriate for criticality safety calculations since it permits an accurate representation of interacting units of fissile material. Dissimilar units, units of complex shape, moderators between units, and reflected arrays may be calculated. Monte Carlo results must be correlated with relevant experimental data, and caution must be used to ensure that a representative set of neutron histories is produced

Bayesian Optimal Experimental Design Using Multilevel Monte Carlo

KAUST Repository

Ben Issaid, Chaouki; Long, Quan; Scavino, Marco; Tempone, Raul

2015-01-01

Experimental design is very important since experiments are often resource-exhaustive and time-consuming. We carry out experimental design in the Bayesian framework. To measure the amount of information, which can be extracted from the data in an experiment, we use the expected information gain as the utility function, which specifically is the expected logarithmic ratio between the posterior and prior distributions. Optimizing this utility function enables us to design experiments that yield the most informative data for our purpose. One of the major difficulties in evaluating the expected information gain is that the integral is nested and can be high dimensional. We propose using Multilevel Monte Carlo techniques to accelerate the computation of the nested high dimensional integral. The advantages are twofold. First, the Multilevel Monte Carlo can significantly reduce the cost of the nested integral for a given tolerance, by using an optimal sample distribution among different sample averages of the inner integrals. Second, the Multilevel Monte Carlo method imposes less assumptions, such as the concentration of measures, required by Laplace method. We test our Multilevel Monte Carlo technique using a numerical example on the design of sensor deployment for a Darcy flow problem governed by one dimensional Laplace equation. We also compare the performance of the Multilevel Monte Carlo, Laplace approximation and direct double loop Monte Carlo.

Bayesian Optimal Experimental Design Using Multilevel Monte Carlo

KAUST Repository

Ben Issaid, Chaouki

2015-01-07

Experimental design is very important since experiments are often resource-exhaustive and time-consuming. We carry out experimental design in the Bayesian framework. To measure the amount of information, which can be extracted from the data in an experiment, we use the expected information gain as the utility function, which specifically is the expected logarithmic ratio between the posterior and prior distributions. Optimizing this utility function enables us to design experiments that yield the most informative data for our purpose. One of the major difficulties in evaluating the expected information gain is that the integral is nested and can be high dimensional. We propose using Multilevel Monte Carlo techniques to accelerate the computation of the nested high dimensional integral. The advantages are twofold. First, the Multilevel Monte Carlo can significantly reduce the cost of the nested integral for a given tolerance, by using an optimal sample distribution among different sample averages of the inner integrals. Second, the Multilevel Monte Carlo method imposes less assumptions, such as the concentration of measures, required by Laplace method. We test our Multilevel Monte Carlo technique using a numerical example on the design of sensor deployment for a Darcy flow problem governed by one dimensional Laplace equation. We also compare the performance of the Multilevel Monte Carlo, Laplace approximation and direct double loop Monte Carlo.

Le Comte de Monte Cristo: da literatura ao cinema

OpenAIRE

Caravela, Natércia Murta Silva

2008-01-01

A presente dissertação discute o diálogo estabelecido entre literatura e cinema no tratamento da personagem principal – um homem traído que se vinga de forma cruel dos seus inimigos – na obra literária Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, de Alexandre Dumas, e nas três adaptações fílmicas escolhidas: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo de Robert Vernay (1943); The count of Monte Cristo de David Greene (1975) e The count of Monte Cristo de Kevin Reynolds (2002). O projecto centra-se na análise da ...

Present status of transport code development based on Monte Carlo method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakagawa, Masayuki

1985-01-01

The present status of development in Monte Carlo code is briefly reviewed. The main items are the followings; Application fields, Methods used in Monte Carlo code (geometry spectification, nuclear data, estimator and variance reduction technique) and unfinished works, Typical Monte Carlo codes and Merits of continuous energy Monte Carlo code. (author)

Monte Carlo calculation of received dose from ingestion and inhalation of natural uranium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trobok, M.; Zupunski, Lj.; Spasic-Jokic, V.; Gordanic, V.; Sovilj, P.

2009-01-01

For the purpose of this study eighty samples are taken from the area Bela Crkva and Vrsac. The activity of radionuclide in the soil is determined by gamma- ray spectrometry. Monte Carlo method is used to calculate effective dose received by population resulting from the inhalation and ingestion of natural uranium. The estimated doses were compared with the legally prescribed levels. (author) [sr

Deep fracturation of granitic rock mass. Fracturation profonde des massifs rocheux granitiques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bles, J L; Blanchin, R; Bonijoly, D; Dutartre, P; Feybesse, J L; Gros, Y; Landry, J; Martin, P

1986-01-01

This documentary study realized with the financial support of the European Communities and the CEA aims at the utilization of available data for the understanding of the evolution of natural fractures in granitic rocks from the surface to deep underground, in various feasibility studies dealing with radioactive wastes disposal. The Mont Blanc road tunnel, the EDF Arc-Isere gallerie, the Auriat deep borehole and the Pyrenean rock mass of Bassies are studied. In this study are more particularly analyzed the relationship between small fractures and large faults, evolution with depth of fracture density and direction, consequences of rock decompression and relationship between fracturation and groundwater.

Deep fracturation of granitic rock mass

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bles, J.L.; Blanchin, R.; Bonijoly, D.; Dutartre, P.; Feybesse, J.L.; Gros, Y.; Landry, J.; Martin, P.

1986-01-01

This documentary study realized with the financial support of the European Communities and the CEA aims at the utilization of available data for the understanding of the evolution of natural fractures in granitic rocks from the surface to deep underground, in various feasibility studies dealing with radioactive wastes disposal. The Mont Blanc road tunnel, the EDF Arc-Isere gallerie, the Auriat deep borehole and the Pyrenean rock mass of Bassies are studied. In this study are more particularly analyzed the relationship between small fractures and large faults, evolution with depth of fracture density and direction, consequences of rock decompression and relationship between fracturation and groundwater [fr

Radiological hazard assessment at the Monte Bello Islands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cooper, M.B.; Martin, L.J.; Wilks, M.J.; Wiliams, G.A.

1990-12-01

Field and laboratory measurements are described and data presented which enabled dose assessments for exposure to artificial radionuclides at the Monte Bello Islands, the sites of U.K. atomic weapons tests in 1952 and 1956. The report focuses on quantifying the inhalation hazard as exposure via the ingestion and wound contamination pathways is considered inconsequential. Surface soil concentrations of radionuclides and particle size analyses are presented for various sampling sites. Analyses of the distribution with depth indicated that, in general, the activity is more or less uniformly mixed through the top 40 mm, although in a few cases the top 10 mm contains the bulk of the activity. The 239 Pu/ 241 Am activity ratios were measured for selected samples. The only potential hazards to health from residual radioactive contamination on the Monte Bello Islands are due to the inhalation of actinides (specifically plutonium and americium) and from the external gamma-radiation field. Only one area, in the fallout plume of HURRICANE to the north-west of Main Beach, is a potential inhalation hazard. For an average inhalable dust loading of 0.1 mg/m 3 , three days occupancy of the most contaminated site will result in a committed effective dose equivalent of 1 mSv. The two ground zeros could not be considered inhalation hazards, considering the small areas concerned and the habits of visitors (full-time occupancy, over a period of one year or more, of the most contaminated sites at either of the G1 or G2 ground zeros would be required to reach 1 mSv). 25 refs., 23 tabs., 3 figs

Bayesian phylogeny analysis via stochastic approximation Monte Carlo

KAUST Repository

Cheon, Sooyoung; Liang, Faming

2009-01-01

in simulating from the posterior distribution of phylogenetic trees, rendering the inference ineffective. In this paper, we apply an advanced Monte Carlo algorithm, the stochastic approximation Monte Carlo algorithm, to Bayesian phylogeny analysis. Our method

Reflections on early Monte Carlo calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spanier, J.

1992-01-01

Monte Carlo methods for solving various particle transport problems developed in parallel with the evolution of increasingly sophisticated computer programs implementing diffusion theory and low-order moments calculations. In these early years, Monte Carlo calculations and high-order approximations to the transport equation were seen as too expensive to use routinely for nuclear design but served as invaluable aids and supplements to design with less expensive tools. The earliest Monte Carlo programs were quite literal; i.e., neutron and other particle random walk histories were simulated by sampling from the probability laws inherent in the physical system without distoration. Use of such analogue sampling schemes resulted in a good deal of time being spent in examining the possibility of lowering the statistical uncertainties in the sample estimates by replacing simple, and intuitively obvious, random variables by those with identical means but lower variances

TOPAS: An innovative proton Monte Carlo platform for research and clinical applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Perl, J.; Shin, J.; Schuemann, J.; Faddegon, B.; Paganetti, H. [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); University of California San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center, 1600 Divisadero Street, San Francisco, California 94143-1708 (United States); Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114 (United States); University of California San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center, 1600 Divisadero Street, San Francisco, California 94143-1708 (United States); Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114 (United States)

2012-11-15

Purpose: While Monte Carlo particle transport has proven useful in many areas (treatment head design, dose calculation, shielding design, and imaging studies) and has been particularly important for proton therapy (due to the conformal dose distributions and a finite beam range in the patient), the available general purpose Monte Carlo codes in proton therapy have been overly complex for most clinical medical physicists. The learning process has large costs not only in time but also in reliability. To address this issue, we developed an innovative proton Monte Carlo platform and tested the tool in a variety of proton therapy applications. Methods: Our approach was to take one of the already-established general purpose Monte Carlo codes and wrap and extend it to create a specialized user-friendly tool for proton therapy. The resulting tool, TOol for PArticle Simulation (TOPAS), should make Monte Carlo simulation more readily available for research and clinical physicists. TOPAS can model a passive scattering or scanning beam treatment head, model a patient geometry based on computed tomography (CT) images, score dose, fluence, etc., save and restart a phase space, provides advanced graphics, and is fully four-dimensional (4D) to handle variations in beam delivery and patient geometry during treatment. A custom-designed TOPAS parameter control system was placed at the heart of the code to meet requirements for ease of use, reliability, and repeatability without sacrificing flexibility. Results: We built and tested the TOPAS code. We have shown that the TOPAS parameter system provides easy yet flexible control over all key simulation areas such as geometry setup, particle source setup, scoring setup, etc. Through design consistency, we have insured that user experience gained in configuring one component, scorer or filter applies equally well to configuring any other component, scorer or filter. We have incorporated key lessons from safety management, proactively

TOPAS: An innovative proton Monte Carlo platform for research and clinical applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perl, J.; Shin, J.; Schümann, J.; Faddegon, B.; Paganetti, H.

2012-01-01

Purpose: While Monte Carlo particle transport has proven useful in many areas (treatment head design, dose calculation, shielding design, and imaging studies) and has been particularly important for proton therapy (due to the conformal dose distributions and a finite beam range in the patient), the available general purpose Monte Carlo codes in proton therapy have been overly complex for most clinical medical physicists. The learning process has large costs not only in time but also in reliability. To address this issue, we developed an innovative proton Monte Carlo platform and tested the tool in a variety of proton therapy applications. Methods: Our approach was to take one of the already-established general purpose Monte Carlo codes and wrap and extend it to create a specialized user-friendly tool for proton therapy. The resulting tool, TOol for PArticle Simulation (TOPAS), should make Monte Carlo simulation more readily available for research and clinical physicists. TOPAS can model a passive scattering or scanning beam treatment head, model a patient geometry based on computed tomography (CT) images, score dose, fluence, etc., save and restart a phase space, provides advanced graphics, and is fully four-dimensional (4D) to handle variations in beam delivery and patient geometry during treatment. A custom-designed TOPAS parameter control system was placed at the heart of the code to meet requirements for ease of use, reliability, and repeatability without sacrificing flexibility. Results: We built and tested the TOPAS code. We have shown that the TOPAS parameter system provides easy yet flexible control over all key simulation areas such as geometry setup, particle source setup, scoring setup, etc. Through design consistency, we have insured that user experience gained in configuring one component, scorer or filter applies equally well to configuring any other component, scorer or filter. We have incorporated key lessons from safety management, proactively

Reconstruction of Monte Carlo replicas from Hessian parton distributions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hou, Tie-Jiun [Department of Physics, Southern Methodist University,Dallas, TX 75275-0181 (United States); Gao, Jun [INPAC, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology,Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao-Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China); High Energy Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory,Argonne, Illinois, 60439 (United States); Huston, Joey [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University,East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States); Nadolsky, Pavel [Department of Physics, Southern Methodist University,Dallas, TX 75275-0181 (United States); Schmidt, Carl; Stump, Daniel [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University,East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States); Wang, Bo-Ting; Xie, Ke Ping [Department of Physics, Southern Methodist University,Dallas, TX 75275-0181 (United States); Dulat, Sayipjamal [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University,East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States); School of Physics Science and Technology, Xinjiang University,Urumqi, Xinjiang 830046 (China); Center for Theoretical Physics, Xinjiang University,Urumqi, Xinjiang 830046 (China); Pumplin, Jon; Yuan, C.P. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University,East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States)

2017-03-20

We explore connections between two common methods for quantifying the uncertainty in parton distribution functions (PDFs), based on the Hessian error matrix and Monte-Carlo sampling. CT14 parton distributions in the Hessian representation are converted into Monte-Carlo replicas by a numerical method that reproduces important properties of CT14 Hessian PDFs: the asymmetry of CT14 uncertainties and positivity of individual parton distributions. The ensembles of CT14 Monte-Carlo replicas constructed this way at NNLO and NLO are suitable for various collider applications, such as cross section reweighting. Master formulas for computation of asymmetric standard deviations in the Monte-Carlo representation are derived. A correction is proposed to address a bias in asymmetric uncertainties introduced by the Taylor series approximation. A numerical program is made available for conversion of Hessian PDFs into Monte-Carlo replicas according to normal, log-normal, and Watt-Thorne sampling procedures.

Sampling from a polytope and hard-disk Monte Carlo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kapfer, Sebastian C; Krauth, Werner

2013-01-01

The hard-disk problem, the statics and the dynamics of equal two-dimensional hard spheres in a periodic box, has had a profound influence on statistical and computational physics. Markov-chain Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics were first discussed for this model. Here we reformulate hard-disk Monte Carlo algorithms in terms of another classic problem, namely the sampling from a polytope. Local Markov-chain Monte Carlo, as proposed by Metropolis et al. in 1953, appears as a sequence of random walks in high-dimensional polytopes, while the moves of the more powerful event-chain algorithm correspond to molecular dynamics evolution. We determine the convergence properties of Monte Carlo methods in a special invariant polytope associated with hard-disk configurations, and the implications for convergence of hard-disk sampling. Finally, we discuss parallelization strategies for event-chain Monte Carlo and present results for a multicore implementation

Problems in radiation shielding calculations with Monte Carlo methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ueki, Kohtaro

1985-01-01

The Monte Carlo method is a very useful tool for solving a large class of radiation transport problem. In contrast with deterministic method, geometric complexity is a much less significant problem for Monte Carlo calculations. However, the accuracy of Monte Carlo calculations is of course, limited by statistical error of the quantities to be estimated. In this report, we point out some typical problems to solve a large shielding system including radiation streaming. The Monte Carlo coupling technique was developed to settle such a shielding problem accurately. However, the variance of the Monte Carlo results using the coupling technique of which detectors were located outside the radiation streaming, was still not enough. So as to bring on more accurate results for the detectors located outside the streaming and also for a multi-legged-duct streaming problem, a practicable way of ''Prism Scattering technique'' is proposed in the study. (author)

Cluster monte carlo method for nuclear criticality safety calculation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pei Lucheng

1984-01-01

One of the most important applications of the Monte Carlo method is the calculation of the nuclear criticality safety. The fair source game problem was presented at almost the same time as the Monte Carlo method was applied to calculating the nuclear criticality safety. The source iteration cost may be reduced as much as possible or no need for any source iteration. This kind of problems all belongs to the fair source game prolems, among which, the optimal source game is without any source iteration. Although the single neutron Monte Carlo method solved the problem without the source iteration, there is still quite an apparent shortcoming in it, that is, it solves the problem without the source iteration only in the asymptotic sense. In this work, a new Monte Carlo method called the cluster Monte Carlo method is given to solve the problem further

Wielandt acceleration for MCNP5 Monte Carlo eigenvalue calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, F.

2007-01-01

Monte Carlo criticality calculations use the power iteration method to determine the eigenvalue (k eff ) and eigenfunction (fission source distribution) of the fundamental mode. A recently proposed method for accelerating convergence of the Monte Carlo power iteration using Wielandt's method has been implemented in a test version of MCNP5. The method is shown to provide dramatic improvements in convergence rates and to greatly reduce the possibility of false convergence assessment. The method is effective and efficient, improving the Monte Carlo figure-of-merit for many problems. In addition, the method should eliminate most of the underprediction bias in confidence intervals for Monte Carlo criticality calculations. (authors)

Monte Carlo shielding analyses using an automated biasing procedure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tang, J.S.; Hoffman, T.J.

1988-01-01

A systematic and automated approach for biasing Monte Carlo shielding calculations is described. In particular, adjoint fluxes from a one-dimensional discrete ordinates calculation are used to generate biasing parameters for a Monte Carlo calculation. The entire procedure of adjoint calculation, biasing parameters generation, and Monte Carlo calculation has been automated. The automated biasing procedure has been applied to several realistic deep-penetration shipping cask problems. The results obtained for neutron and gamma-ray transport indicate that with the automated biasing procedure Monte Carlo shielding calculations of spent-fuel casks can be easily performed with minimum effort and that accurate results can be obtained at reasonable computing cost

Applications of the Monte Carlo method in radiation protection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kulkarni, R.N.; Prasad, M.A.

1999-01-01

This paper gives a brief introduction to the application of the Monte Carlo method in radiation protection. It may be noted that an exhaustive review has not been attempted. The special advantage of the Monte Carlo method has been first brought out. The fundamentals of the Monte Carlo method have next been explained in brief, with special reference to two applications in radiation protection. Some sample current applications have been reported in the end in brief as examples. They are, medical radiation physics, microdosimetry, calculations of thermoluminescence intensity and probabilistic safety analysis. The limitations of the Monte Carlo method have also been mentioned in passing. (author)

Pore-scale uncertainty quantification with multilevel Monte Carlo

KAUST Repository

Icardi, Matteo; Hoel, Haakon; Long, Quan; Tempone, Raul

2014-01-01

. Since there are no generic ways to parametrize the randomness in the porescale structures, Monte Carlo techniques are the most accessible to compute statistics. We propose a multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) technique to reduce the computational cost

Quantum statistical Monte Carlo methods and applications to spin systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suzuki, M.

1986-01-01

A short review is given concerning the quantum statistical Monte Carlo method based on the equivalence theorem that d-dimensional quantum systems are mapped onto (d+1)-dimensional classical systems. The convergence property of this approximate tansformation is discussed in detail. Some applications of this general appoach to quantum spin systems are reviewed. A new Monte Carlo method, ''thermo field Monte Carlo method,'' is presented, which is an extension of the projection Monte Carlo method at zero temperature to that at finite temperatures

Extraction of Pathogenesis-Related Proteins and Phenolics in Sauvignon Blanc as Affected by Grape Harvesting and Processing Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bin Tian

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs and chitinases are the two main groups of pathogenesis-related (PR proteins found in wine that cause protein haze formation. Previous studies have found that phenolics are also involved in protein haze formation. In this study, Sauvignon Blanc grapes were harvested and processed in two vintages (2011 and 2012 by three different treatments: (1 hand harvesting with whole bunch press (H-WB; (2 hand harvesting with destem/crush and 3 h skin contact (H-DC-3; and (3 machine harvesting with destem/crush and 3 h skin contact (M-DC-3. The juices were collected at three pressure levels (0.4 MPa, 0.8 MPa and 1.6 MPa, some juices were fermented in 750 mL of wine bottles to determine the bentonite requirement for the resulting wines. Results showed juices of M-DC-3 had significantly lower concentration of proteins, including PR proteins, compared to those of H-DC-3, likely due to the greater juice yield of M-DC-3 and interactions between proteins and phenolics. Juices from the 0.8–1.6 MPa pressure and resultant wines had the highest concentration of phenolics but the lowest concentration of TLPs. This supported the view that TLPs are released at low pressure as they are mainly present in grape pulp but additional extraction of phenolics largely present in skin occurs at higher pressing pressure. Wine protein stability tests showed a positive linear correlation between bentonite requirement and the concentration of chitinases, indicating the possibility of predicting bentonite requirement by quantification of chitinases. This study contributes to an improved understanding of extraction of haze-forming PR proteins and phenolics that can influence bentonite requirement for protein stabilization.

SPQR: a Monte Carlo reactor kinetics code

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cramer, S.N.; Dodds, H.L.

1980-02-01

The SPQR Monte Carlo code has been developed to analyze fast reactor core accident problems where conventional methods are considered inadequate. The code is based on the adiabatic approximation of the quasi-static method. This initial version contains no automatic material motion or feedback. An existing Monte Carlo code is used to calculate the shape functions and the integral quantities needed in the kinetics module. Several sample problems have been devised and analyzed. Due to the large statistical uncertainty associated with the calculation of reactivity in accident simulations, the results, especially at later times, differ greatly from deterministic methods. It was also found that in large uncoupled systems, the Monte Carlo method has difficulty in handling asymmetric perturbations

Optix: A Monte Carlo scintillation light transport code

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Safari, M.J., E-mail: mjsafari@aut.ac.ir [Department of Energy Engineering and Physics, Amir Kabir University of Technology, PO Box 15875-4413, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Afarideh, H. [Department of Energy Engineering and Physics, Amir Kabir University of Technology, PO Box 15875-4413, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Ghal-Eh, N. [School of Physics, Damghan University, PO Box 36716-41167, Damghan (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Davani, F. Abbasi [Nuclear Engineering Department, Shahid Beheshti University, PO Box 1983963113, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2014-02-11

The paper reports on the capabilities of Monte Carlo scintillation light transport code Optix, which is an extended version of previously introduced code Optics. Optix provides the user a variety of both numerical and graphical outputs with a very simple and user-friendly input structure. A benchmarking strategy has been adopted based on the comparison with experimental results, semi-analytical solutions, and other Monte Carlo simulation codes to verify various aspects of the developed code. Besides, some extensive comparisons have been made against the tracking abilities of general-purpose MCNPX and FLUKA codes. The presented benchmark results for the Optix code exhibit promising agreements. -- Highlights: • Monte Carlo simulation of scintillation light transport in 3D geometry. • Evaluation of angular distribution of detected photons. • Benchmark studies to check the accuracy of Monte Carlo simulations.

Bayesian phylogeny analysis via stochastic approximation Monte Carlo

KAUST Repository

Cheon, Sooyoung

2009-11-01

Monte Carlo methods have received much attention in the recent literature of phylogeny analysis. However, the conventional Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms, such as the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, tend to get trapped in a local mode in simulating from the posterior distribution of phylogenetic trees, rendering the inference ineffective. In this paper, we apply an advanced Monte Carlo algorithm, the stochastic approximation Monte Carlo algorithm, to Bayesian phylogeny analysis. Our method is compared with two popular Bayesian phylogeny software, BAMBE and MrBayes, on simulated and real datasets. The numerical results indicate that our method outperforms BAMBE and MrBayes. Among the three methods, SAMC produces the consensus trees which have the highest similarity to the true trees, and the model parameter estimates which have the smallest mean square errors, but costs the least CPU time. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Present status and future prospects of neutronics Monte Carlo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gelbard, E.M.

1990-01-01

It is fair to say that the Monte Carlo method, over the last decade, has grown steadily more important as a neutronics computational tool. Apparently this has happened for assorted reasons. Thus, for example, as the power of computers has increased, the cost of the method has dropped, steadily becoming less and less of an obstacle to its use. In addition, more and more sophisticated input processors have now made it feasible to model extremely complicated systems routinely with really remarkable fidelity. Finally, as we demand greater and greater precision in reactor calculations, Monte Carlo is often found to be the only method accurate enough for use in benchmarking. Cross section uncertainties are now almost the only inherent limitations in our Monte Carlo capabilities. For this reason Monte Carlo has come to occupy a special position, interposed between experiment and other computational techniques. More and more often deterministic methods are tested by comparison with Monte Carlo, and cross sections are tested by comparing Monte Carlo with experiment. In this way one can distinguish very clearly between errors due to flaws in our numerical methods, and those due to deficiencies in cross section files. The special role of Monte Carlo as a benchmarking tool, often the only available benchmarking tool, makes it crucially important that this method should be polished to perfection. Problems relating to Eigenvalue calculations, variance reduction and the use of advanced computers are reviewed in this paper. (author)

Diffusion Monte Carlo approach versus adiabatic computation for local Hamiltonians

Science.gov (United States)

Bringewatt, Jacob; Dorland, William; Jordan, Stephen P.; Mink, Alan

2018-02-01

Most research regarding quantum adiabatic optimization has focused on stoquastic Hamiltonians, whose ground states can be expressed with only real non-negative amplitudes and thus for whom destructive interference is not manifest. This raises the question of whether classical Monte Carlo algorithms can efficiently simulate quantum adiabatic optimization with stoquastic Hamiltonians. Recent results have given counterexamples in which path-integral and diffusion Monte Carlo fail to do so. However, most adiabatic optimization algorithms, such as for solving MAX-k -SAT problems, use k -local Hamiltonians, whereas our previous counterexample for diffusion Monte Carlo involved n -body interactions. Here we present a 6-local counterexample which demonstrates that even for these local Hamiltonians there are cases where diffusion Monte Carlo cannot efficiently simulate quantum adiabatic optimization. Furthermore, we perform empirical testing of diffusion Monte Carlo on a standard well-studied class of permutation-symmetric tunneling problems and similarly find large advantages for quantum optimization over diffusion Monte Carlo.

Frequency domain Monte Carlo simulation method for cross power spectral density driven by periodically pulsed spallation neutron source using complex-valued weight Monte Carlo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamamoto, Toshihiro

2014-01-01

Highlights: • The cross power spectral density in ADS has correlated and uncorrelated components. • A frequency domain Monte Carlo method to calculate the uncorrelated one is developed. • The method solves the Fourier transformed transport equation. • The method uses complex-valued weights to solve the equation. • The new method reproduces well the CPSDs calculated with time domain MC method. - Abstract: In an accelerator driven system (ADS), pulsed spallation neutrons are injected at a constant frequency. The cross power spectral density (CPSD), which can be used for monitoring the subcriticality of the ADS, is composed of the correlated and uncorrelated components. The uncorrelated component is described by a series of the Dirac delta functions that occur at the integer multiples of the pulse repetition frequency. In the present paper, a Monte Carlo method to solve the Fourier transformed neutron transport equation with a periodically pulsed neutron source term has been developed to obtain the CPSD in ADSs. Since the Fourier transformed flux is a complex-valued quantity, the Monte Carlo method introduces complex-valued weights to solve the Fourier transformed equation. The Monte Carlo algorithm used in this paper is similar to the one that was developed by the author of this paper to calculate the neutron noise caused by cross section perturbations. The newly-developed Monte Carlo algorithm is benchmarked to the conventional time domain Monte Carlo simulation technique. The CPSDs are obtained both with the newly-developed frequency domain Monte Carlo method and the conventional time domain Monte Carlo method for a one-dimensional infinite slab. The CPSDs obtained with the frequency domain Monte Carlo method agree well with those with the time domain method. The higher order mode effects on the CPSD in an ADS with a periodically pulsed neutron source are discussed

Neutron point-flux calculation by Monte Carlo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eichhorn, M.

1986-04-01

A survey of the usual methods for estimating flux at a point is given. The associated variance-reducing techniques in direct Monte Carlo games are explained. The multigroup Monte Carlo codes MC for critical systems and PUNKT for point source-point detector-systems are represented, and problems in applying the codes to practical tasks are discussed. (author)

Research on perturbation based Monte Carlo reactor criticality search

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Zeguang; Wang Kan; Li Yangliu; Deng Jingkang

2013-01-01

Criticality search is a very important aspect in reactor physics analysis. Due to the advantages of Monte Carlo method and the development of computer technologies, Monte Carlo criticality search is becoming more and more necessary and feasible. Traditional Monte Carlo criticality search method is suffered from large amount of individual criticality runs and uncertainty and fluctuation of Monte Carlo results. A new Monte Carlo criticality search method based on perturbation calculation is put forward in this paper to overcome the disadvantages of traditional method. By using only one criticality run to get initial k_e_f_f and differential coefficients of concerned parameter, the polynomial estimator of k_e_f_f changing function is solved to get the critical value of concerned parameter. The feasibility of this method was tested. The results show that the accuracy and efficiency of perturbation based criticality search method are quite inspiring and the method overcomes the disadvantages of traditional one. (authors)

Shell model the Monte Carlo way

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ormand, W.E.

1995-01-01

The formalism for the auxiliary-field Monte Carlo approach to the nuclear shell model is presented. The method is based on a linearization of the two-body part of the Hamiltonian in an imaginary-time propagator using the Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation. The foundation of the method, as applied to the nuclear many-body problem, is discussed. Topics presented in detail include: (1) the density-density formulation of the method, (2) computation of the overlaps, (3) the sign of the Monte Carlo weight function, (4) techniques for performing Monte Carlo sampling, and (5) the reconstruction of response functions from an imaginary-time auto-correlation function using MaxEnt techniques. Results obtained using schematic interactions, which have no sign problem, are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the method, while an extrapolation method for realistic Hamiltonians is presented. In addition, applications at finite temperature are outlined

Shell model the Monte Carlo way

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ormand, W.E.

1995-03-01

The formalism for the auxiliary-field Monte Carlo approach to the nuclear shell model is presented. The method is based on a linearization of the two-body part of the Hamiltonian in an imaginary-time propagator using the Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation. The foundation of the method, as applied to the nuclear many-body problem, is discussed. Topics presented in detail include: (1) the density-density formulation of the method, (2) computation of the overlaps, (3) the sign of the Monte Carlo weight function, (4) techniques for performing Monte Carlo sampling, and (5) the reconstruction of response functions from an imaginary-time auto-correlation function using MaxEnt techniques. Results obtained using schematic interactions, which have no sign problem, are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the method, while an extrapolation method for realistic Hamiltonians is presented. In addition, applications at finite temperature are outlined.

Monte Carlo learning/biasing experiment with intelligent random numbers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Booth, T.E.

1985-01-01

A Monte Carlo learning and biasing technique is described that does its learning and biasing in the random number space rather than the physical phase-space. The technique is probably applicable to all linear Monte Carlo problems, but no proof is provided here. Instead, the technique is illustrated with a simple Monte Carlo transport problem. Problems encountered, problems solved, and speculations about future progress are discussed. 12 refs

Temperature variance study in Monte-Carlo photon transport theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Giorla, J.

1985-10-01

We study different Monte-Carlo methods for solving radiative transfer problems, and particularly Fleck's Monte-Carlo method. We first give the different time-discretization schemes and the corresponding stability criteria. Then we write the temperature variance as a function of the variances of temperature and absorbed energy at the previous time step. Finally we obtain some stability criteria for the Monte-Carlo method in the stationary case [fr

Monte Carlo applications to radiation shielding problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Subbaiah, K.V.

2009-01-01

Monte Carlo methods are a class of computational algorithms that rely on repeated random sampling of physical and mathematical systems to compute their results. However, basic concepts of MC are both simple and straightforward and can be learned by using a personal computer. Uses of Monte Carlo methods require large amounts of random numbers, and it was their use that spurred the development of pseudorandom number generators, which were far quicker to use than the tables of random numbers which had been previously used for statistical sampling. In Monte Carlo simulation of radiation transport, the history (track) of a particle is viewed as a random sequence of free flights that end with an interaction event where the particle changes its direction of movement, loses energy and, occasionally, produces secondary particles. The Monte Carlo simulation of a given experimental arrangement (e.g., an electron beam, coming from an accelerator and impinging on a water phantom) consists of the numerical generation of random histories. To simulate these histories we need an interaction model, i.e., a set of differential cross sections (DCS) for the relevant interaction mechanisms. The DCSs determine the probability distribution functions (pdf) of the random variables that characterize a track; 1) free path between successive interaction events, 2) type of interaction taking place and 3) energy loss and angular deflection in a particular event (and initial state of emitted secondary particles, if any). Once these pdfs are known, random histories can be generated by using appropriate sampling methods. If the number of generated histories is large enough, quantitative information on the transport process may be obtained by simply averaging over the simulated histories. The Monte Carlo method yields the same information as the solution of the Boltzmann transport equation, with the same interaction model, but is easier to implement. In particular, the simulation of radiation

Randomized quasi-Monte Carlo simulation of fast-ion thermalization

Science.gov (United States)

Höök, L. J.; Johnson, T.; Hellsten, T.

2012-01-01

This work investigates the applicability of the randomized quasi-Monte Carlo method for simulation of fast-ion thermalization processes in fusion plasmas, e.g. for simulation of neutral beam injection and radio frequency heating. In contrast to the standard Monte Carlo method, the quasi-Monte Carlo method uses deterministic numbers instead of pseudo-random numbers and has a statistical weak convergence close to {O}(N^{-1}) , where N is the number of markers. We have compared different quasi-Monte Carlo methods for a neutral beam injection scenario, which is solved by many realizations of the associated stochastic differential equation, discretized with the Euler-Maruyama scheme. The statistical convergence of the methods is measured for time steps up to 214.

Nèg Blanc sa a (Aquela negra branca – desafiando as categorias de cor, nacionalidade e pertença a partir de um olhar afro-brasileiro sobre o Haiti

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Renata de Melo Rosa

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Resumo  Este artigo tem como objetivo analisar a centralidade da categoria de pessoa no Haiti contemporâneo, a qual se funda a partir dos sentidos contextuais atribuídos à noção de nèg, (que em tradução livre para o português pode ser entendida como “negro/a” que antecede e funda, ao mesmo tempo, a categoria de pessoa. No entanto, mesmo que a categoria de pessoa no Haiti se ancore em uma nomenclatura “racial”, nèg não é uma categoria necessariamente atrelada à cor da pele, mas à qualidade da pertença de cada sujeito à nação haitiana. Identificar-se e ser identificado como um “nèg” atualiza, no processo identitário e no diálogo inter-subjetivo, diacríticos importantes, cujos sentidos são dados coletiva e contextualmente na rede de significados tecidas no contexto haitiano. Assim, pela natureza contextual e por sua constante dinâmica, é possível que uma “pessoa” que, aos olhos ocidentais, possa se assemelhar com o que nós entendemos como um/a “negro/a” no Brasil, no Haiti esta mesma “pessoa” pode não estar imediatamente identificada como um nèg ou como uma pessoa que  “pertença” ao Haiti. Em outras palavras, é preciso que cada nèg (para continuar sendo nèg e, portanto, “pessoa” atualize, de acordo com os contornos da cultura haitiana que inscrevem um nèg, as diversas obrigações rituais de pertença a esta categoria. Vista desta perspectiva, a categoria nèg pode ser ritualizada por um (a haitiano (a branco (a, desde que os rituais de pertença à nação também sejam atualizados, tornando o sujeito em um (a Nég Blanc (negro branco, expressão que dá título a este artigo. Por último, esta reflexão propõe que a categoria nèg como sinônimo da categoria de pessoa é uma contra narrativa às tentativas de inferiorização racial vigentes no período colonial francês. Palavras chave: nèg; noção de pessoa; Haiti; nação, categorias de cor. Nèg Blanc sa a (Aquella negra

A methodology for more efficient tail area sampling with discrete probability distribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Sang Ryeol; Lee, Byung Ho; Kim, Tae Woon

1988-01-01

Monte Carlo Method is commonly used to observe the overall distribution and to determine the lower or upper bound value in statistical approach when direct analytical calculation is unavailable. However, this method would not be efficient if the tail area of a distribution is concerned. A new method entitled 'Two Step Tail Area Sampling' is developed, which uses the assumption of discrete probability distribution and samples only the tail area without distorting the overall distribution. This method uses two step sampling procedure. First, sampling at points separated by large intervals is done and second, sampling at points separated by small intervals is done with some check points determined at first step sampling. Comparison with Monte Carlo Method shows that the results obtained from the new method converge to analytic value faster than Monte Carlo Method if the numbers of calculation of both methods are the same. This new method is applied to DNBR (Departure from Nucleate Boiling Ratio) prediction problem in design of the pressurized light water nuclear reactor

A Monte Carlo algorithm for the Vavilov distribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yi, Chul-Young; Han, Hyon-Soo

1999-01-01

Using the convolution property of the inverse Laplace transform, an improved Monte Carlo algorithm for the Vavilov energy-loss straggling distribution of the charged particle is developed, which is relatively simple and gives enough accuracy to be used for most Monte Carlo applications

Adaptive Multilevel Monte Carlo Simulation

KAUST Repository

Hoel, H

2011-08-23

This work generalizes a multilevel forward Euler Monte Carlo method introduced in Michael B. Giles. (Michael Giles. Oper. Res. 56(3):607–617, 2008.) for the approximation of expected values depending on the solution to an Itô stochastic differential equation. The work (Michael Giles. Oper. Res. 56(3):607– 617, 2008.) proposed and analyzed a forward Euler multilevelMonte Carlo method based on a hierarchy of uniform time discretizations and control variates to reduce the computational effort required by a standard, single level, Forward Euler Monte Carlo method. This work introduces an adaptive hierarchy of non uniform time discretizations, generated by an adaptive algorithmintroduced in (AnnaDzougoutov et al. Raùl Tempone. Adaptive Monte Carlo algorithms for stopped diffusion. In Multiscale methods in science and engineering, volume 44 of Lect. Notes Comput. Sci. Eng., pages 59–88. Springer, Berlin, 2005; Kyoung-Sook Moon et al. Stoch. Anal. Appl. 23(3):511–558, 2005; Kyoung-Sook Moon et al. An adaptive algorithm for ordinary, stochastic and partial differential equations. In Recent advances in adaptive computation, volume 383 of Contemp. Math., pages 325–343. Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 2005.). This form of the adaptive algorithm generates stochastic, path dependent, time steps and is based on a posteriori error expansions first developed in (Anders Szepessy et al. Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 54(10):1169– 1214, 2001). Our numerical results for a stopped diffusion problem, exhibit savings in the computational cost to achieve an accuracy of ϑ(TOL),from(TOL−3), from using a single level version of the adaptive algorithm to ϑ(((TOL−1)log(TOL))2).

Overlapping and co-occurrence pattern of Anastrepha species (Diptera, Tephritidae in anthropic areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tayron Sousa Amaral

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This study was carried out in two anthropic areas (Fazenda Areão and Monte Olimpo on the “Luiz de Queiroz” campus, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP. We analyzed data from 52 collections of 14 McPhail traps distributed in both areas. A total of 1,583 females belonging to 14 species were collected, including Anastrepha amita Zucchi, A. barbiellinii Lima, A. bistrigata Bezzi, A. daciformis Bezzi, A. distincta Greene, A. fraterculus (Wiedemann, A. grandis (Macquart, A. manihoti Lima, A. montei Lima, A. obliqua (Macquart, A. pickeli Lima, A. pseudoparallela (Loew, A. serpentina (Wiedemann and A. sororcula Zucchi. A greater number of specimens (1,041 were collected at the Fazenda Areão compared to Monte Olimpo (542. The mean niche overlap was greater than expected at random for both areas; therefore, the ecological niches of the species largely overlap. The pattern of co-occurrence indicates that segregation was not random between two pairs of species: A. pseudoparallela × A. obliqua (Fazenda Areão and A. fraterculus × A. pseudoparallela (Monte Olimpo. This segregation suggests that there may be competition for resources in each niche. The analysis also revealed three aggregated species pairs: A. bistrigata × A. montei, A. fraterculus × A. barbiellinii (Fazenda Areão, and A. fraterculus × A. bistrigata (Monte Olimpo, indicating that each pair occurs concomitantly without interfering with the permanence of the populations in these areas.

Monte Carlo computation in the applied research of nuclear technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Shuyan; Liu Baojie; Li Qin

2007-01-01

This article briefly introduces Monte Carlo Methods and their properties. It narrates the Monte Carlo methods with emphasis in their applications to several domains of nuclear technology. Monte Carlo simulation methods and several commonly used computer software to implement them are also introduced. The proposed methods are demonstrated by a real example. (authors)

Nested Sampling with Constrained Hamiltonian Monte Carlo

OpenAIRE

Betancourt, M. J.

2010-01-01

Nested sampling is a powerful approach to Bayesian inference ultimately limited by the computationally demanding task of sampling from a heavily constrained probability distribution. An effective algorithm in its own right, Hamiltonian Monte Carlo is readily adapted to efficiently sample from any smooth, constrained distribution. Utilizing this constrained Hamiltonian Monte Carlo, I introduce a general implementation of the nested sampling algorithm.

Statistics of Monte Carlo methods used in radiation transport calculation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Datta, D.

2009-01-01

Radiation transport calculation can be carried out by using either deterministic or statistical methods. Radiation transport calculation based on statistical methods is basic theme of the Monte Carlo methods. The aim of this lecture is to describe the fundamental statistics required to build the foundations of Monte Carlo technique for radiation transport calculation. Lecture note is organized in the following way. Section (1) will describe the introduction of Basic Monte Carlo and its classification towards the respective field. Section (2) will describe the random sampling methods, a key component of Monte Carlo radiation transport calculation, Section (3) will provide the statistical uncertainty of Monte Carlo estimates, Section (4) will describe in brief the importance of variance reduction techniques while sampling particles such as photon, or neutron in the process of radiation transport

Multiple histogram method and static Monte Carlo sampling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Inda, M.A.; Frenkel, D.

2004-01-01

We describe an approach to use multiple-histogram methods in combination with static, biased Monte Carlo simulations. To illustrate this, we computed the force-extension curve of an athermal polymer from multiple histograms constructed in a series of static Rosenbluth Monte Carlo simulations. From

Forest canopy BRDF simulation using Monte Carlo method

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Huang, J.; Wu, B.; Zeng, Y.; Tian, Y.

2006-01-01

Monte Carlo method is a random statistic method, which has been widely used to simulate the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) of vegetation canopy in the field of visible remote sensing. The random process between photons and forest canopy was designed using Monte Carlo method.

Shell model Monte Carlo methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koonin, S.E.

1996-01-01

We review quantum Monte Carlo methods for dealing with large shell model problems. These methods reduce the imaginary-time many-body evolution operator to a coherent superposition of one-body evolutions in fluctuating one-body fields; resultant path integral is evaluated stochastically. We first discuss the motivation, formalism, and implementation of such Shell Model Monte Carlo methods. There then follows a sampler of results and insights obtained from a number of applications. These include the ground state and thermal properties of pf-shell nuclei, thermal behavior of γ-soft nuclei, and calculation of double beta-decay matrix elements. Finally, prospects for further progress in such calculations are discussed. 87 refs

Discrete Diffusion Monte Carlo for Electron Thermal Transport

Science.gov (United States)

Chenhall, Jeffrey; Cao, Duc; Wollaeger, Ryan; Moses, Gregory

2014-10-01

The iSNB (implicit Schurtz Nicolai Busquet electron thermal transport method of Cao et al. is adapted to a Discrete Diffusion Monte Carlo (DDMC) solution method for eventual inclusion in a hybrid IMC-DDMC (Implicit Monte Carlo) method. The hybrid method will combine the efficiency of a diffusion method in short mean free path regions with the accuracy of a transport method in long mean free path regions. The Monte Carlo nature of the approach allows the algorithm to be massively parallelized. Work to date on the iSNB-DDMC method will be presented. This work was supported by Sandia National Laboratory - Albuquerque.

Monte Carlo strategies in scientific computing

CERN Document Server

Liu, Jun S

2008-01-01

This paperback edition is a reprint of the 2001 Springer edition This book provides a self-contained and up-to-date treatment of the Monte Carlo method and develops a common framework under which various Monte Carlo techniques can be "standardized" and compared Given the interdisciplinary nature of the topics and a moderate prerequisite for the reader, this book should be of interest to a broad audience of quantitative researchers such as computational biologists, computer scientists, econometricians, engineers, probabilists, and statisticians It can also be used as the textbook for a graduate-level course on Monte Carlo methods Many problems discussed in the alter chapters can be potential thesis topics for masters’ or PhD students in statistics or computer science departments Jun Liu is Professor of Statistics at Harvard University, with a courtesy Professor appointment at Harvard Biostatistics Department Professor Liu was the recipient of the 2002 COPSS Presidents' Award, the most prestigious one for sta...

Off-diagonal expansion quantum Monte Carlo.

Science.gov (United States)

Albash, Tameem; Wagenbreth, Gene; Hen, Itay

2017-12-01

We propose a Monte Carlo algorithm designed to simulate quantum as well as classical systems at equilibrium, bridging the algorithmic gap between quantum and classical thermal simulation algorithms. The method is based on a decomposition of the quantum partition function that can be viewed as a series expansion about its classical part. We argue that the algorithm not only provides a theoretical advancement in the field of quantum Monte Carlo simulations, but is optimally suited to tackle quantum many-body systems that exhibit a range of behaviors from "fully quantum" to "fully classical," in contrast to many existing methods. We demonstrate the advantages, sometimes by orders of magnitude, of the technique by comparing it against existing state-of-the-art schemes such as path integral quantum Monte Carlo and stochastic series expansion. We also illustrate how our method allows for the unification of quantum and classical thermal parallel tempering techniques into a single algorithm and discuss its practical significance.

Evaluation and characterization of X-ray scattering in tissues and mammographic simulators using Monte Carlo simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oliveira, Monica G. Nunes; Braz, Delson; Silva, Regina Cely B. da S.

2005-01-01

The computer simulation has been widely used in physical researches by both the viability of the codes and the growth of the power of computers in the last decades. The Monte Carlo simulation program, EGS4 code is a simulation program used in the area of radiation transport. The simulators, surrogate tissues, phantoms are objects used to perform studies on dosimetric quantities and quality testing of images. The simulators have characteristics of scattering and absorption of radiation similar to tissues that make up the body. The aim of this work is to translate the effects of radiation interactions in a real healthy breast tissues, sick and on simulators using the EGS4 Monte Carlo simulation code

Breeding ornithical communities in the Natural Reserve “Monte Soratte” (Central Italy: composition and structure.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Corrado Battisti

2012-12-01

Full Text Available In this study we obtained further data on the breeding bird communities of “Monte Soratte” nature reserve (Latium, central Italy. We sampled 55 breeding species (49 during the standard sampling with point counts in four habitat types (Quercus ilex oak woods, landscape mosaics, urban habitats and wet habitat mosaics along the Tiber river. Landscape mosaics and wet mosaics along the Tiber river showed higher values both of richness (also normalizing with the Margalef index and Shannon diversity when compared to the other habitat types. Bird community in urban habitats showed a high mean species richness but a low β-diversity index, probably due to low spatial heterogeneity. The values of mean species richness are not significantly different among habitat types. Further research should be promoted to confirm the nesting of some species, yet observed in this area (e.g., Falco peregrinus, Phylloscopus bonelli. “Monte Soratte” nature reserve may represent a stop-over site and a foraging area for migrant raptors of conservation concern (e.g., for Circaetus gallicus.

Dynamic bounds coupled with Monte Carlo simulations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rajabalinejad, M., E-mail: M.Rajabalinejad@tudelft.n [Faculty of Civil Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft (Netherlands); Meester, L.E. [Delft Institute of Applied Mathematics, Delft University of Technology, Delft (Netherlands); Gelder, P.H.A.J.M. van; Vrijling, J.K. [Faculty of Civil Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft (Netherlands)

2011-02-15

For the reliability analysis of engineering structures a variety of methods is known, of which Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is widely considered to be among the most robust and most generally applicable. To reduce simulation cost of the MC method, variance reduction methods are applied. This paper describes a method to reduce the simulation cost even further, while retaining the accuracy of Monte Carlo, by taking into account widely present monotonicity. For models exhibiting monotonic (decreasing or increasing) behavior, dynamic bounds (DB) are defined, which in a coupled Monte Carlo simulation are updated dynamically, resulting in a failure probability estimate, as well as a strict (non-probabilistic) upper and lower bounds. Accurate results are obtained at a much lower cost than an equivalent ordinary Monte Carlo simulation. In a two-dimensional and a four-dimensional numerical example, the cost reduction factors are 130 and 9, respectively, where the relative error is smaller than 5%. At higher accuracy levels, this factor increases, though this effect is expected to be smaller with increasing dimension. To show the application of DB method to real world problems, it is applied to a complex finite element model of a flood wall in New Orleans.

Coded aperture optimization using Monte Carlo simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martineau, A.; Rocchisani, J.M.; Moretti, J.L.

2010-01-01

Coded apertures using Uniformly Redundant Arrays (URA) have been unsuccessfully evaluated for two-dimensional and three-dimensional imaging in Nuclear Medicine. The images reconstructed from coded projections contain artifacts and suffer from poor spatial resolution in the longitudinal direction. We introduce a Maximum-Likelihood Expectation-Maximization (MLEM) algorithm for three-dimensional coded aperture imaging which uses a projection matrix calculated by Monte Carlo simulations. The aim of the algorithm is to reduce artifacts and improve the three-dimensional spatial resolution in the reconstructed images. Firstly, we present the validation of GATE (Geant4 Application for Emission Tomography) for Monte Carlo simulations of a coded mask installed on a clinical gamma camera. The coded mask modelling was validated by comparison between experimental and simulated data in terms of energy spectra, sensitivity and spatial resolution. In the second part of the study, we use the validated model to calculate the projection matrix with Monte Carlo simulations. A three-dimensional thyroid phantom study was performed to compare the performance of the three-dimensional MLEM reconstruction with conventional correlation method. The results indicate that the artifacts are reduced and three-dimensional spatial resolution is improved with the Monte Carlo-based MLEM reconstruction.

Randomized quasi-Monte Carlo simulation of fast-ion thermalization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Höök, L J; Johnson, T; Hellsten, T

2012-01-01

This work investigates the applicability of the randomized quasi-Monte Carlo method for simulation of fast-ion thermalization processes in fusion plasmas, e.g. for simulation of neutral beam injection and radio frequency heating. In contrast to the standard Monte Carlo method, the quasi-Monte Carlo method uses deterministic numbers instead of pseudo-random numbers and has a statistical weak convergence close to O(N -1 ), where N is the number of markers. We have compared different quasi-Monte Carlo methods for a neutral beam injection scenario, which is solved by many realizations of the associated stochastic differential equation, discretized with the Euler-Maruyama scheme. The statistical convergence of the methods is measured for time steps up to 2 14 . (paper)

Usefulness of the Monte Carlo method in reliability calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lanore, J.M.; Kalli, H.

1977-01-01

Three examples of reliability Monte Carlo programs developed in the LEP (Laboratory for Radiation Shielding Studies in the Nuclear Research Center at Saclay) are presented. First, an uncertainty analysis is given for a simplified spray system; a Monte Carlo program PATREC-MC has been written to solve the problem with the system components given in the fault tree representation. The second program MONARC 2 has been written to solve the problem of complex systems reliability by the Monte Carlo simulation, here again the system (a residual heat removal system) is in the fault tree representation. Third, the Monte Carlo program MONARC was used instead of the Markov diagram to solve the simulation problem of an electric power supply including two nets and two stand-by diesels

Combinatorial nuclear level density by a Monte Carlo method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cerf, N.

1994-01-01

We present a new combinatorial method for the calculation of the nuclear level density. It is based on a Monte Carlo technique, in order to avoid a direct counting procedure which is generally impracticable for high-A nuclei. The Monte Carlo simulation, making use of the Metropolis sampling scheme, allows a computationally fast estimate of the level density for many fermion systems in large shell model spaces. We emphasize the advantages of this Monte Carlo approach, particularly concerning the prediction of the spin and parity distributions of the excited states,and compare our results with those derived from a traditional combinatorial or a statistical method. Such a Monte Carlo technique seems very promising to determine accurate level densities in a large energy range for nuclear reaction calculations

Monte Carlo variance reduction approaches for non-Boltzmann tallies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Booth, T.E.

1992-12-01

Quantities that depend on the collective effects of groups of particles cannot be obtained from the standard Boltzmann transport equation. Monte Carlo estimates of these quantities are called non-Boltzmann tallies and have become increasingly important recently. Standard Monte Carlo variance reduction techniques were designed for tallies based on individual particles rather than groups of particles. Experience with non-Boltzmann tallies and analog Monte Carlo has demonstrated the severe limitations of analog Monte Carlo for many non-Boltzmann tallies. In fact, many calculations absolutely require variance reduction methods to achieve practical computation times. Three different approaches to variance reduction for non-Boltzmann tallies are described and shown to be unbiased. The advantages and disadvantages of each of the approaches are discussed

Variational Monte Carlo Technique

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education; Volume 19; Issue 8. Variational Monte Carlo Technique: Ground State Energies of Quantum Mechanical Systems. Sukanta Deb. General Article Volume 19 Issue 8 August 2014 pp 713-739 ...

Discrete diffusion Monte Carlo for frequency-dependent radiative transfer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Densmore, Jeffery D.; Thompson, Kelly G.; Urbatsch, Todd J.

2011-01-01

Discrete Diffusion Monte Carlo (DDMC) is a technique for increasing the efficiency of Implicit Monte Carlo radiative-transfer simulations. In this paper, we develop an extension of DDMC for frequency-dependent radiative transfer. We base our new DDMC method on a frequency integrated diffusion equation for frequencies below a specified threshold. Above this threshold we employ standard Monte Carlo. With a frequency-dependent test problem, we confirm the increased efficiency of our new DDMC technique. (author)

Modified Monte Carlo procedure for particle transport problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matthes, W.

1978-01-01

The simulation of photon transport in the atmosphere with the Monte Carlo method forms part of the EURASEP-programme. The specifications for the problems posed for a solution were such, that the direct application of the analogue Monte Carlo method was not feasible. For this reason the standard Monte Carlo procedure was modified in the sense that additional properly weighted branchings at each collision and transport process in a photon history were introduced. This modified Monte Carlo procedure leads to a clear and logical separation of the essential parts of a problem and offers a large flexibility for variance reducing techniques. More complex problems, as foreseen in the EURASEP-programme (e.g. clouds in the atmosphere, rough ocean-surface and chlorophyl-distribution in the ocean) can be handled by recoding some subroutines. This collision- and transport-splitting procedure can of course be performed differently in different space- and energy regions. It is applied here only for a homogeneous problem

Uncertainty analysis in Monte Carlo criticality computations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qi Ao

2011-01-01

Highlights: ► Two types of uncertainty methods for k eff Monte Carlo computations are examined. ► Sampling method has the least restrictions on perturbation but computing resources. ► Analytical method is limited to small perturbation on material properties. ► Practicality relies on efficiency, multiparameter applicability and data availability. - Abstract: Uncertainty analysis is imperative for nuclear criticality risk assessments when using Monte Carlo neutron transport methods to predict the effective neutron multiplication factor (k eff ) for fissionable material systems. For the validation of Monte Carlo codes for criticality computations against benchmark experiments, code accuracy and precision are measured by both the computational bias and uncertainty in the bias. The uncertainty in the bias accounts for known or quantified experimental, computational and model uncertainties. For the application of Monte Carlo codes for criticality analysis of fissionable material systems, an administrative margin of subcriticality must be imposed to provide additional assurance of subcriticality for any unknown or unquantified uncertainties. Because of a substantial impact of the administrative margin of subcriticality on economics and safety of nuclear fuel cycle operations, recently increasing interests in reducing the administrative margin of subcriticality make the uncertainty analysis in criticality safety computations more risk-significant. This paper provides an overview of two most popular k eff uncertainty analysis methods for Monte Carlo criticality computations: (1) sampling-based methods, and (2) analytical methods. Examples are given to demonstrate their usage in the k eff uncertainty analysis due to uncertainties in both neutronic and non-neutronic parameters of fissionable material systems.

An Overview of the Monte Carlo Application ToolKit (MCATK)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Trahan, Travis John [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2016-01-07

MCATK is a C++ component-based Monte Carlo neutron-gamma transport software library designed to build specialized applications and designed to provide new functionality in existing general-purpose Monte Carlo codes like MCNP; it was developed with Agile software engineering methodologies under the motivation to reduce costs. The characteristics of MCATK can be summarized as follows: MCATK physics – continuous energy neutron-gamma transport with multi-temperature treatment, static eigenvalue (k and α) algorithms, time-dependent algorithm, fission chain algorithms; MCATK geometry – mesh geometries, solid body geometries. MCATK provides verified, unit-tested Monte Carlo components, flexibility in Monte Carlo applications development, and numerous tools such as geometry and cross section plotters. Recent work has involved deterministic and Monte Carlo analysis of stochastic systems. Static and dynamic analysis is discussed, and the results of a dynamic test problem are given.

Efficiency and accuracy of Monte Carlo (importance) sampling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Waarts, P.H.

2003-01-01

Monte Carlo Analysis is often regarded as the most simple and accurate reliability method. Be-sides it is the most transparent method. The only problem is the accuracy in correlation with the efficiency. Monte Carlo gets less efficient or less accurate when very low probabilities are to be computed

Suppression of the initial transient in Monte Carlo criticality simulations; Suppression du regime transitoire initial des simulations Monte-Carlo de criticite

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Richet, Y

2006-12-15

Criticality Monte Carlo calculations aim at estimating the effective multiplication factor (k-effective) for a fissile system through iterations simulating neutrons propagation (making a Markov chain). Arbitrary initialization of the neutron population can deeply bias the k-effective estimation, defined as the mean of the k-effective computed at each iteration. A simplified model of this cycle k-effective sequence is built, based on characteristics of industrial criticality Monte Carlo calculations. Statistical tests, inspired by Brownian bridge properties, are designed to discriminate stationarity of the cycle k-effective sequence. The initial detected transient is, then, suppressed in order to improve the estimation of the system k-effective. The different versions of this methodology are detailed and compared, firstly on a plan of numerical tests fitted on criticality Monte Carlo calculations, and, secondly on real criticality calculations. Eventually, the best methodologies observed in these tests are selected and allow to improve industrial Monte Carlo criticality calculations. (author)

Monte Carlo criticality analysis for dissolvers with neutron poison

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Deshun; Dong, Xiufang; Pu, Fuxiang.

1987-01-01

Criticality analysis for dissolvers with neutron poison is given on the basis of Monte Carlo method. In Monte Carlo calculations of thermal neutron group parameters for fuel pieces, neutron transport length is determined in terms of maximum cross section approach. A set of related effective multiplication factors (K eff ) are calculated by Monte Carlo method for the three cases. Related numerical results are quite useful for the design and operation of this kind of dissolver in the criticality safety analysis. (author)

Improvements for Monte Carlo burnup calculation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shenglong, Q.; Dong, Y.; Danrong, S.; Wei, L., E-mail: qiangshenglong@tsinghua.org.cn, E-mail: d.yao@npic.ac.cn, E-mail: songdr@npic.ac.cn, E-mail: luwei@npic.ac.cn [Nuclear Power Inst. of China, Cheng Du, Si Chuan (China)

2015-07-01

Monte Carlo burnup calculation is development trend of reactor physics, there would be a lot of work to be done for engineering applications. Based on Monte Carlo burnup code MOI, non-fuel burnup calculation methods and critical search suggestions will be mentioned in this paper. For non-fuel burnup, mixed burnup mode will improve the accuracy of burnup calculation and efficiency. For critical search of control rod position, a new method called ABN based on ABA which used by MC21 will be proposed for the first time in this paper. (author)

Monte Carlo dose distributions for radiosurgery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perucha, M.; Leal, A.; Rincon, M.; Carrasco, E.

2001-01-01

The precision of Radiosurgery Treatment planning systems is limited by the approximations of their algorithms and by their dosimetrical input data. This fact is especially important in small fields. However, the Monte Carlo methods is an accurate alternative as it considers every aspect of particle transport. In this work an acoustic neurinoma is studied by comparing the dose distribution of both a planning system and Monte Carlo. Relative shifts have been measured and furthermore, Dose-Volume Histograms have been calculated for target and adjacent organs at risk. (orig.)

Quasi Monte Carlo methods for optimization models of the energy industry with pricing and load processes; Quasi-Monte Carlo Methoden fuer Optimierungsmodelle der Energiewirtschaft mit Preis- und Last-Prozessen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leoevey, H.; Roemisch, W. [Humboldt-Univ., Berlin (Germany)

2015-07-01

We discuss progress in quasi Monte Carlo methods for numerical calculation integrals or expected values and justify why these methods are more efficient than the classic Monte Carlo methods. Quasi Monte Carlo methods are found to be particularly efficient if the integrands have a low effective dimension. That's why We also discuss the concept of effective dimension and prove on the example of a stochastic Optimization model of the energy industry that such models can posses a low effective dimension. Modern quasi Monte Carlo methods are therefore for such models very promising. [German] Wir diskutieren Fortschritte bei Quasi-Monte Carlo Methoden zur numerischen Berechnung von Integralen bzw. Erwartungswerten und begruenden warum diese Methoden effizienter sind als die klassischen Monte Carlo Methoden. Quasi-Monte Carlo Methoden erweisen sich als besonders effizient, falls die Integranden eine geringe effektive Dimension besitzen. Deshalb diskutieren wir auch den Begriff effektive Dimension und weisen am Beispiel eines stochastischen Optimierungsmodell aus der Energiewirtschaft nach, dass solche Modelle eine niedrige effektive Dimension besitzen koennen. Moderne Quasi-Monte Carlo Methoden sind deshalb fuer solche Modelle sehr erfolgversprechend.

Shell model Monte Carlo methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koonin, S.E.; Dean, D.J.; Langanke, K.

1997-01-01

We review quantum Monte Carlo methods for dealing with large shell model problems. These methods reduce the imaginary-time many-body evolution operator to a coherent superposition of one-body evolutions in fluctuating one-body fields; the resultant path integral is evaluated stochastically. We first discuss the motivation, formalism, and implementation of such Shell Model Monte Carlo (SMMC) methods. There then follows a sampler of results and insights obtained from a number of applications. These include the ground state and thermal properties of pf-shell nuclei, the thermal and rotational behavior of rare-earth and γ-soft nuclei, and the calculation of double beta-decay matrix elements. Finally, prospects for further progress in such calculations are discussed. (orig.)

Monte Carlo Methods in ICF

Science.gov (United States)

Zimmerman, George B.

Monte Carlo methods appropriate to simulate the transport of x-rays, neutrons, ions and electrons in Inertial Confinement Fusion targets are described and analyzed. The Implicit Monte Carlo method of x-ray transport handles symmetry within indirect drive ICF hohlraums well, but can be improved 50X in efficiency by angular biasing the x-rays towards the fuel capsule. Accurate simulation of thermonuclear burn and burn diagnostics involves detailed particle source spectra, charged particle ranges, inflight reaction kinematics, corrections for bulk and thermal Doppler effects and variance reduction to obtain adequate statistics for rare events. It is found that the effects of angular Coulomb scattering must be included in models of charged particle transport through heterogeneous materials.

Monte Carlo methods in ICF

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zimmerman, George B.

1997-01-01

Monte Carlo methods appropriate to simulate the transport of x-rays, neutrons, ions and electrons in Inertial Confinement Fusion targets are described and analyzed. The Implicit Monte Carlo method of x-ray transport handles symmetry within indirect drive ICF hohlraums well, but can be improved 50X in efficiency by angular biasing the x-rays towards the fuel capsule. Accurate simulation of thermonuclear burn and burn diagnostics involves detailed particle source spectra, charged particle ranges, inflight reaction kinematics, corrections for bulk and thermal Doppler effects and variance reduction to obtain adequate statistics for rare events. It is found that the effects of angular Coulomb scattering must be included in models of charged particle transport through heterogeneous materials

Monte Carlo Modelling of Single-Crystal Diffuse Scattering from Intermetallics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Darren J. Goossens

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Single-crystal diffuse scattering (SCDS reveals detailed structural insights into materials. In particular, it is sensitive to two-body correlations, whereas traditional Bragg peak-based methods are sensitive to single-body correlations. This means that diffuse scattering is sensitive to ordering that persists for just a few unit cells: nanoscale order, sometimes referred to as “local structure”, which is often crucial for understanding a material and its function. Metals and alloys were early candidates for SCDS studies because of the availability of large single crystals. While great progress has been made in areas like ab initio modelling and molecular dynamics, a place remains for Monte Carlo modelling of model crystals because of its ability to model very large systems; important when correlations are relatively long (though still finite in range. This paper briefly outlines, and gives examples of, some Monte Carlo methods appropriate for the modelling of SCDS from metallic compounds, and considers data collection as well as analysis. Even if the interest in the material is driven primarily by magnetism or transport behaviour, an understanding of the local structure can underpin such studies and give an indication of nanoscale inhomogeneity.

BREM5 electroweak Monte Carlo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kennedy, D.C. II.

1987-01-01

This is an update on the progress of the BREMMUS Monte Carlo simulator, particularly in its current incarnation, BREM5. The present report is intended only as a follow-up to the Mark II/Granlibakken proceedings, and those proceedings should be consulted for a complete description of the capabilities and goals of the BREMMUS program. The new BREM5 program improves on the previous version of BREMMUS, BREM2, in a number of important ways. In BREM2, the internal loop (oblique) corrections were not treated in consistent fashion, a deficiency that led to renormalization scheme-dependence; i.e., physical results, such as cross sections, were dependent on the method used to eliminate infinities from the theory. Of course, this problem cannot be tolerated in a Monte Carlo designed for experimental use. BREM5 incorporates a new way of treating the oblique corrections, as explained in the Granlibakken proceedings, that guarantees renormalization scheme-independence and dramatically simplifies the organization and calculation of radiative corrections. This technique is to be presented in full detail in a forthcoming paper. BREM5 is, at this point, the only Monte Carlo to contain the entire set of one-loop corrections to electroweak four-fermion processes and renormalization scheme-independence. 3 figures

A concept for optimizing avalanche rescue strategies using a Monte Carlo simulation approach.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ingrid Reiweger

Full Text Available Recent technical and strategical developments have increased the survival chances for avalanche victims. Still hundreds of people, primarily recreationists, get caught and buried by snow avalanches every year. About 100 die each year in the European Alps-and many more worldwide. Refining concepts for avalanche rescue means to optimize the procedures such that the survival chances are maximized in order to save the greatest possible number of lives. Avalanche rescue includes several parameters related to terrain, natural hazards, the people affected by the event, the rescuers, and the applied search and rescue equipment. The numerous parameters and their complex interaction make it unrealistic for a rescuer to take, in the urgency of the situation, the best possible decisions without clearly structured, easily applicable decision support systems. In order to analyse which measures lead to the best possible survival outcome in the complex environment of an avalanche accident, we present a numerical approach, namely a Monte Carlo simulation. We demonstrate the application of Monte Carlo simulations for two typical, yet tricky questions in avalanche rescue: (1 calculating how deep one should probe in the first passage of a probe line depending on search area, and (2 determining for how long resuscitation should be performed on a specific patient while others are still buried. In both cases, we demonstrate that optimized strategies can be calculated with the Monte Carlo method, provided that the necessary input data are available. Our Monte Carlo simulations also suggest that with a strict focus on the "greatest good for the greatest number", today's rescue strategies can be further optimized in the best interest of patients involved in an avalanche accident.

Modelling of an industrial environment, part 1.: Monte Carlo simulations of photon transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kis, Z.; Eged, K.; Meckbach, R.; Voigt, G.

2002-01-01

After a nuclear accident releasing radioactive material into the environment the external exposures may contribute significantly to the radiation exposure of the population (UNSCEAR 1988, 2000). For urban populations the external gamma exposure from radionuclides deposited on the surfaces of the urban-industrial environments yields the dominant contributions to the total dose to the public (Kelly 1987; Jacob and Meckbach 1990). The radiation field is naturally influenced by the environment around the sources. For calculations of the shielding effect of the structures in complex and realistic urban environments Monte Carlo methods turned out to be useful tools (Jacob and Meckbach 1987; Meckbach et al. 1988). Using these methods a complex environment can be set up in which the photon transport can be solved on a reliable way. The accuracy of the methods is in principle limited only by the knowledge of the atomic cross sections and the computational time. Several papers using Monte Carlo results for calculating doses from the external gamma exposures were published (Jacob and Meckbach 1987, 1990; Meckbach et al. 1988; Rochedo et al. 1996). In these papers the Monte Carlo simulations were run in urban environments and for different photon energies. The industrial environment can be defined as such an area where productive and/or commercial activity is carried out. A good example can be a factory or a supermarket. An industrial environment can rather be different from the urban ones as for the types and structures of the buildings and their dimensions. These variations will affect the radiation field of this environment. Hence there is a need to run new Monte Carlo simulations designed specially for the industrial environments

PEPSI: a Monte Carlo generator for polarized leptoproduction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mankiewicz, L.

1992-01-01

We describe PEPSI (Polarized Electron Proton Scattering Interactions) a Monte Carlo program for the polarized deep inelastic leptoproduction mediated by electromagnetic interaction. The code is a modification of the LEPTO 4.3 Lund Monte Carlo for unpolarized scattering and requires the standard polarization-independent JETSET routines to perform fragmentation into final hadrons. (orig.)

Importance estimation in Monte Carlo modelling of neutron and photon transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mickael, M.W.

1992-01-01

The estimation of neutron and photon importance in a three-dimensional geometry is achieved using a coupled Monte Carlo and diffusion theory calculation. The parameters required for the solution of the multigroup adjoint diffusion equation are estimated from an analog Monte Carlo simulation of the system under investigation. The solution of the adjoint diffusion equation is then used as an estimate of the particle importance in the actual simulation. This approach provides an automated and efficient variance reduction method for Monte Carlo simulations. The technique has been successfully applied to Monte Carlo simulation of neutron and coupled neutron-photon transport in the nuclear well-logging field. The results show that the importance maps obtained in a few minutes of computer time using this technique are in good agreement with Monte Carlo generated importance maps that require prohibitive computing times. The application of this method to Monte Carlo modelling of the response of neutron porosity and pulsed neutron instruments has resulted in major reductions in computation time. (Author)

Iterative acceleration methods for Monte Carlo and deterministic criticality calculations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Urbatsch, T.J.

1995-11-01

If you have ever given up on a nuclear criticality calculation and terminated it because it took so long to converge, you might find this thesis of interest. The author develops three methods for improving the fission source convergence in nuclear criticality calculations for physical systems with high dominance ratios for which convergence is slow. The Fission Matrix Acceleration Method and the Fission Diffusion Synthetic Acceleration (FDSA) Method are acceleration methods that speed fission source convergence for both Monte Carlo and deterministic methods. The third method is a hybrid Monte Carlo method that also converges for difficult problems where the unaccelerated Monte Carlo method fails. The author tested the feasibility of all three methods in a test bed consisting of idealized problems. He has successfully accelerated fission source convergence in both deterministic and Monte Carlo criticality calculations. By filtering statistical noise, he has incorporated deterministic attributes into the Monte Carlo calculations in order to speed their source convergence. He has used both the fission matrix and a diffusion approximation to perform unbiased accelerations. The Fission Matrix Acceleration method has been implemented in the production code MCNP and successfully applied to a real problem. When the unaccelerated calculations are unable to converge to the correct solution, they cannot be accelerated in an unbiased fashion. A Hybrid Monte Carlo method weds Monte Carlo and a modified diffusion calculation to overcome these deficiencies. The Hybrid method additionally possesses reduced statistical errors.

Iterative acceleration methods for Monte Carlo and deterministic criticality calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Urbatsch, T.J.

1995-11-01

If you have ever given up on a nuclear criticality calculation and terminated it because it took so long to converge, you might find this thesis of interest. The author develops three methods for improving the fission source convergence in nuclear criticality calculations for physical systems with high dominance ratios for which convergence is slow. The Fission Matrix Acceleration Method and the Fission Diffusion Synthetic Acceleration (FDSA) Method are acceleration methods that speed fission source convergence for both Monte Carlo and deterministic methods. The third method is a hybrid Monte Carlo method that also converges for difficult problems where the unaccelerated Monte Carlo method fails. The author tested the feasibility of all three methods in a test bed consisting of idealized problems. He has successfully accelerated fission source convergence in both deterministic and Monte Carlo criticality calculations. By filtering statistical noise, he has incorporated deterministic attributes into the Monte Carlo calculations in order to speed their source convergence. He has used both the fission matrix and a diffusion approximation to perform unbiased accelerations. The Fission Matrix Acceleration method has been implemented in the production code MCNP and successfully applied to a real problem. When the unaccelerated calculations are unable to converge to the correct solution, they cannot be accelerated in an unbiased fashion. A Hybrid Monte Carlo method weds Monte Carlo and a modified diffusion calculation to overcome these deficiencies. The Hybrid method additionally possesses reduced statistical errors

Study on random number generator in Monte Carlo code

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oya, Kentaro; Kitada, Takanori; Tanaka, Shinichi

2011-01-01

The Monte Carlo code uses a sequence of pseudo-random numbers with a random number generator (RNG) to simulate particle histories. A pseudo-random number has its own period depending on its generation method and the period is desired to be long enough not to exceed the period during one Monte Carlo calculation to ensure the correctness especially for a standard deviation of results. The linear congruential generator (LCG) is widely used as Monte Carlo RNG and the period of LCG is not so long by considering the increasing rate of simulation histories in a Monte Carlo calculation according to the remarkable enhancement of computer performance. Recently, many kinds of RNG have been developed and some of their features are better than those of LCG. In this study, we investigate the appropriate RNG in a Monte Carlo code as an alternative to LCG especially for the case of enormous histories. It is found that xorshift has desirable features compared with LCG, and xorshift has a larger period, a comparable speed to generate random numbers, a better randomness, and good applicability to parallel calculation. (author)

Combinatorial geometry domain decomposition strategies for Monte Carlo simulations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, G.; Zhang, B.; Deng, L.; Mo, Z.; Liu, Z.; Shangguan, D.; Ma, Y.; Li, S.; Hu, Z. [Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics, Beijing, 100094 (China)

2013-07-01

Analysis and modeling of nuclear reactors can lead to memory overload for a single core processor when it comes to refined modeling. A method to solve this problem is called 'domain decomposition'. In the current work, domain decomposition algorithms for a combinatorial geometry Monte Carlo transport code are developed on the JCOGIN (J Combinatorial Geometry Monte Carlo transport INfrastructure). Tree-based decomposition and asynchronous communication of particle information between domains are described in the paper. Combination of domain decomposition and domain replication (particle parallelism) is demonstrated and compared with that of MERCURY code. A full-core reactor model is simulated to verify the domain decomposition algorithms using the Monte Carlo particle transport code JMCT (J Monte Carlo Transport Code), which has being developed on the JCOGIN infrastructure. Besides, influences of the domain decomposition algorithms to tally variances are discussed. (authors)

Combinatorial geometry domain decomposition strategies for Monte Carlo simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, G.; Zhang, B.; Deng, L.; Mo, Z.; Liu, Z.; Shangguan, D.; Ma, Y.; Li, S.; Hu, Z.

2013-01-01

Analysis and modeling of nuclear reactors can lead to memory overload for a single core processor when it comes to refined modeling. A method to solve this problem is called 'domain decomposition'. In the current work, domain decomposition algorithms for a combinatorial geometry Monte Carlo transport code are developed on the JCOGIN (J Combinatorial Geometry Monte Carlo transport INfrastructure). Tree-based decomposition and asynchronous communication of particle information between domains are described in the paper. Combination of domain decomposition and domain replication (particle parallelism) is demonstrated and compared with that of MERCURY code. A full-core reactor model is simulated to verify the domain decomposition algorithms using the Monte Carlo particle transport code JMCT (J Monte Carlo Transport Code), which has being developed on the JCOGIN infrastructure. Besides, influences of the domain decomposition algorithms to tally variances are discussed. (authors)

An analysis on the costs of Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant; Uma analise sobre os custos da hidreletrica Belo Monte

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silva, Marcos Vinicius Miranda da [Universidade de Sao Paulo (PIPGE/USP), SP (Brazil). Programa Interunidades de Pos-Graduacao em Energia], e-mail: energiapara@yahoo.com.br

2008-07-01

The Belo Monte hydropower plant's low generation cost is among the arguments used by Centrais Eletricas do Norte do Brazil (ELETRONORTE), a Brazilian state electric utility, to make possible its construction. This paper shows that the generation cost presented by ELETROBRAS is very low in relation to the world pattern of cost and probably unrealistic. It also shows that the generation cost cannot be used separately to determine the Belo Monte dam's economic feasibility. There is the need to include other costs, such as: socio environmental degradation and control, financial compensation for using the hydraulic resources, transmission and thermal backup stations, beyond, evidently, generation cost for assuring the credibility of the Belo Monte hydropower plant's economic analysis. (author)

Monte Carlo method applied to medical physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oliveira, C.; Goncalves, I.F.; Chaves, A.; Lopes, M.C.; Teixeira, N.; Matos, B.; Goncalves, I.C.; Ramalho, A.; Salgado, J.

2000-01-01

The main application of the Monte Carlo method to medical physics is dose calculation. This paper shows some results of two dose calculation studies and two other different applications: optimisation of neutron field for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy and optimization of a filter for a beam tube for several purposes. The time necessary for Monte Carlo calculations - the highest boundary for its intensive utilisation - is being over-passed with faster and cheaper computers. (author)

A radiating shock evaluated using Implicit Monte Carlo Diffusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cleveland, M.; Gentile, N.

2013-01-01

Implicit Monte Carlo [1] (IMC) has been shown to be very expensive when used to evaluate a radiation field in opaque media. Implicit Monte Carlo Diffusion (IMD) [2], which evaluates a spatial discretized diffusion equation using a Monte Carlo algorithm, can be used to reduce the cost of evaluating the radiation field in opaque media [2]. This work couples IMD to the hydrodynamics equations to evaluate opaque diffusive radiating shocks. The Lowrie semi-analytic diffusive radiating shock benchmark[a] is used to verify our implementation of the coupled system of equations. (authors)

The Monte Carlo method the method of statistical trials

CERN Document Server

Shreider, YuA

1966-01-01

The Monte Carlo Method: The Method of Statistical Trials is a systematic account of the fundamental concepts and techniques of the Monte Carlo method, together with its range of applications. Some of these applications include the computation of definite integrals, neutron physics, and in the investigation of servicing processes. This volume is comprised of seven chapters and begins with an overview of the basic features of the Monte Carlo method and typical examples of its application to simple problems in computational mathematics. The next chapter examines the computation of multi-dimensio

Automated Monte Carlo biasing for photon-generated electrons near surfaces.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Franke, Brian Claude; Crawford, Martin James; Kensek, Ronald Patrick

2009-09-01

This report describes efforts to automate the biasing of coupled electron-photon Monte Carlo particle transport calculations. The approach was based on weight-windows biasing. Weight-window settings were determined using adjoint-flux Monte Carlo calculations. A variety of algorithms were investigated for adaptivity of the Monte Carlo tallies. Tree data structures were used to investigate spatial partitioning. Functional-expansion tallies were used to investigate higher-order spatial representations.

Applicability of quasi-Monte Carlo for lattice systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ammon, Andreas; Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron; Hartung, Tobias; Jansen, Karl; Leovey, Hernan; Griewank, Andreas; Mueller-Preussker, Michael

2013-11-01

This project investigates the applicability of quasi-Monte Carlo methods to Euclidean lattice systems in order to improve the asymptotic error scaling of observables for such theories. The error of an observable calculated by averaging over random observations generated from ordinary Monte Carlo simulations scales like N -1/2 , where N is the number of observations. By means of quasi-Monte Carlo methods it is possible to improve this scaling for certain problems to N -1 , or even further if the problems are regular enough. We adapted and applied this approach to simple systems like the quantum harmonic and anharmonic oscillator and verified an improved error scaling of all investigated observables in both cases.

Applicability of quasi-Monte Carlo for lattice systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ammon, Andreas [Berlin Humboldt-Univ. (Germany). Dept. of Physics; Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany). John von Neumann-Inst. fuer Computing NIC; Hartung, Tobias [King' s College London (United Kingdom). Dept. of Mathematics; Jansen, Karl [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany). John von Neumann-Inst. fuer Computing NIC; Leovey, Hernan; Griewank, Andreas [Berlin Humboldt-Univ. (Germany). Dept. of Mathematics; Mueller-Preussker, Michael [Berlin Humboldt-Univ. (Germany). Dept. of Physics

2013-11-15

This project investigates the applicability of quasi-Monte Carlo methods to Euclidean lattice systems in order to improve the asymptotic error scaling of observables for such theories. The error of an observable calculated by averaging over random observations generated from ordinary Monte Carlo simulations scales like N{sup -1/2}, where N is the number of observations. By means of quasi-Monte Carlo methods it is possible to improve this scaling for certain problems to N{sup -1}, or even further if the problems are regular enough. We adapted and applied this approach to simple systems like the quantum harmonic and anharmonic oscillator and verified an improved error scaling of all investigated observables in both cases.

Uniform distribution and quasi-Monte Carlo methods discrepancy, integration and applications

CERN Document Server

Kritzer, Peter; Pillichshammer, Friedrich; Winterhof, Arne

2014-01-01

The survey articles in this book focus on number theoretic point constructions, uniform distribution theory, and quasi-Monte Carlo methods. As deterministic versions of the Monte Carlo method, quasi-Monte Carlo rules enjoy increasing popularity, with many fruitful applications in mathematical practice, as for example in finance, computer graphics, and biology.

Clinical implementation of full Monte Carlo dose calculation in proton beam therapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paganetti, Harald; Jiang, Hongyu; Parodi, Katia; Slopsema, Roelf; Engelsman, Martijn

2008-01-01

The goal of this work was to facilitate the clinical use of Monte Carlo proton dose calculation to support routine treatment planning and delivery. The Monte Carlo code Geant4 was used to simulate the treatment head setup, including a time-dependent simulation of modulator wheels (for broad beam modulation) and magnetic field settings (for beam scanning). Any patient-field-specific setup can be modeled according to the treatment control system of the facility. The code was benchmarked against phantom measurements. Using a simulation of the ionization chamber reading in the treatment head allows the Monte Carlo dose to be specified in absolute units (Gy per ionization chamber reading). Next, the capability of reading CT data information was implemented into the Monte Carlo code to model patient anatomy. To allow time-efficient dose calculation, the standard Geant4 tracking algorithm was modified. Finally, a software link of the Monte Carlo dose engine to the patient database and the commercial planning system was established to allow data exchange, thus completing the implementation of the proton Monte Carlo dose calculation engine ('DoC++'). Monte Carlo re-calculated plans are a valuable tool to revisit decisions in the planning process. Identification of clinically significant differences between Monte Carlo and pencil-beam-based dose calculations may also drive improvements of current pencil-beam methods. As an example, four patients (29 fields in total) with tumors in the head and neck regions were analyzed. Differences between the pencil-beam algorithm and Monte Carlo were identified in particular near the end of range, both due to dose degradation and overall differences in range prediction due to bony anatomy in the beam path. Further, the Monte Carlo reports dose-to-tissue as compared to dose-to-water by the planning system. Our implementation is tailored to a specific Monte Carlo code and the treatment planning system XiO (Computerized Medical Systems Inc

Exponential convergence on a continuous Monte Carlo transport problem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Booth, T.E.

1997-01-01

For more than a decade, it has been known that exponential convergence on discrete transport problems was possible using adaptive Monte Carlo techniques. An adaptive Monte Carlo method that empirically produces exponential convergence on a simple continuous transport problem is described

Evaluation of occupational exposure in interventionist procedures using Monte Carlo Method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santos, William S.; Neves, Lucio P.; Perini, Ana P.; Caldas, Linda V.E.; Belinato, Walmir; Maia, Ana F.

2014-01-01

This study presents a computational model of exposure for a patient, cardiologist and nurse in a typical scenario of cardiac interventional procedures. In this case a set of conversion coefficient (CC) for effective dose (E) in terms of kerma-area product (KAP) for all individuals involved using seven different energy spectra and eight beam projections. The CC was also calculated for the entrance skin dose (ESD) normalized to the PKA for the patient. All individuals were represented by anthropomorphic phantoms incorporated in a radiation transport code based on Monte Carlo simulation. (author)

A flexible coupling scheme for Monte Carlo and thermal-hydraulics codes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoogenboom, J. Eduard, E-mail: J.E.Hoogenboom@tudelft.nl [Delft University of Technology (Netherlands); Ivanov, Aleksandar; Sanchez, Victor, E-mail: Aleksandar.Ivanov@kit.edu, E-mail: Victor.Sanchez@kit.edu [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Neutron Physics and Reactor Technology, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany); Diop, Cheikh, E-mail: Cheikh.Diop@cea.fr [CEA/DEN/DANS/DM2S/SERMA, Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Gif-sur-Yvette (France)

2011-07-01

A coupling scheme between a Monte Carlo code and a thermal-hydraulics code is being developed within the European NURISP project for comprehensive and validated reactor analysis. The scheme is flexible as it allows different Monte Carlo codes and different thermal-hydraulics codes to be used. At present the MCNP and TRIPOLI4 Monte Carlo codes can be used and the FLICA4 and SubChanFlow thermal-hydraulics codes. For all these codes only an original executable is necessary. A Python script drives the iterations between Monte Carlo and thermal-hydraulics calculations. It also calls a conversion program to merge a master input file for the Monte Carlo code with the appropriate temperature and coolant density data from the thermal-hydraulics calculation. Likewise it calls another conversion program to merge a master input file for the thermal-hydraulics code with the power distribution data from the Monte Carlo calculation. Special attention is given to the neutron cross section data for the various required temperatures in the Monte Carlo calculation. Results are shown for an infinite lattice of PWR fuel pin cells and a 3 x 3 fuel BWR pin cell cluster. Various possibilities for further improvement and optimization of the coupling system are discussed. (author)

A flexible coupling scheme for Monte Carlo and thermal-hydraulics codes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoogenboom, J. Eduard; Ivanov, Aleksandar; Sanchez, Victor; Diop, Cheikh

2011-01-01

A coupling scheme between a Monte Carlo code and a thermal-hydraulics code is being developed within the European NURISP project for comprehensive and validated reactor analysis. The scheme is flexible as it allows different Monte Carlo codes and different thermal-hydraulics codes to be used. At present the MCNP and TRIPOLI4 Monte Carlo codes can be used and the FLICA4 and SubChanFlow thermal-hydraulics codes. For all these codes only an original executable is necessary. A Python script drives the iterations between Monte Carlo and thermal-hydraulics calculations. It also calls a conversion program to merge a master input file for the Monte Carlo code with the appropriate temperature and coolant density data from the thermal-hydraulics calculation. Likewise it calls another conversion program to merge a master input file for the thermal-hydraulics code with the power distribution data from the Monte Carlo calculation. Special attention is given to the neutron cross section data for the various required temperatures in the Monte Carlo calculation. Results are shown for an infinite lattice of PWR fuel pin cells and a 3 x 3 fuel BWR pin cell cluster. Various possibilities for further improvement and optimization of the coupling system are discussed. (author)

Isotopic depletion with Monte Carlo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, W.R.; Rathkopf, J.A.

1996-06-01

This work considers a method to deplete isotopes during a time- dependent Monte Carlo simulation of an evolving system. The method is based on explicitly combining a conventional estimator for the scalar flux with the analytical solutions to the isotopic depletion equations. There are no auxiliary calculations; the method is an integral part of the Monte Carlo calculation. The method eliminates negative densities and reduces the variance in the estimates for the isotope densities, compared to existing methods. Moreover, existing methods are shown to be special cases of the general method described in this work, as they can be derived by combining a high variance estimator for the scalar flux with a low-order approximation to the analytical solution to the depletion equation

Multilevel sequential Monte-Carlo samplers

KAUST Repository

Jasra, Ajay

2016-01-01

Multilevel Monte-Carlo methods provide a powerful computational technique for reducing the computational cost of estimating expectations for a given computational effort. They are particularly relevant for computational problems when approximate distributions are determined via a resolution parameter h, with h=0 giving the theoretical exact distribution (e.g. SDEs or inverse problems with PDEs). The method provides a benefit by coupling samples from successive resolutions, and estimating differences of successive expectations. We develop a methodology that brings Sequential Monte-Carlo (SMC) algorithms within the framework of the Multilevel idea, as SMC provides a natural set-up for coupling samples over different resolutions. We prove that the new algorithm indeed preserves the benefits of the multilevel principle, even if samples at all resolutions are now correlated.

Monte Carlo methods in ICF

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zimmerman, G.B.

1997-01-01

Monte Carlo methods appropriate to simulate the transport of x-rays, neutrons, ions and electrons in Inertial Confinement Fusion targets are described and analyzed. The Implicit Monte Carlo method of x-ray transport handles symmetry within indirect drive ICF hohlraums well, but can be improved 50X in efficiency by angular biasing the x-rays towards the fuel capsule. Accurate simulation of thermonuclear burn and burn diagnostics involves detailed particle source spectra, charged particle ranges, inflight reaction kinematics, corrections for bulk and thermal Doppler effects and variance reduction to obtain adequate statistics for rare events. It is found that the effects of angular Coulomb scattering must be included in models of charged particle transport through heterogeneous materials. copyright 1997 American Institute of Physics

Multilevel sequential Monte-Carlo samplers

KAUST Repository

Jasra, Ajay

2016-01-05

Multilevel Monte-Carlo methods provide a powerful computational technique for reducing the computational cost of estimating expectations for a given computational effort. They are particularly relevant for computational problems when approximate distributions are determined via a resolution parameter h, with h=0 giving the theoretical exact distribution (e.g. SDEs or inverse problems with PDEs). The method provides a benefit by coupling samples from successive resolutions, and estimating differences of successive expectations. We develop a methodology that brings Sequential Monte-Carlo (SMC) algorithms within the framework of the Multilevel idea, as SMC provides a natural set-up for coupling samples over different resolutions. We prove that the new algorithm indeed preserves the benefits of the multilevel principle, even if samples at all resolutions are now correlated.

Parallel MCNP Monte Carlo transport calculations with MPI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wagner, J.C.; Haghighat, A.

1996-01-01

The steady increase in computational performance has made Monte Carlo calculations for large/complex systems possible. However, in order to make these calculations practical, order of magnitude increases in performance are necessary. The Monte Carlo method is inherently parallel (particles are simulated independently) and thus has the potential for near-linear speedup with respect to the number of processors. Further, the ever-increasing accessibility of parallel computers, such as workstation clusters, facilitates the practical use of parallel Monte Carlo. Recognizing the nature of the Monte Carlo method and the trends in available computing, the code developers at Los Alamos National Laboratory implemented the message-passing general-purpose Monte Carlo radiation transport code MCNP (version 4A). The PVM package was chosen by the MCNP code developers because it supports a variety of communication networks, several UNIX platforms, and heterogeneous computer systems. This PVM version of MCNP has been shown to produce speedups that approach the number of processors and thus, is a very useful tool for transport analysis. Due to software incompatibilities on the local IBM SP2, PVM has not been available, and thus it is not possible to take advantage of this useful tool. Hence, it became necessary to implement an alternative message-passing library package into MCNP. Because the message-passing interface (MPI) is supported on the local system, takes advantage of the high-speed communication switches in the SP2, and is considered to be the emerging standard, it was selected

Monte Carlo systems used for treatment planning and dose verification

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brualla, Lorenzo [Universitaetsklinikum Essen, NCTeam, Strahlenklinik, Essen (Germany); Rodriguez, Miguel [Centro Medico Paitilla, Balboa (Panama); Lallena, Antonio M. [Universidad de Granada, Departamento de Fisica Atomica, Molecular y Nuclear, Granada (Spain)

2017-04-15

General-purpose radiation transport Monte Carlo codes have been used for estimation of the absorbed dose distribution in external photon and electron beam radiotherapy patients since several decades. Results obtained with these codes are usually more accurate than those provided by treatment planning systems based on non-stochastic methods. Traditionally, absorbed dose computations based on general-purpose Monte Carlo codes have been used only for research, owing to the difficulties associated with setting up a simulation and the long computation time required. To take advantage of radiation transport Monte Carlo codes applied to routine clinical practice, researchers and private companies have developed treatment planning and dose verification systems that are partly or fully based on fast Monte Carlo algorithms. This review presents a comprehensive list of the currently existing Monte Carlo systems that can be used to calculate or verify an external photon and electron beam radiotherapy treatment plan. Particular attention is given to those systems that are distributed, either freely or commercially, and that do not require programming tasks from the end user. These systems are compared in terms of features and the simulation time required to compute a set of benchmark calculations. (orig.) [German] Seit mehreren Jahrzehnten werden allgemein anwendbare Monte-Carlo-Codes zur Simulation des Strahlungstransports benutzt, um die Verteilung der absorbierten Dosis in der perkutanen Strahlentherapie mit Photonen und Elektronen zu evaluieren. Die damit erzielten Ergebnisse sind meist akkurater als solche, die mit nichtstochastischen Methoden herkoemmlicher Bestrahlungsplanungssysteme erzielt werden koennen. Wegen des damit verbundenen Arbeitsaufwands und der langen Dauer der Berechnungen wurden Monte-Carlo-Simulationen von Dosisverteilungen in der konventionellen Strahlentherapie in der Vergangenheit im Wesentlichen in der Forschung eingesetzt. Im Bemuehen, Monte

Monte Carlo Techniques for the Comprehensive Modeling of Isotopic Inventories in Future Nuclear Systems and Fuel Cycles. Final Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paul P.H. Wilson

2005-01-01

The development of Monte Carlo techniques for isotopic inventory analysis has been explored in order to facilitate the modeling of systems with flowing streams of material through varying neutron irradiation environments. This represents a novel application of Monte Carlo methods to a field that has traditionally relied on deterministic solutions to systems of first-order differential equations. The Monte Carlo techniques were based largely on the known modeling techniques of Monte Carlo radiation transport, but with important differences, particularly in the area of variance reduction and efficiency measurement. The software that was developed to implement and test these methods now provides a basis for validating approximate modeling techniques that are available to deterministic methodologies. The Monte Carlo methods have been shown to be effective in reproducing the solutions of simple problems that are possible using both stochastic and deterministic methods. The Monte Carlo methods are also effective for tracking flows of materials through complex systems including the ability to model removal of individual elements or isotopes in the system. Computational performance is best for flows that have characteristic times that are large fractions of the system lifetime. As the characteristic times become short, leading to thousands or millions of passes through the system, the computational performance drops significantly. Further research is underway to determine modeling techniques to improve performance within this range of problems. This report describes the technical development of Monte Carlo techniques for isotopic inventory analysis. The primary motivation for this solution methodology is the ability to model systems of flowing material being exposed to varying and stochastically varying radiation environments. The methodology was developed in three stages: analog methods which model each atom with true reaction probabilities (Section 2), non-analog methods

Multilevel Monte Carlo in Approximate Bayesian Computation

KAUST Repository

Jasra, Ajay

2017-02-13

In the following article we consider approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) inference. We introduce a method for numerically approximating ABC posteriors using the multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC). A sequential Monte Carlo version of the approach is developed and it is shown under some assumptions that for a given level of mean square error, this method for ABC has a lower cost than i.i.d. sampling from the most accurate ABC approximation. Several numerical examples are given.

Exploring Monte Carlo Simulation Strategies for Geoscience Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Blais, J.; Grebenitcharsky, R.; Zhang, Z.

2008-12-01

Computer simulations are an increasingly important area of geoscience research and development. At the core of stochastic or Monte Carlo simulations are the random number sequences that are assumed to be distributed with specific characteristics. Computer generated random numbers, uniformly distributed on [0, 1], can be very different depending on the selection of pseudo-random number (PRN), quasi-random number (QRN) or chaotic random number (CRN) generators. In the evaluation of some definite integrals, the expected error variances are generally of different orders for the same number of random numbers. A comparative analysis of these three strategies has been carried out for geodetic and related applications in planar and spherical contexts. Based on these computational experiments, conclusions and recommendations concerning their performance and error variances are included.

Monte Carlo simulation of Markov unreliability models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lewis, E.E.; Boehm, F.

1984-01-01

A Monte Carlo method is formulated for the evaluation of the unrealibility of complex systems with known component failure and repair rates. The formulation is in terms of a Markov process allowing dependences between components to be modeled and computational efficiencies to be achieved in the Monte Carlo simulation. Two variance reduction techniques, forced transition and failure biasing, are employed to increase computational efficiency of the random walk procedure. For an example problem these result in improved computational efficiency by more than three orders of magnitudes over analog Monte Carlo. The method is generalized to treat problems with distributed failure and repair rate data, and a batching technique is introduced and shown to result in substantial increases in computational efficiency for an example problem. A method for separating the variance due to the data uncertainty from that due to the finite number of random walks is presented. (orig.)

A residual Monte Carlo method for discrete thermal radiative diffusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evans, T.M.; Urbatsch, T.J.; Lichtenstein, H.; Morel, J.E.

2003-01-01

Residual Monte Carlo methods reduce statistical error at a rate of exp(-bN), where b is a positive constant and N is the number of particle histories. Contrast this convergence rate with 1/√N, which is the rate of statistical error reduction for conventional Monte Carlo methods. Thus, residual Monte Carlo methods hold great promise for increased efficiency relative to conventional Monte Carlo methods. Previous research has shown that the application of residual Monte Carlo methods to the solution of continuum equations, such as the radiation transport equation, is problematic for all but the simplest of cases. However, the residual method readily applies to discrete systems as long as those systems are monotone, i.e., they produce positive solutions given positive sources. We develop a residual Monte Carlo method for solving a discrete 1D non-linear thermal radiative equilibrium diffusion equation, and we compare its performance with that of the discrete conventional Monte Carlo method upon which it is based. We find that the residual method provides efficiency gains of many orders of magnitude. Part of the residual gain is due to the fact that we begin each timestep with an initial guess equal to the solution from the previous timestep. Moreover, fully consistent non-linear solutions can be obtained in a reasonable amount of time because of the effective lack of statistical noise. We conclude that the residual approach has great potential and that further research into such methods should be pursued for more general discrete and continuum systems

FLUKA Monte Carlo Modelling of the CHARM Facility’s Test Area: Update of the Radiation Field Assessment

CERN Document Server

Infantino, Angelo

2017-01-01

The present Accelerator Note is a follow-up of the previous report CERN-ACC-NOTE-2016-12345. In the present work, the FLUKA Monte Carlo model of CERN’s CHARM facility has been improved to the most up-to-date configuration of the facility, including: new test positions, a global refinement of the FLUKA geometry, a careful review of the transport and physics parameters. Several configurations of the facility, in terms of target material and movable shielding configuration, have been simulated. The full set of results is reported in the following and can act as a reference guide to any potential user of the facility.

Stochastic approximation Monte Carlo importance sampling for approximating exact conditional probabilities

KAUST Repository

Cheon, Sooyoung

2013-02-16

Importance sampling and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods have been used in exact inference for contingency tables for a long time, however, their performances are not always very satisfactory. In this paper, we propose a stochastic approximation Monte Carlo importance sampling (SAMCIS) method for tackling this problem. SAMCIS is a combination of adaptive Markov chain Monte Carlo and importance sampling, which employs the stochastic approximation Monte Carlo algorithm (Liang et al., J. Am. Stat. Assoc., 102(477):305-320, 2007) to draw samples from an enlarged reference set with a known Markov basis. Compared to the existing importance sampling and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, SAMCIS has a few advantages, such as fast convergence, ergodicity, and the ability to achieve a desired proportion of valid tables. The numerical results indicate that SAMCIS can outperform the existing importance sampling and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods: It can produce much more accurate estimates in much shorter CPU time than the existing methods, especially for the tables with high degrees of freedom. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Stochastic approximation Monte Carlo importance sampling for approximating exact conditional probabilities

KAUST Repository

Cheon, Sooyoung; Liang, Faming; Chen, Yuguo; Yu, Kai

2013-01-01

Importance sampling and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods have been used in exact inference for contingency tables for a long time, however, their performances are not always very satisfactory. In this paper, we propose a stochastic approximation Monte Carlo importance sampling (SAMCIS) method for tackling this problem. SAMCIS is a combination of adaptive Markov chain Monte Carlo and importance sampling, which employs the stochastic approximation Monte Carlo algorithm (Liang et al., J. Am. Stat. Assoc., 102(477):305-320, 2007) to draw samples from an enlarged reference set with a known Markov basis. Compared to the existing importance sampling and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, SAMCIS has a few advantages, such as fast convergence, ergodicity, and the ability to achieve a desired proportion of valid tables. The numerical results indicate that SAMCIS can outperform the existing importance sampling and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods: It can produce much more accurate estimates in much shorter CPU time than the existing methods, especially for the tables with high degrees of freedom. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Contributon Monte Carlo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dubi, A.; Gerstl, S.A.W.

1979-05-01

The contributon Monte Carlo method is based on a new recipe to calculate target responses by means of volume integral of the contributon current in a region between the source and the detector. A comprehensive description of the method, its implementation in the general-purpose MCNP code, and results of the method for realistic nonhomogeneous, energy-dependent problems are presented. 23 figures, 10 tables

Bayesian Monte Carlo method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rajabalinejad, M.

2010-01-01

To reduce cost of Monte Carlo (MC) simulations for time-consuming processes, Bayesian Monte Carlo (BMC) is introduced in this paper. The BMC method reduces number of realizations in MC according to the desired accuracy level. BMC also provides a possibility of considering more priors. In other words, different priors can be integrated into one model by using BMC to further reduce cost of simulations. This study suggests speeding up the simulation process by considering the logical dependence of neighboring points as prior information. This information is used in the BMC method to produce a predictive tool through the simulation process. The general methodology and algorithm of BMC method are presented in this paper. The BMC method is applied to the simplified break water model as well as the finite element model of 17th Street Canal in New Orleans, and the results are compared with the MC and Dynamic Bounds methods.

Closed-shell variational quantum Monte Carlo simulation for the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Closed-shell variational quantum Monte Carlo simulation for the electric dipole moment calculation of hydrazine molecule using casino-code. ... Nigeria Journal of Pure and Applied Physics ... The variational quantum Monte Carlo (VQMC) technique used in this work employed the restricted Hartree-Fock (RHF) scheme.

New Approaches and Applications for Monte Carlo Perturbation Theory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aufiero, Manuele; Bidaud, Adrien; Kotlyar, Dan; Leppänen, Jaakko; Palmiotti, Giuseppe; Salvatores, Massimo; Sen, Sonat; Shwageraus, Eugene; Fratoni, Massimiliano

2017-02-01

This paper presents some of the recent and new advancements in the extension of Monte Carlo Perturbation Theory methodologies and application. In particular, the discussed problems involve Brunup calculation, perturbation calculation based on continuous energy functions, and Monte Carlo Perturbation Theory in loosely coupled systems.

Recommender engine for continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo methods

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Li; Yang, Yi-feng; Wang, Lei

2017-03-01

Recommender systems play an essential role in the modern business world. They recommend favorable items such as books, movies, and search queries to users based on their past preferences. Applying similar ideas and techniques to Monte Carlo simulations of physical systems boosts their efficiency without sacrificing accuracy. Exploiting the quantum to classical mapping inherent in the continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo methods, we construct a classical molecular gas model to reproduce the quantum distributions. We then utilize powerful molecular simulation techniques to propose efficient quantum Monte Carlo updates. The recommender engine approach provides a general way to speed up the quantum impurity solvers.

Rapid Monte Carlo Simulation of Gravitational Wave Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Breivik, Katelyn; Larson, Shane L.

2015-01-01

With the detection of gravitational waves on the horizon, astrophysical catalogs produced by gravitational wave observatories can be used to characterize the populations of sources and validate different galactic population models. Efforts to simulate gravitational wave catalogs and source populations generally focus on population synthesis models that require extensive time and computational power to produce a single simulated galaxy. Monte Carlo simulations of gravitational wave source populations can also be used to generate observation catalogs from the gravitational wave source population. Monte Carlo simulations have the advantes of flexibility and speed, enabling rapid galactic realizations as a function of galactic binary parameters with less time and compuational resources required. We present a Monte Carlo method for rapid galactic simulations of gravitational wave binary populations.

A NEW EARLY SEMIONOTIDAE (SEMIONOTIFORMES, ACTINOPTERYGII FROM THE UPPER LADINIAN OF MONTE SAN GIORGIO AREA SOUTHERN SWITZERLAND AND NORTHERN ITALY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ANDREA TINTORI

2007-11-01

Full Text Available The early history of the Semionotiformes is still scarcely known as, apart from the Permian Acentrophorus, most of the Early and Middle Triassic taxa traditionally ascribed to this order are often poorly known and/or they actually belong to other groups. Sangiorgioichthys aldae gen. n. sp. n. is described from the Upper Ladinian Kalkschieferzone (Upper Meride Limestone of the Monte San Giorgio area on specimens coming from both Italy and Switzerland. The new genus is ascribed to the family Semionotidae as it shows several of the characters usually considered as diagnostic of the family itself, even if no real synapomorphies have been so far proposed for it. As a Semionotidae, Sangiorgioichthys gen. n. has an almost complete circumorbital series, large ascending process of the premaxilla, rostral and nasals almost tube-like, short maxilla, several suborbital bones posterior and ventral to the infraorbitals, long antero-dorsal process of the suboperculum, sensory canal system very rich in pores, mid dorsal ridge scales with an incipient spine. Peculiar characters of the new genus are dermal skull bones completely covered by ganoine, a very large ventral infraorbital almost attaining the anterior edge of the preoperculum, two ‘ventral’ suborbitals, very elongate anterior supraorbital bone,  dentition made of a number of tiny pencil-like teeth, anterior and posterior lateral line scales differentiated. 

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)

PERHITUNGAN VaR PORTOFOLIO SAHAM MENGGUNAKAN DATA HISTORIS DAN DATA SIMULASI MONTE CARLO

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

WAYAN ARTHINI

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Value at Risk (VaR is the maximum potential loss on a portfolio based on the probability at a certain time.  In this research, portfolio VaR values calculated from historical data and Monte Carlo simulation data. Historical data is processed so as to obtain stock returns, variance, correlation coefficient, and variance-covariance matrix, then the method of Markowitz sought proportion of each stock fund, and portfolio risk and return portfolio. The data was then simulated by Monte Carlo simulation, Exact Monte Carlo Simulation and Expected Monte Carlo Simulation. Exact Monte Carlo simulation have same returns and standard deviation  with historical data, while the Expected Monte Carlo Simulation satistic calculation similar to historical data. The results of this research is the portfolio VaR  with time horizon T=1, T=10, T=22 and the confidence level of 95 %, values obtained VaR between historical data and Monte Carlo simulation data with the method exact and expected. Value of VaR from both Monte Carlo simulation is greater than VaR historical data.

Assessing degradation of abandoned farmlands for conservation of the Monte Desert biome in Argentina.

Science.gov (United States)

Yannelli, Florencia A; Tabeni, Solana; Mastrantonio, Leandro E; Vezzani, Nazareth

2014-01-01

Land abandonment is a major issue worldwide. In Argentina, the Monte Desert is the most arid rangeland, where the traditional conservation practices are based on successional management of areas excluded to disturbances or abandoned. Some areas subjected to this kind of management may be too degraded, and thus require active restoration. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess whether passive succession-based management is a suitable approach by evaluating the status of land degradation in a protected area after 17-41 years of farming abandonment. Soil traits and plant growth forms were quantified and compared between sites according to time since abandonment and former land use (cultivation and grazing). Two variables were calculated using the CORINE-CEC method, i.e., potential (PSER) and actual (ASER) soil erosion risk. PSER indicates the erosion risk when no vegetation is present, while ASER includes the protective role of vegetation cover. Results showed that land use history had no significant effect on plant growth forms or soil traits (p > 0.05). After more than 25 years since abandonment of farming activities, soil conditions and vegetation cover had improved, thus having a lower ASER. Nevertheless, the present soil physical crusts may have delayed the full development of vegetation, enhancing erosion processes. Overall, this study indicates that succession-based management may not be the best practice in terms of conservation. Therefore, any effort for conservation in the Monte Desert should contemplate the current status of land degradation and potential vegetation recovery.

Monte Carlo methods for the reliability analysis of Markov systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buslik, A.J.

1985-01-01

This paper presents Monte Carlo methods for the reliability analysis of Markov systems. Markov models are useful in treating dependencies between components. The present paper shows how the adjoint Monte Carlo method for the continuous time Markov process can be derived from the method for the discrete-time Markov process by a limiting process. The straightforward extensions to the treatment of mean unavailability (over a time interval) are given. System unavailabilities can also be estimated; this is done by making the system failed states absorbing, and not permitting repair from them. A forward Monte Carlo method is presented in which the weighting functions are related to the adjoint function. In particular, if the exact adjoint function is known then weighting factors can be constructed such that the exact answer can be obtained with a single Monte Carlo trial. Of course, if the exact adjoint function is known, there is no need to perform the Monte Carlo calculation. However, the formulation is useful since it gives insight into choices of the weight factors which will reduce the variance of the estimator

A general transform for variance reduction in Monte Carlo simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Becker, T.L.; Larsen, E.W.

2011-01-01

This paper describes a general transform to reduce the variance of the Monte Carlo estimate of some desired solution, such as flux or biological dose. This transform implicitly includes many standard variance reduction techniques, including source biasing, collision biasing, the exponential transform for path-length stretching, and weight windows. Rather than optimizing each of these techniques separately or choosing semi-empirical biasing parameters based on the experience of a seasoned Monte Carlo practitioner, this General Transform unites all these variance techniques to achieve one objective: a distribution of Monte Carlo particles that attempts to optimize the desired solution. Specifically, this transform allows Monte Carlo particles to be distributed according to the user's specification by using information obtained from a computationally inexpensive deterministic simulation of the problem. For this reason, we consider the General Transform to be a hybrid Monte Carlo/Deterministic method. The numerical results con rm that the General Transform distributes particles according to the user-specified distribution and generally provide reasonable results for shielding applications. (author)

A Monte Carlo approach to combating delayed completion of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The objective of this paper is to unveil the relevance of Monte Carlo critical path analysis in resolving problem of delays in scheduled completion of development projects. Commencing with deterministic network scheduling, Monte Carlo critical path analysis was advanced by assigning probability distributions to task times.

Perturbation based Monte Carlo criticality search in density, enrichment and concentration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Zeguang; Wang, Kan; Deng, Jingkang

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A new perturbation based Monte Carlo criticality search method is proposed. • The method could get accurate results with only one individual criticality run. • The method is used to solve density, enrichment and concentration search problems. • Results show the feasibility and good performances of this method. • The relationship between results’ accuracy and perturbation order is discussed. - Abstract: Criticality search is a very important aspect in reactor physics analysis. Due to the advantages of Monte Carlo method and the development of computer technologies, Monte Carlo criticality search is becoming more and more necessary and feasible. Existing Monte Carlo criticality search methods need large amount of individual criticality runs and may have unstable results because of the uncertainties of criticality results. In this paper, a new perturbation based Monte Carlo criticality search method is proposed and discussed. This method only needs one individual criticality calculation with perturbation tallies to estimate k eff changing function using initial k eff and differential coefficients results, and solves polynomial equations to get the criticality search results. The new perturbation based Monte Carlo criticality search method is implemented in the Monte Carlo code RMC, and criticality search problems in density, enrichment and concentration are taken out. Results show that this method is quite inspiring in accuracy and efficiency, and has advantages compared with other criticality search methods

PENENTUAN HARGA OPSI BELI TIPE ASIA DENGAN METODE MONTE CARLO-CONTROL VARIATE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

NI NYOMAN AYU ARTANADI

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Option is a contract between the writer and the holder which entitles the holder to buy or sell an underlying asset at the maturity date for a specified price known as an exercise price. Asian option is a type of financial derivatives which the payoff taking the average value over the time series of the asset price. The aim of the study is to present the Monte Carlo-Control Variate as an extension of Standard Monte Carlo applied on the calculation of the Asian option price. Standard Monte Carlo simulations 10.000.000 generate standard error 0.06 and the option price convergent at Rp.160.00 while Monte Carlo-Control Variate simulations 100.000 generate standard error 0.01 and the option price convergent at Rp.152.00. This shows the Monte Carlo-Control Variate achieve faster option price toward convergent of the Monte Carlo Standar.

Monte Carlo numerical study of lattice field theories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gan Cheekwan; Kim Seyong; Ohta, Shigemi

1997-01-01

The authors are interested in the exact first-principle calculations of quantum field theories which are indeed exact ones. For quantum chromodynamics (QCD) at low energy scale, a nonperturbation method is needed, and the only known such method is the lattice method. The path integral can be evaluated by putting a system on a finite 4-dimensional volume and discretizing space time continuum into finite points, lattice. The continuum limit is taken by making the lattice infinitely fine. For evaluating such a finite-dimensional integral, the Monte Carlo numerical estimation of the path integral can be obtained. The calculation of light hadron mass in quenched lattice QCD with staggered quarks, 3-dimensional Thirring model calculation and the development of self-test Monte Carlo method have been carried out by using the RIKEN supercomputer. The motivation of this study, lattice QCD formulation, continuum limit, Monte Carlo update, hadron propagator, light hadron mass, auto-correlation and source size dependence are described on lattice QCD. The phase structure of the 3-dimensional Thirring model for a small 8 3 lattice has been mapped. The discussion on self-test Monte Carlo method is described again. (K.I.)

Continuous energy Monte Carlo method based lattice homogeinzation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Mancang; Yao Dong; Wang Kan

2014-01-01

Based on the Monte Carlo code MCNP, the continuous energy Monte Carlo multi-group constants generation code MCMC has been developed. The track length scheme has been used as the foundation of cross section generation. The scattering matrix and Legendre components require special techniques, and the scattering event method has been proposed to solve this problem. Three methods have been developed to calculate the diffusion coefficients for diffusion reactor core codes and the Legendre method has been applied in MCMC. To the satisfaction of the equivalence theory, the general equivalence theory (GET) and the superhomogenization method (SPH) have been applied to the Monte Carlo method based group constants. The super equivalence method (SPE) has been proposed to improve the equivalence. GET, SPH and SPE have been implemented into MCMC. The numerical results showed that generating the homogenization multi-group constants via Monte Carlo method overcomes the difficulties in geometry and treats energy in continuum, thus provides more accuracy parameters. Besides, the same code and data library can be used for a wide range of applications due to the versatility. The MCMC scheme can be seen as a potential alternative to the widely used deterministic lattice codes. (authors)

Investigation into the relationship between body surface area and total body potassium using Monte Carlo and measurement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rogers, J.A. [Medical Physics and Imaging, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham (United Kingdom)]. E-mail: jane.rogers@university-b.wmids.nhs.uk; Blake-James, M. [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham (United Kingdom); Green, S.; Beddoe, A.H. [Medical Physics and Imaging, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham (United Kingdom)

2002-03-07

The use of body surface area (BSA) as a means of indexing chemotherapy doses is widespread even though the value of this practice is uncertain. In principle, the body cell mass (BCM) more closely represents the body's metabolic size and this is investigated here as an alternative to BSA; since 98% of body potassium is intracellular the derivation of total body potassium (TBK) via the measurement of {sup 40}K in a whole body counter (WBC) will provide a useful normalizing index for metabolic size, potentially avoiding toxicity and underdosing. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital WBC has been used in this study, initially involving single geometrical phantoms and then combinations of these to simulate human body habitus. Monte Carlo N-particle (MCNP) codes were constructed to model the phantoms and simulate the measurements made in the WBC. Efficiency corrections were derived by comparing measurement and modelled data for each detector separately. A method of modelling a person in the WBC as a series of ellipsoids was developed. Twenty-four normal males and 24 females were measured for their {sup 40}K emissions. Individual MCNP codes were constructed for each volunteer and the results used in conjunction with the measurements to derive TBK, correcting for body habitus effects and detector efficiencies. An estimate of the component of error arising from sources other than counting statistics was included by analysing data from the measurement of phantoms. The total residual errors (expressed as coefficients of variation) for males and females were 10.1% and 8.5% respectively. The measurement components were determined to be 2.4% and 2.5%, implying that the biological components were 9.8% and 8.1% respectively. These results suggest that the use of BSA for indexing chemotherapy doses is likely to give rise to clinically significant under- or overdosing. (author)

Implications of Monte Carlo Statistical Errors in Criticality Safety Assessments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pevey, Ronald E.

2005-01-01

Most criticality safety calculations are performed using Monte Carlo techniques because of Monte Carlo's ability to handle complex three-dimensional geometries. For Monte Carlo calculations, the more histories sampled, the lower the standard deviation of the resulting estimates. The common intuition is, therefore, that the more histories, the better; as a result, analysts tend to run Monte Carlo analyses as long as possible (or at least to a minimum acceptable uncertainty). For Monte Carlo criticality safety analyses, however, the optimization situation is complicated by the fact that procedures usually require that an extra margin of safety be added because of the statistical uncertainty of the Monte Carlo calculations. This additional safety margin affects the impact of the choice of the calculational standard deviation, both on production and on safety. This paper shows that, under the assumptions of normally distributed benchmarking calculational errors and exact compliance with the upper subcritical limit (USL), the standard deviation that optimizes production is zero, but there is a non-zero value of the calculational standard deviation that minimizes the risk of inadvertently labeling a supercritical configuration as subcritical. Furthermore, this value is shown to be a simple function of the typical benchmarking step outcomes--the bias, the standard deviation of the bias, the upper subcritical limit, and the number of standard deviations added to calculated k-effectives before comparison to the USL

Biased Monte Carlo optimization: the basic approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campioni, Luca; Scardovelli, Ruben; Vestrucci, Paolo

2005-01-01

It is well-known that the Monte Carlo method is very successful in tackling several kinds of system simulations. It often happens that one has to deal with rare events, and the use of a variance reduction technique is almost mandatory, in order to have Monte Carlo efficient applications. The main issue associated with variance reduction techniques is related to the choice of the value of the biasing parameter. Actually, this task is typically left to the experience of the Monte Carlo user, who has to make many attempts before achieving an advantageous biasing. A valuable result is provided: a methodology and a practical rule addressed to establish an a priori guidance for the choice of the optimal value of the biasing parameter. This result, which has been obtained for a single component system, has the notable property of being valid for any multicomponent system. In particular, in this paper, the exponential and the uniform biases of exponentially distributed phenomena are investigated thoroughly

Self-learning Monte Carlo (dynamical biasing)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matthes, W.

1981-01-01

In many applications the histories of a normal Monte Carlo game rarely reach the target region. An approximate knowledge of the importance (with respect to the target) may be used to guide the particles more frequently into the target region. A Monte Carlo method is presented in which each history contributes to update the importance field such that eventually most target histories are sampled. It is a self-learning method in the sense that the procedure itself: (a) learns which histories are important (reach the target) and increases their probability; (b) reduces the probabilities of unimportant histories; (c) concentrates gradually on the more important target histories. (U.K.)

Monte Carlo simulation of a coded-aperture thermal neutron camera

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dioszegi, I.; Salwen, C.; Forman, L.

2011-01-01

We employed the MCNPX Monte Carlo code to simulate image formation in a coded-aperture thermal-neutron camera. The camera, developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), consists of a 20 x 17 cm"2 active area "3He-filled position-sensitive wire chamber in a cadmium enclosure box. The front of the box is a coded-aperture cadmium mask (at present with three different resolutions). We tested the detector experimentally with various arrangements of moderated point-neutron sources. The purpose of using the Monte Carlo modeling was to develop an easily modifiable model of the device to predict the detector's behavior using different mask patterns, and also to generate images of extended-area sources or large numbers (up to ten) of them, that is important for nonproliferation and arms-control verification, but difficult to achieve experimentally. In the model, we utilized the advanced geometry capabilities of the MCNPX code to simulate the coded aperture mask. Furthermore, the code simulated the production of thermal neutrons from fission sources surrounded by a thermalizer. With this code we also determined the thermal-neutron shadow cast by the cadmium mask; the calculations encompassed fast- and epithermal-neutrons penetrating into the detector through the mask. Since the process of signal production in "3He-filled position-sensitive wire chambers is well known, we omitted this part from our modeling. Simplified efficiency values were used for the three (thermal, epithermal, and fast) neutron-energy regions. Electronic noise and the room's background were included as a uniform irradiation component. We processed the experimental- and simulated-images using identical LabVIEW virtual instruments. (author)

RNA folding kinetics using Monte Carlo and Gillespie algorithms.

Science.gov (United States)

Clote, Peter; Bayegan, Amir H

2018-04-01

RNA secondary structure folding kinetics is known to be important for the biological function of certain processes, such as the hok/sok system in E. coli. Although linear algebra provides an exact computational solution of secondary structure folding kinetics with respect to the Turner energy model for tiny ([Formula: see text]20 nt) RNA sequences, the folding kinetics for larger sequences can only be approximated by binning structures into macrostates in a coarse-grained model, or by repeatedly simulating secondary structure folding with either the Monte Carlo algorithm or the Gillespie algorithm. Here we investigate the relation between the Monte Carlo algorithm and the Gillespie algorithm. We prove that asymptotically, the expected time for a K-step trajectory of the Monte Carlo algorithm is equal to [Formula: see text] times that of the Gillespie algorithm, where [Formula: see text] denotes the Boltzmann expected network degree. If the network is regular (i.e. every node has the same degree), then the mean first passage time (MFPT) computed by the Monte Carlo algorithm is equal to MFPT computed by the Gillespie algorithm multiplied by [Formula: see text]; however, this is not true for non-regular networks. In particular, RNA secondary structure folding kinetics, as computed by the Monte Carlo algorithm, is not equal to the folding kinetics, as computed by the Gillespie algorithm, although the mean first passage times are roughly correlated. Simulation software for RNA secondary structure folding according to the Monte Carlo and Gillespie algorithms is publicly available, as is our software to compute the expected degree of the network of secondary structures of a given RNA sequence-see http://bioinformatics.bc.edu/clote/RNAexpNumNbors .

MONTE: the next generation of mission design and navigation software

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Scott; Taber, William; Drain, Theodore; Smith, Jonathon; Wu, Hsi-Cheng; Guevara, Michelle; Sunseri, Richard; Evans, James

2018-03-01

The Mission analysis, Operations and Navigation Toolkit Environment (MONTE) (Sunseri et al. in NASA Tech Briefs 36(9), 2012) is an astrodynamic toolkit produced by the Mission Design and Navigation Software Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It provides a single integrated environment for all phases of deep space and Earth orbiting missions. Capabilities include: trajectory optimization and analysis, operational orbit determination, flight path control, and 2D/3D visualization. MONTE is presented to the user as an importable Python language module. This allows a simple but powerful user interface via CLUI or script. In addition, the Python interface allows MONTE to be used seamlessly with other canonical scientific programming tools such as SciPy, NumPy, and Matplotlib. MONTE is the prime operational orbit determination software for all JPL navigated missions.

A NEW MONTE CARLO METHOD FOR TIME-DEPENDENT NEUTRINO RADIATION TRANSPORT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdikamalov, Ernazar; Ott, Christian D.; O'Connor, Evan; Burrows, Adam; Dolence, Joshua C.; Löffler, Frank; Schnetter, Erik

2012-01-01

Monte Carlo approaches to radiation transport have several attractive properties such as simplicity of implementation, high accuracy, and good parallel scaling. Moreover, Monte Carlo methods can handle complicated geometries and are relatively easy to extend to multiple spatial dimensions, which makes them potentially interesting in modeling complex multi-dimensional astrophysical phenomena such as core-collapse supernovae. The aim of this paper is to explore Monte Carlo methods for modeling neutrino transport in core-collapse supernovae. We generalize the Implicit Monte Carlo photon transport scheme of Fleck and Cummings and gray discrete-diffusion scheme of Densmore et al. to energy-, time-, and velocity-dependent neutrino transport. Using our 1D spherically-symmetric implementation, we show that, similar to the photon transport case, the implicit scheme enables significantly larger timesteps compared with explicit time discretization, without sacrificing accuracy, while the discrete-diffusion method leads to significant speed-ups at high optical depth. Our results suggest that a combination of spectral, velocity-dependent, Implicit Monte Carlo and discrete-diffusion Monte Carlo methods represents a robust approach for use in neutrino transport calculations in core-collapse supernovae. Our velocity-dependent scheme can easily be adapted to photon transport.

A NEW MONTE CARLO METHOD FOR TIME-DEPENDENT NEUTRINO RADIATION TRANSPORT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abdikamalov, Ernazar; Ott, Christian D.; O' Connor, Evan [TAPIR, California Institute of Technology, MC 350-17, 1200 E California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Burrows, Adam; Dolence, Joshua C. [Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Peyton Hall, Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States); Loeffler, Frank; Schnetter, Erik, E-mail: abdik@tapir.caltech.edu [Center for Computation and Technology, Louisiana State University, 216 Johnston Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 (United States)

2012-08-20

Monte Carlo approaches to radiation transport have several attractive properties such as simplicity of implementation, high accuracy, and good parallel scaling. Moreover, Monte Carlo methods can handle complicated geometries and are relatively easy to extend to multiple spatial dimensions, which makes them potentially interesting in modeling complex multi-dimensional astrophysical phenomena such as core-collapse supernovae. The aim of this paper is to explore Monte Carlo methods for modeling neutrino transport in core-collapse supernovae. We generalize the Implicit Monte Carlo photon transport scheme of Fleck and Cummings and gray discrete-diffusion scheme of Densmore et al. to energy-, time-, and velocity-dependent neutrino transport. Using our 1D spherically-symmetric implementation, we show that, similar to the photon transport case, the implicit scheme enables significantly larger timesteps compared with explicit time discretization, without sacrificing accuracy, while the discrete-diffusion method leads to significant speed-ups at high optical depth. Our results suggest that a combination of spectral, velocity-dependent, Implicit Monte Carlo and discrete-diffusion Monte Carlo methods represents a robust approach for use in neutrino transport calculations in core-collapse supernovae. Our velocity-dependent scheme can easily be adapted to photon transport.

Therapeutic Applications of Monte Carlo Calculations in Nuclear Medicine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coulot, J

2003-01-01

Monte Carlo techniques are involved in many applications in medical physics, and the field of nuclear medicine has seen a great development in the past ten years due to their wider use. Thus, it is of great interest to look at the state of the art in this domain, when improving computer performances allow one to obtain improved results in a dramatically reduced time. The goal of this book is to make, in 15 chapters, an exhaustive review of the use of Monte Carlo techniques in nuclear medicine, also giving key features which are not necessary directly related to the Monte Carlo method, but mandatory for its practical application. As the book deals with therapeutic' nuclear medicine, it focuses on internal dosimetry. After a general introduction on Monte Carlo techniques and their applications in nuclear medicine (dosimetry, imaging and radiation protection), the authors give an overview of internal dosimetry methods (formalism, mathematical phantoms, quantities of interest). Then, some of the more widely used Monte Carlo codes are described, as well as some treatment planning softwares. Some original techniques are also mentioned, such as dosimetry for boron neutron capture synovectomy. It is generally well written, clearly presented, and very well documented. Each chapter gives an overview of each subject, and it is up to the reader to investigate it further using the extensive bibliography provided. Each topic is discussed from a practical point of view, which is of great help for non-experienced readers. For instance, the chapter about mathematical aspects of Monte Carlo particle transport is very clear and helps one to apprehend the philosophy of the method, which is often a difficulty with a more theoretical approach. Each chapter is put in the general (clinical) context, and this allows the reader to keep in mind the intrinsic limitation of each technique involved in dosimetry (for instance activity quantitation). Nevertheless, there are some minor remarks to

Grain-boundary melting: A Monte Carlo study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Besold, Gerhard; Mouritsen, Ole G.

1994-01-01

Grain-boundary melting in a lattice-gas model of a bicrystal is studied by Monte Carlo simulation using the grand canonical ensemble. Well below the bulk melting temperature T(m), a disordered liquidlike layer gradually emerges at the grain boundary. Complete interfacial wetting can be observed...... when the temperature approaches T(m) from below. Monte Carlo data over an extended temperature range indicate a logarithmic divergence w(T) approximately - ln(T(m)-T) of the width of the disordered layer w, in agreement with mean-field theory....

Analysis of error in Monte Carlo transport calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Booth, T.E.

1979-01-01

The Monte Carlo method for neutron transport calculations suffers, in part, because of the inherent statistical errors associated with the method. Without an estimate of these errors in advance of the calculation, it is difficult to decide what estimator and biasing scheme to use. Recently, integral equations have been derived that, when solved, predicted errors in Monte Carlo calculations in nonmultiplying media. The present work allows error prediction in nonanalog Monte Carlo calculations of multiplying systems, even when supercritical. Nonanalog techniques such as biased kernels, particle splitting, and Russian Roulette are incorporated. Equations derived here allow prediction of how much a specific variance reduction technique reduces the number of histories required, to be weighed against the change in time required for calculation of each history. 1 figure, 1 table

PyMercury: Interactive Python for the Mercury Monte Carlo Particle Transport Code

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iandola, F.N.; O'Brien, M.J.; Procassini, R.J.

2010-01-01

Monte Carlo particle transport applications are often written in low-level languages (C/C++) for optimal performance on clusters and supercomputers. However, this development approach often sacrifices straightforward usability and testing in the interest of fast application performance. To improve usability, some high-performance computing applications employ mixed-language programming with high-level and low-level languages. In this study, we consider the benefits of incorporating an interactive Python interface into a Monte Carlo application. With PyMercury, a new Python extension to the Mercury general-purpose Monte Carlo particle transport code, we improve application usability without diminishing performance. In two case studies, we illustrate how PyMercury improves usability and simplifies testing and validation in a Monte Carlo application. In short, PyMercury demonstrates the value of interactive Python for Monte Carlo particle transport applications. In the future, we expect interactive Python to play an increasingly significant role in Monte Carlo usage and testing.

Neutron flux calculation by means of Monte Carlo methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barz, H.U.; Eichhorn, M.

1988-01-01

In this report a survey of modern neutron flux calculation procedures by means of Monte Carlo methods is given. Due to the progress in the development of variance reduction techniques and the improvements of computational techniques this method is of increasing importance. The basic ideas in application of Monte Carlo methods are briefly outlined. In more detail various possibilities of non-analog games and estimation procedures are presented, problems in the field of optimizing the variance reduction techniques are discussed. In the last part some important international Monte Carlo codes and own codes of the authors are listed and special applications are described. (author)

Transport methods: general. 1. The Analytical Monte Carlo Method for Radiation Transport Calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, William R.; Brown, Forrest B.

2001-01-01

We present an alternative Monte Carlo method for solving the coupled equations of radiation transport and material energy. This method is based on incorporating the analytical solution to the material energy equation directly into the Monte Carlo simulation for the radiation intensity. This method, which we call the Analytical Monte Carlo (AMC) method, differs from the well known Implicit Monte Carlo (IMC) method of Fleck and Cummings because there is no discretization of the material energy equation since it is solved as a by-product of the Monte Carlo simulation of the transport equation. Our method also differs from the method recently proposed by Ahrens and Larsen since they use Monte Carlo to solve both equations, while we are solving only the radiation transport equation with Monte Carlo, albeit with effective sources and cross sections to represent the emission sources. Our method bears some similarity to a method developed and implemented by Carter and Forest nearly three decades ago, but there are substantive differences. We have implemented our method in a simple zero-dimensional Monte Carlo code to test the feasibility of the method, and the preliminary results are very promising, justifying further extension to more realistic geometries. (authors)

Markov Chain Monte Carlo

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education; Volume 7; Issue 3. Markov Chain Monte Carlo - Examples. Arnab Chakraborty. General Article Volume 7 Issue 3 March 2002 pp 25-34. Fulltext. Click here to view fulltext PDF. Permanent link: https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/reso/007/03/0025-0034. Keywords.

Monte Carlo studies of high-transverse-energy hadronic interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Corcoran, M.D.

1985-01-01

A four-jet Monte Carlo calculation has been used to simulate hadron-hadron interactions which deposit high transverse energy into a large-solid-angle calorimeter and limited solid-angle regions of the calorimeter. The calculation uses first-order QCD cross sections to generate two scattered jets and also produces beam and target jets. Field-Feynman fragmentation has been used in the hadronization. The sensitivity of the results to a few features of the Monte Carlo program has been studied. The results are found to be very sensitive to the method used to ensure overall energy conservation after the fragmentation of the four jets is complete. Results are also sensitive to the minimum momentum transfer in the QCD subprocesses and to the distribution of p/sub T/ to the jet axis and the multiplicities in the fragmentation. With reasonable choices of these features of the Monte Carlo program, good agreement with data at Fermilab/CERN SPS energies is obtained, comparable to the agreement achieved with more sophisticated parton-shower models. With other choices, however, the calculation gives qualitatively different results which are in strong disagreement with the data. These results have important implications for extracting physics conclusions from Monte Carlo calculations. It is not possible to test the validity of a particular model or distinguish between different models unless the Monte Carlo results are unambiguous and different models exhibit clearly different behavior

Monte Carlo methods and applications in nuclear physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carlson, J.

1990-01-01

Monte Carlo methods for studying few- and many-body quantum systems are introduced, with special emphasis given to their applications in nuclear physics. Variational and Green's function Monte Carlo methods are presented in some detail. The status of calculations of light nuclei is reviewed, including discussions of the three-nucleon-interaction, charge and magnetic form factors, the coulomb sum rule, and studies of low-energy radiative transitions. 58 refs., 12 figs

Pipeline integrity management using Monte Carlo simulation; A aplicacao do metodo de Monte Carlo no gerenciamento da integridade de dutos

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garcia, Claudio; Costa, Artur; Bittencourt, Euclides [TRANSPETRO - PETROBRAS Transporte, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2005-07-01

Due to the growing relevance of safety and environmental protection policies in PETROBRAS and its subsidiaries, as well as official regulatory agencies and population requirements, integrity management of oil and gas pipelines became a priority activity in TRANSPETRO, involving several sectors of the company's Support Management Department. Inspection activities using intelligent PIGs, field correlations and replacement of pipeline segments are known as high cost operations and request complex logistics. Thus, it is imperative the adoption of management tools that optimize the available resources. This study presents Monte Carlo simulation method as an additional tool for evaluation and management of pipeline structural integrity. The method consists in foreseeing future physical conditions of most significant defects found in intelligent PIG In Line Inspections based on a probabilistic approach. Through Monte Carlo simulation, probability functions of failure for each defect are produced, helping managers to decide which repairs should be executed in order to reach the desired or accepted risk level. The case that illustrates this study refers to the reconditioning of ORSOL 14'' (35,56 mm) pipeline. This pipeline was constructed to transfer petroleum from Urucu's production fields to Solimoes port, in Coari, city in Brazilian Amazon Region. The result of this analysis indicated critical points for repair, in addition to the results obtained by the conventional evaluation (deterministic ASME B-31G method). Due to the difficulties to mobilize staff and execute necessary repairs in remote areas like Amazon forest, the probabilistic tool was extremely useful, improving pipeline integrity level and avoiding future additional costs. (author)

Monte Carlo and analytic simulations in nanoparticle-enhanced radiation therapy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paro AD

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Autumn D Paro,1 Mainul Hossain,2 Thomas J Webster,1,3,4 Ming Su1,4 1Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA; 2NanoScience Technology Center and School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA; 3Excellence for Advanced Materials Research, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 4Wenzhou Institute of Biomaterials and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Science, Wenzhou Medical University, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China Abstract: Analytical and Monte Carlo simulations have been used to predict dose enhancement factors in nanoparticle-enhanced X-ray radiation therapy. Both simulations predict an increase in dose enhancement in the presence of nanoparticles, but the two methods predict different levels of enhancement over the studied energy, nanoparticle materials, and concentration regime for several reasons. The Monte Carlo simulation calculates energy deposited by electrons and photons, while the analytical one only calculates energy deposited by source photons and photoelectrons; the Monte Carlo simulation accounts for electron–hole recombination, while the analytical one does not; and the Monte Carlo simulation randomly samples photon or electron path and accounts for particle interactions, while the analytical simulation assumes a linear trajectory. This study demonstrates that the Monte Carlo simulation will be a better choice to evaluate dose enhancement with nanoparticles in radiation therapy. Keywords: nanoparticle, dose enhancement, Monte Carlo simulation, analytical simulation, radiation therapy, tumor cell, X-ray 

Environmental and geologic site characterization: A case study of Monte Argentario promontory; Recupero geologico-ambientale: un esempio rappresentativo di studio sul promontorio di Monte Argentario

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Andriola, L.; Cautilli, F.; Polizzano, C.; Tassoni, E. [ENEA, Centro Ricerche Casaccia, Rome (Italy). Dip. Ambiente

1996-12-01

The topic discussed in this report can be inserted within the context of studies carried out by ENEA (Italian Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment) on the Monte Argentario. These studies showed a noteworthy group of geological phenomena and the need to promote articulate and differentiated interventions for which professionalism and operative capability are absolutely indispensable, qualities which are typical of a body such as ENEA. The ENEA has therefore set up a method of intervention which represents a cultural instrument necessary if one is to have the correct approach to environmental problems connected to sliding movements. The topics dealt with in the present technical report represent the summary of different investigations carried out on the promontory. The report mainly provides a classification of sliding movements and the works usually carried out to improve areas of the territory which show elevated levels of degradation and slope instability, for each coastal areas of the promontory, detailed conceptual indications are provided regarding the works required with the scope of lessening the present risks in the above mentioned areas.

The bat fauna of the Kararaô and Kararaô Novo caves in the area under the influence of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, in Pará, Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Zortéa, M; Bastos, N A; Acioli, T C

2015-08-01

Brazil's large territory displays significant richness in caves with about 12 thousand caves already recorded. Nevertheless, studies on bats in these environments are extremely scarce and fragmented. This study characterized the chiropteran fauna from two sandstone caves under the influence of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam (Belo Monte UHE) in Pará, Brazil. The Kararaô and Kararaô Novo caves are located on the same ridge, 250 m apart. Three expeditions were carried out in 2013 and 2014, with a 4- to 5-month interval in between. A total of 589 animals were caught, 246 in the Kararaô cave and 343 in the Kararaô Novo cave. Fifteen species were recorded (13 in each cave) representing 79% similarity. With the exception of Vampyrum spectrum, which is not a cave species, the remaining recorded species were mostly cave bat species. Some species seemed to use the caves seasonally, although the basis of this pattern is still unknown. The most commonly observed species were Pteronotus personatus (dominant in the Kararaô cave), P. parnellii (dominant in the Kararaô Novo cave), and Lionycteris spurrelli, which accounted for 65% of all captures recorded for the two caves. Natalus macrourus is a species recorded in the Kararaô cave that is regionally threatened with extinction. Both caves are less than 500 m from the future reservoir; however, because the Kararaô cave entry is in an area that is lower than the reservoir, it can suffer alterations that would affect its dynamics. This raises great concern about the cave's associated fauna.

High-efficiency wavefunction updates for large scale Quantum Monte Carlo

Science.gov (United States)

Kent, Paul; McDaniel, Tyler; Li, Ying Wai; D'Azevedo, Ed

Within ab intio Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations, the leading numerical cost for large systems is the computation of the values of the Slater determinants in the trial wavefunctions. The evaluation of each Monte Carlo move requires finding the determinant of a dense matrix, which is traditionally iteratively evaluated using a rank-1 Sherman-Morrison updating scheme to avoid repeated explicit calculation of the inverse. For calculations with thousands of electrons, this operation dominates the execution profile. We propose a novel rank- k delayed update scheme. This strategy enables probability evaluation for multiple successive Monte Carlo moves, with application of accepted moves to the matrices delayed until after a predetermined number of moves, k. Accepted events grouped in this manner are then applied to the matrices en bloc with enhanced arithmetic intensity and computational efficiency. This procedure does not change the underlying Monte Carlo sampling or the sampling efficiency. For large systems and algorithms such as diffusion Monte Carlo where the acceptance ratio is high, order of magnitude speedups can be obtained on both multi-core CPU and on GPUs, making this algorithm highly advantageous for current petascale and future exascale computations.

The Monte Carlo Simulation Method for System Reliability and Risk Analysis

CERN Document Server

Zio, Enrico

2013-01-01

Monte Carlo simulation is one of the best tools for performing realistic analysis of complex systems as it allows most of the limiting assumptions on system behavior to be relaxed. The Monte Carlo Simulation Method for System Reliability and Risk Analysis comprehensively illustrates the Monte Carlo simulation method and its application to reliability and system engineering. Readers are given a sound understanding of the fundamentals of Monte Carlo sampling and simulation and its application for realistic system modeling.   Whilst many of the topics rely on a high-level understanding of calculus, probability and statistics, simple academic examples will be provided in support to the explanation of the theoretical foundations to facilitate comprehension of the subject matter. Case studies will be introduced to provide the practical value of the most advanced techniques.   This detailed approach makes The Monte Carlo Simulation Method for System Reliability and Risk Analysis a key reference for senior undergra...

Monte Carlo simulation applied to alpha spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baccouche, S.; Gharbi, F.; Trabelsi, A.

2007-01-01

Alpha particle spectrometry is a widely-used analytical method, in particular when we deal with pure alpha emitting radionuclides. Monte Carlo simulation is an adequate tool to investigate the influence of various phenomena on this analytical method. We performed an investigation of those phenomena using the simulation code GEANT of CERN. The results concerning the geometrical detection efficiency in different measurement geometries agree with analytical calculations. This work confirms that Monte Carlo simulation of solid angle of detection is a very useful tool to determine with very good accuracy the detection efficiency.

Monte Carlo simulation of neutron scattering instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seeger, P.A.

1995-01-01

A library of Monte Carlo subroutines has been developed for the purpose of design of neutron scattering instruments. Using small-angle scattering as an example, the philosophy and structure of the library are described and the programs are used to compare instruments at continuous wave (CW) and long-pulse spallation source (LPSS) neutron facilities. The Monte Carlo results give a count-rate gain of a factor between 2 and 4 using time-of-flight analysis. This is comparable to scaling arguments based on the ratio of wavelength bandwidth to resolution width

Simulation of transport equations with Monte Carlo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matthes, W.

1975-09-01

The main purpose of the report is to explain the relation between the transport equation and the Monte Carlo game used for its solution. The introduction of artificial particles carrying a weight provides one with high flexibility in constructing many different games for the solution of the same equation. This flexibility opens a way to construct a Monte Carlo game for the solution of the adjoint transport equation. Emphasis is laid mostly on giving a clear understanding of what to do and not on the details of how to do a specific game

Microcanonical Monte Carlo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Creutz, M.

1986-01-01

The author discusses a recently developed algorithm for simulating statistical systems. The procedure interpolates between molecular dynamics methods and canonical Monte Carlo. The primary advantages are extremely fast simulations of discrete systems such as the Ising model and a relative insensitivity to random number quality. A variation of the algorithm gives rise to a deterministic dynamics for Ising spins. This model may be useful for high speed simulation of non-equilibrium phenomena

A contribution Monte Carlo method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aboughantous, C.H.

1994-01-01

A Contribution Monte Carlo method is developed and successfully applied to a sample deep-penetration shielding problem. The random walk is simulated in most of its parts as in conventional Monte Carlo methods. The probability density functions (pdf's) are expressed in terms of spherical harmonics and are continuous functions in direction cosine and azimuthal angle variables as well as in position coordinates; the energy is discretized in the multigroup approximation. The transport pdf is an unusual exponential kernel strongly dependent on the incident and emergent directions and energies and on the position of the collision site. The method produces the same results obtained with the deterministic method with a very small standard deviation, with as little as 1,000 Contribution particles in both analog and nonabsorption biasing modes and with only a few minutes CPU time

The Utopia of Cross-border Regions. Territorial transformation and Cross-Border Governance on Espace Mont-Blanc

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lissandrello, E.

2006-01-01

The theories on globalisation, internationalisation, post-nationalism or trans-nationalism dismiss the concept of 'territoriality' within the paradigm of the beyond the 'nation-state' sovereignty. In this work, a diverse idea is sustained: borders and territoriality are not just lost terms within

The impact of Monte Carlo simulation: a scientometric analysis of scholarly literature

CERN Document Server

Pia, Maria Grazia; Bell, Zane W; Dressendorfer, Paul V

2010-01-01

A scientometric analysis of Monte Carlo simulation and Monte Carlo codes has been performed over a set of representative scholarly journals related to radiation physics. The results of this study are reported and discussed. They document and quantitatively appraise the role of Monte Carlo methods and codes in scientific research and engineering applications.

Exact Monte Carlo for molecules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lester, W.A. Jr.; Reynolds, P.J.

1985-03-01

A brief summary of the fixed-node quantum Monte Carlo method is presented. Results obtained for binding energies, the classical barrier height for H + H 2 , and the singlet-triplet splitting in methylene are presented and discussed. 17 refs

No-compromise reptation quantum Monte Carlo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yuen, W K; Farrar, Thomas J; Rothstein, Stuart M

2007-01-01

Since its publication, the reptation quantum Monte Carlo algorithm of Baroni and Moroni (1999 Phys. Rev. Lett. 82 4745) has been applied to several important problems in physics, but its mathematical foundations are not well understood. We show that their algorithm is not of typical Metropolis-Hastings type, and we specify conditions required for the generated Markov chain to be stationary and to converge to the intended distribution. The time-step bias may add up, and in many applications it is only the middle of a reptile that is the most important. Therefore, we propose an alternative, 'no-compromise reptation quantum Monte Carlo' to stabilize the middle of the reptile. (fast track communication)

Exploring cluster Monte Carlo updates with Boltzmann machines.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lei

2017-11-01

Boltzmann machines are physics informed generative models with broad applications in machine learning. They model the probability distribution of an input data set with latent variables and generate new samples accordingly. Applying the Boltzmann machines back to physics, they are ideal recommender systems to accelerate the Monte Carlo simulation of physical systems due to their flexibility and effectiveness. More intriguingly, we show that the generative sampling of the Boltzmann machines can even give different cluster Monte Carlo algorithms. The latent representation of the Boltzmann machines can be designed to mediate complex interactions and identify clusters of the physical system. We demonstrate these findings with concrete examples of the classical Ising model with and without four-spin plaquette interactions. In the future, automatic searches in the algorithm space parametrized by Boltzmann machines may discover more innovative Monte Carlo updates.

Exploring cluster Monte Carlo updates with Boltzmann machines

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lei

2017-11-01

Boltzmann machines are physics informed generative models with broad applications in machine learning. They model the probability distribution of an input data set with latent variables and generate new samples accordingly. Applying the Boltzmann machines back to physics, they are ideal recommender systems to accelerate the Monte Carlo simulation of physical systems due to their flexibility and effectiveness. More intriguingly, we show that the generative sampling of the Boltzmann machines can even give different cluster Monte Carlo algorithms. The latent representation of the Boltzmann machines can be designed to mediate complex interactions and identify clusters of the physical system. We demonstrate these findings with concrete examples of the classical Ising model with and without four-spin plaquette interactions. In the future, automatic searches in the algorithm space parametrized by Boltzmann machines may discover more innovative Monte Carlo updates.

Monte Carlo simulation of continuous-space crystal growth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dodson, B.W.; Taylor, P.A.

1986-01-01

We describe a method, based on Monte Carlo techniques, of simulating the atomic growth of crystals without the discrete lattice space assumed by conventional Monte Carlo growth simulations. Since no lattice space is assumed, problems involving epitaxial growth, heteroepitaxy, phonon-driven mechanisms, surface reconstruction, and many other phenomena incompatible with the lattice-space approximation can be studied. Also, use of the Monte Carlo method circumvents to some extent the extreme limitations on simulated timescale inherent in crystal-growth techniques which might be proposed using molecular dynamics. The implementation of the new method is illustrated by studying the growth of strained-layer superlattice (SLS) interfaces in two-dimensional Lennard-Jones atomic systems. Despite the extreme simplicity of such systems, the qualitative features of SLS growth seen here are similar to those observed experimentally in real semiconductor systems

Effect of error propagation of nuclide number densities on Monte Carlo burn-up calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tohjoh, Masayuki; Endo, Tomohiro; Watanabe, Masato; Yamamoto, Akio

2006-01-01

As a result of improvements in computer technology, the continuous energy Monte Carlo burn-up calculation has received attention as a good candidate for an assembly calculation method. However, the results of Monte Carlo calculations contain the statistical errors. The results of Monte Carlo burn-up calculations, in particular, include propagated statistical errors through the variance of the nuclide number densities. Therefore, if statistical error alone is evaluated, the errors in Monte Carlo burn-up calculations may be underestimated. To make clear this effect of error propagation on Monte Carlo burn-up calculations, we here proposed an equation that can predict the variance of nuclide number densities after burn-up calculations, and we verified this equation using enormous numbers of the Monte Carlo burn-up calculations by changing only the initial random numbers. We also verified the effect of the number of burn-up calculation points on Monte Carlo burn-up calculations. From these verifications, we estimated the errors in Monte Carlo burn-up calculations including both statistical and propagated errors. Finally, we made clear the effects of error propagation on Monte Carlo burn-up calculations by comparing statistical errors alone versus both statistical and propagated errors. The results revealed that the effects of error propagation on the Monte Carlo burn-up calculations of 8 x 8 BWR fuel assembly are low up to 60 GWd/t

Monte Carlo simulations for the shielding of the future high-intensity accelerator facility FAIR at GSI.

Science.gov (United States)

Radon, T; Gutermuth, F; Fehrenbacher, G

2005-01-01

The Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) is planning a significant expansion of its accelerator facilities. Compared to the present GSI facility, a factor of 100 in primary beam intensities and up to a factor of 10,000 in secondary radioactive beam intensities are key technical goals of the proposal. The second branch of the so-called Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) is the production of antiprotons and their storage in rings and traps. The facility will provide beam energies a factor of approximately 15 higher than presently available at the GSI for all ions, from protons to uranium. The shielding design of the synchrotron SIS 100/300 is shown exemplarily by using Monte Carlo calculations with the FLUKA code. The experimental area serving the investigation of compressed baryonic matter is analysed in the same way. In addition, a dose comparison is made for an experimental area operated with medium energy heavy-ion beams. Here, Monte Carlo calculations are performed by using either heavy-ion primary particles or proton beams with intensities scaled by the mass number of the corresponding heavy-ion beam.

Monte Carlo simulations for the shielding of the future high-intensity accelerator facility fair at GSI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Radon, T.; Gutermuth, F.; Fehrenbacher, G.

2005-01-01

The Gesellschaft fuer Schwerionenforschung (GSI) is planning a significant expansion of its accelerator facilities. Compared to the present GSI facility, a factor of 100 in primary beam intensities and up to a factor of 10,000 in secondary radioactive beam intensities are key technical goals of the proposal. The second branch of the so-called Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) is the production of antiprotons and their storage in rings and traps. The facility will provide beam energies a factor of ∼15 higher than presently available at the GSI for all ions, from protons to uranium. The shielding design of the synchrotron SIS 100/300 is shown exemplarily by using Monte Carlo calculations with the FLUKA code. The experimental area serving the investigation of compressed baryonic matter is analysed in the same way. In addition, a dose comparison is made for an experimental area operated with medium energy heavy-ion beams. Here, Monte Carlo calculations are performed by using either heavy-ion primary particles or proton beams with intensities scaled by the mass number of the corresponding heavy-ion beam. (authors)

Assessing rockfall susceptibility in steep and overhanging slopes using three-dimensional analysis of failure mechanisms

Science.gov (United States)

Matasci, Battista; Stock, Greg M.; Jaboyedoff, Michael; Carrea, Dario; Collins, Brian D.; Guérin, Antoine; Matasci, G.; Ravanel, L.

2018-01-01

Rockfalls strongly influence the evolution of steep rocky landscapes and represent a significant hazard in mountainous areas. Defining the most probable future rockfall source areas is of primary importance for both geomorphological investigations and hazard assessment. Thus, a need exists to understand which areas of a steep cliff are more likely to be affected by a rockfall. An important analytical gap exists between regional rockfall susceptibility studies and block-specific geomechanical calculations. Here we present methods for quantifying rockfall susceptibility at the cliff scale, which is suitable for sub-regional hazard assessment (hundreds to thousands of square meters). Our methods use three-dimensional point clouds acquired by terrestrial laser scanning to quantify the fracture patterns and compute failure mechanisms for planar, wedge, and toppling failures on vertical and overhanging rock walls. As a part of this work, we developed a rockfall susceptibility index for each type of failure mechanism according to the interaction between the discontinuities and the local cliff orientation. The susceptibility for slope parallel exfoliation-type failures, which are generally hard to identify, is partly captured by planar and toppling susceptibility indexes. We tested the methods for detecting the most susceptible rockfall source areas on two famously steep landscapes, Yosemite Valley (California, USA) and the Drus in the Mont-Blanc massif (France). Our rockfall susceptibility models show good correspondence with active rockfall sources. The methods offer new tools for investigating rockfall hazard and improving our understanding of rockfall processes.

Monte Carlo simulation of neutron counters for safeguards applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Looman, Marc; Peerani, Paolo; Tagziria, Hamid

2009-01-01

MCNP-PTA is a new Monte Carlo code for the simulation of neutron counters for nuclear safeguards applications developed at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra (Italy). After some preliminary considerations outlining the general aspects involved in the computational modelling of neutron counters, this paper describes the specific details and approximations which make up the basis of the model implemented in the code. One of the major improvements allowed by the use of Monte Carlo simulation is a considerable reduction in both the experimental work and in the reference materials required for the calibration of the instruments. This new approach to the calibration of counters using Monte Carlo simulation techniques is also discussed.

Monte Carlo methods and applications in nuclear physics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlson, J.

1990-01-01

Monte Carlo methods for studying few- and many-body quantum systems are introduced, with special emphasis given to their applications in nuclear physics. Variational and Green's function Monte Carlo methods are presented in some detail. The status of calculations of light nuclei is reviewed, including discussions of the three-nucleon-interaction, charge and magnetic form factors, the coulomb sum rule, and studies of low-energy radiative transitions. 58 refs., 12 figs.

Research on Monte Carlo improved quasi-static method for reactor space-time dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Qi; Wang Kan; Li Shirui; Yu Ganglin

2013-01-01

With large time steps, improved quasi-static (IQS) method can improve the calculation speed for reactor dynamic simulations. The Monte Carlo IQS method was proposed in this paper, combining the advantages of both the IQS method and MC method. Thus, the Monte Carlo IQS method is beneficial for solving space-time dynamics problems of new concept reactors. Based on the theory of IQS, Monte Carlo algorithms for calculating adjoint neutron flux, reactor kinetic parameters and shape function were designed and realized. A simple Monte Carlo IQS code and a corresponding diffusion IQS code were developed, which were used for verification of the Monte Carlo IQS method. (authors)

Kontrola tačnosti rezultata u simulacijama Monte Karlo / Accuracy control in Monte Carlo simulations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nebojša V. Nikolić

2010-04-01

Full Text Available U radu je demonstrirana primena metode automatizovanog ponavljanja nezavisnih simulacionih eksperimenata sa prikupljanjem statistike slučajnih procesa, u dostizanju i kontroli tačnosti simulacionih rezultata u simulaciji sistema masovnog opsluživanja Monte Karlo. Metoda se zasniva na primeni osnovnih stavova i teorema matematičke statistike i teorije verovatnoće. Tačnost simulacionih rezultata dovedena je u direktnu vezu sa brojem ponavljanja simulacionih eksperimenata. / The paper presents an application of the Automated Independent Replication with Gathering Statistics of the Stochastic Processes Method in achieving and controlling the accuracy of simulation results in the Monte Carlo queuing simulations. The method is based on the application of the basic theorems of the theory of probability and mathematical statistics. The accuracy of the simulation results is linked with a number of independent replications of simulation experiments.

Final Report: 06-LW-013, Nuclear Physics the Monte Carlo Way

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ormand, W.E.

2009-01-01

This is document reports the progress and accomplishments achieved in 2006-2007 with LDRD funding under the proposal 06-LW-013, 'Nuclear Physics the Monte Carlo Way'. The project was a theoretical study to explore a novel approach to dealing with a persistent problem in Monte Carlo approaches to quantum many-body systems. The goal was to implement a solution to the notorious 'sign-problem', which if successful, would permit, for the first time, exact solutions to quantum many-body systems that cannot be addressed with other methods. In this document, we outline the progress and accomplishments achieved during FY2006-2007 with LDRD funding in the proposal 06-LW-013, 'Nuclear Physics the Monte Carlo Way'. This project was funded under the Lab Wide LDRD competition at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The primary objective of this project was to test the feasibility of implementing a novel approach to solving the generic quantum many-body problem, which is one of the most important problems being addressed in theoretical physics today. Instead of traditional methods based matrix diagonalization, this proposal focused a Monte Carlo method. The principal difficulty with Monte Carlo methods, is the so-called 'sign problem'. The sign problem, which will discussed in some detail later, is endemic to Monte Carlo approaches to the quantum many-body problem, and is the principal reason that they have not been completely successful in the past. Here, we outline our research in the 'shifted-contour method' applied the Auxiliary Field Monte Carlo (AFMC) method

Lattice gauge theories and Monte Carlo simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rebbi, C.

1981-11-01

After some preliminary considerations, the discussion of quantum gauge theories on a Euclidean lattice takes up the definition of Euclidean quantum theory and treatment of the continuum limit; analogy is made with statistical mechanics. Perturbative methods can produce useful results for strong or weak coupling. In the attempts to investigate the properties of the systems for intermediate coupling, numerical methods known as Monte Carlo simulations have proved valuable. The bulk of this paper illustrates the basic ideas underlying the Monte Carlo numerical techniques and the major results achieved with them according to the following program: Monte Carlo simulations (general theory, practical considerations), phase structure of Abelian and non-Abelian models, the observables (coefficient of the linear term in the potential between two static sources at large separation, mass of the lowest excited state with the quantum numbers of the vacuum (the so-called glueball), the potential between two static sources at very small distance, the critical temperature at which sources become deconfined), gauge fields coupled to basonic matter (Higgs) fields, and systems with fermions

Time step length versus efficiency of Monte Carlo burnup calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dufek, Jan; Valtavirta, Ville

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Time step length largely affects efficiency of MC burnup calculations. • Efficiency of MC burnup calculations improves with decreasing time step length. • Results were obtained from SIE-based Monte Carlo burnup calculations. - Abstract: We demonstrate that efficiency of Monte Carlo burnup calculations can be largely affected by the selected time step length. This study employs the stochastic implicit Euler based coupling scheme for Monte Carlo burnup calculations that performs a number of inner iteration steps within each time step. In a series of calculations, we vary the time step length and the number of inner iteration steps; the results suggest that Monte Carlo burnup calculations get more efficient as the time step length is reduced. More time steps must be simulated as they get shorter; however, this is more than compensated by the decrease in computing cost per time step needed for achieving a certain accuracy

Artificial neural networks, a new alternative to Monte Carlo calculations for radiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, E.; Gschwind, R.; Henriet, J.; Sauget, M.; Makovicka, L.

2010-01-01

In order to reduce the computing time needed by Monte Carlo codes in the field of irradiation physics, notably in dosimetry, the authors report the use of artificial neural networks in combination with preliminary Monte Carlo calculations. During the learning phase, Monte Carlo calculations are performed in homogeneous media to allow the building up of the neural network. Then, dosimetric calculations (in heterogeneous media, unknown by the network) can be performed by the so-learned network. Results with an equivalent precision can be obtained within less than one minute on a simple PC whereas several days are needed with a Monte Carlo calculation

Interface methods for hybrid Monte Carlo-diffusion radiation-transport simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Densmore, Jeffery D.

2006-01-01

Discrete diffusion Monte Carlo (DDMC) is a technique for increasing the efficiency of Monte Carlo simulations in diffusive media. An important aspect of DDMC is the treatment of interfaces between diffusive regions, where DDMC is used, and transport regions, where standard Monte Carlo is employed. Three previously developed methods exist for treating transport-diffusion interfaces: the Marshak interface method, based on the Marshak boundary condition, the asymptotic interface method, based on the asymptotic diffusion-limit boundary condition, and the Nth-collided source technique, a scheme that allows Monte Carlo particles to undergo several collisions in a diffusive region before DDMC is used. Numerical calculations have shown that each of these interface methods gives reasonable results as part of larger radiation-transport simulations. In this paper, we use both analytic and numerical examples to compare the ability of these three interface techniques to treat simpler, transport-diffusion interface problems outside of a more complex radiation-transport calculation. We find that the asymptotic interface method is accurate regardless of the angular distribution of Monte Carlo particles incident on the interface surface. In contrast, the Marshak boundary condition only produces correct solutions if the incident particles are isotropic. We also show that the Nth-collided source technique has the capacity to yield accurate results if spatial cells are optically small and Monte Carlo particles are allowed to undergo many collisions within a diffusive region before DDMC is employed. These requirements make the Nth-collided source technique impractical for realistic radiation-transport calculations

Monte Carlo aided treatments of the nonlinear inverse PGNAA measurement problem for various continuous on-line applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gardner, R.P.; Guo, P.; Sood, A.; Mayo, C.W.; Dobbs, C.L.

1998-01-01

A review of our work on the application of the PGNAA method as applied to five industrial applications is given. Some introductory material is first given on the importance and use of Monte Carlo simulation in this area, some comments on the place of PGNAA in elemental analysis, and a brief description of the Monte Carlo - Library Least-Squares (MCLLS) approach to the nonlinear inverse PGNAA analysis problem. Then the applications of PGNAA are discussed for: (1) on-line bulk coal analysis, (2) nuclear oil well logging, (3) vitrified waste, (4) the analysis of sodium and aluminium in 'green liquor' in the presence of chlorine, and (5) the conveyor belt sorting of aluminum alloy samples. It is concluded that PGNAA is a rapidly emerging important new technology and measurement approach. (author)

Herwig: The Evolution of a Monte Carlo Simulation

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2015-01-01

Monte Carlo event generation has seen significant developments in the last 10 years starting with preparation for the LHC and then during the first LHC run. I will discuss the basic ideas behind Monte Carlo event generators and then go on to discuss these developments, focussing on the developments in Herwig(++) event generator. I will conclude by presenting the current status of event generation together with some results of the forthcoming new version of Herwig, Herwig 7.

Monte Carlo tests of the ELIPGRID-PC algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davidson, J.R.

1995-04-01

The standard tool for calculating the probability of detecting pockets of contamination called hot spots has been the ELIPGRID computer code of Singer and Wickman. The ELIPGRID-PC program has recently made this algorithm available for an IBM reg-sign PC. However, no known independent validation of the ELIPGRID algorithm exists. This document describes a Monte Carlo simulation-based validation of a modified version of the ELIPGRID-PC code. The modified ELIPGRID-PC code is shown to match Monte Carlo-calculated hot-spot detection probabilities to within ±0.5% for 319 out of 320 test cases. The one exception, a very thin elliptical hot spot located within a rectangular sampling grid, differed from the Monte Carlo-calculated probability by about 1%. These results provide confidence in the ability of the modified ELIPGRID-PC code to accurately predict hot-spot detection probabilities within an acceptable range of error

Improved Monte Carlo Method for PSA Uncertainty Analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Jongsoo

2016-01-01

The treatment of uncertainty is an important issue for regulatory decisions. Uncertainties exist from knowledge limitations. A probabilistic approach has exposed some of these limitations and provided a framework to assess their significance and assist in developing a strategy to accommodate them in the regulatory process. The uncertainty analysis (UA) is usually based on the Monte Carlo method. This paper proposes a Monte Carlo UA approach to calculate the mean risk metrics accounting for the SOKC between basic events (including CCFs) using efficient random number generators and to meet Capability Category III of the ASME/ANS PRA standard. Audit calculation is needed in PSA regulatory reviews of uncertainty analysis results submitted for licensing. The proposed Monte Carlo UA approach provides a high degree of confidence in PSA reviews. All PSA needs accounting for the SOKC between event probabilities to meet the ASME/ANS PRA standard

Two proposed convergence criteria for Monte Carlo solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Forster, R.A.; Pederson, S.P.; Booth, T.E.

1992-01-01

The central limit theorem (CLT) can be applied to a Monte Carlo solution if two requirements are satisfied: (1) The random variable has a finite mean and a finite variance; and (2) the number N of independent observations grows large. When these two conditions are satisfied, a confidence interval (CI) based on the normal distribution with a specified coverage probability can be formed. The first requirement is generally satisfied by the knowledge of the Monte Carlo tally being used. The Monte Carlo practitioner has a limited number of marginal methods to assess the fulfillment of the second requirement, such as statistical error reduction proportional to 1/√N with error magnitude guidelines. Two proposed methods are discussed in this paper to assist in deciding if N is large enough: estimating the relative variance of the variance (VOV) and examining the empirical history score probability density function (pdf)

Improved Monte Carlo Method for PSA Uncertainty Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Choi, Jongsoo [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-10-15

The treatment of uncertainty is an important issue for regulatory decisions. Uncertainties exist from knowledge limitations. A probabilistic approach has exposed some of these limitations and provided a framework to assess their significance and assist in developing a strategy to accommodate them in the regulatory process. The uncertainty analysis (UA) is usually based on the Monte Carlo method. This paper proposes a Monte Carlo UA approach to calculate the mean risk metrics accounting for the SOKC between basic events (including CCFs) using efficient random number generators and to meet Capability Category III of the ASME/ANS PRA standard. Audit calculation is needed in PSA regulatory reviews of uncertainty analysis results submitted for licensing. The proposed Monte Carlo UA approach provides a high degree of confidence in PSA reviews. All PSA needs accounting for the SOKC between event probabilities to meet the ASME/ANS PRA standard.

Multiple-time-stepping generalized hybrid Monte Carlo methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Escribano, Bruno, E-mail: bescribano@bcamath.org [BCAM—Basque Center for Applied Mathematics, E-48009 Bilbao (Spain); Akhmatskaya, Elena [BCAM—Basque Center for Applied Mathematics, E-48009 Bilbao (Spain); IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, E-48013 Bilbao (Spain); Reich, Sebastian [Universität Potsdam, Institut für Mathematik, D-14469 Potsdam (Germany); Azpiroz, Jon M. [Kimika Fakultatea, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU) and Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), P.K. 1072, Donostia (Spain)

2015-01-01

Performance of the generalized shadow hybrid Monte Carlo (GSHMC) method [1], which proved to be superior in sampling efficiency over its predecessors [2–4], molecular dynamics and hybrid Monte Carlo, can be further improved by combining it with multi-time-stepping (MTS) and mollification of slow forces. We demonstrate that the comparatively simple modifications of the method not only lead to better performance of GSHMC itself but also allow for beating the best performed methods, which use the similar force splitting schemes. In addition we show that the same ideas can be successfully applied to the conventional generalized hybrid Monte Carlo method (GHMC). The resulting methods, MTS-GHMC and MTS-GSHMC, provide accurate reproduction of thermodynamic and dynamical properties, exact temperature control during simulation and computational robustness and efficiency. MTS-GHMC uses a generalized momentum update to achieve weak stochastic stabilization to the molecular dynamics (MD) integrator. MTS-GSHMC adds the use of a shadow (modified) Hamiltonian to filter the MD trajectories in the HMC scheme. We introduce a new shadow Hamiltonian formulation adapted to force-splitting methods. The use of such Hamiltonians improves the acceptance rate of trajectories and has a strong impact on the sampling efficiency of the method. Both methods were implemented in the open-source MD package ProtoMol and were tested on a water and a protein systems. Results were compared to those obtained using a Langevin Molly (LM) method [5] on the same systems. The test results demonstrate the superiority of the new methods over LM in terms of stability, accuracy and sampling efficiency. This suggests that putting the MTS approach in the framework of hybrid Monte Carlo and using the natural stochasticity offered by the generalized hybrid Monte Carlo lead to improving stability of MTS and allow for achieving larger step sizes in the simulation of complex systems.

A keff calculation method by Monte Carlo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shen, H; Wang, K.

2008-01-01

The effective multiplication factor (k eff ) is defined as the ratio between the number of neutrons in successive generations, which definition is adopted by most Monte Carlo codes (e.g. MCNP). Also, it can be thought of as the ratio of the generation rate of neutrons by the sum of the leakage rate and the absorption rate, which should exclude the effect of the neutron reaction such as (n, 2n) and (n, 3n). This article discusses the Monte Carlo method for k eff calculation based on the second definition. A new code has been developed and the results are presented. (author)

NOTE: Monte Carlo evaluation of kerma in an HDR brachytherapy bunker

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez-Calatayud, J.; Granero, D.; Ballester, F.; Casal, E.; Crispin, V.; Puchades, V.; León, A.; Verdú, G.

2004-12-01

In recent years, the use of high dose rate (HDR) after-loader machines has greatly increased due to the shift from traditional Cs-137/Ir-192 low dose rate (LDR) to HDR brachytherapy. The method used to calculate the required concrete and, where appropriate, lead shielding in the door is based on analytical methods provided by documents published by the ICRP, the IAEA and the NCRP. The purpose of this study is to perform a more realistic kerma evaluation at the entrance maze door of an HDR bunker using the Monte Carlo code GEANT4. The Monte Carlo results were validated experimentally. The spectrum at the maze entrance door, obtained with Monte Carlo, has an average energy of about 110 keV, maintaining a similar value along the length of the maze. The comparison of results from the aforementioned values with the Monte Carlo ones shows that results obtained using the albedo coefficient from the ICRP document more closely match those given by the Monte Carlo method, although the maximum value given by MC calculations is 30% greater.

Complete Bouguer gravity and aeromagnetic maps of the Rattlesnake Roadless Area, Missoula County, Montana

Science.gov (United States)

Kulik, Dolores M.

1986-01-01

The Rattlesnake Roadless Area was identified by the U.S. Forest Service as a possible addition to the Wilderness System.  This 120 square mile area is north of Missoula, Mont. (see index map); Rattlesnake Creek forms the major drainage to the south.

Leishmaniose visceral: estudo de flebotomíneos e infecção canina em Montes Claros, Minas Gerais Visceral leishmaniasis: a study on phlebotomine sand flies and canine infection in Montes Claros, State of Minas Gerais

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Érika Michalsky Monteiro

2005-04-01

Full Text Available A leishmaniose visceral no Brasil estava inicialmente associada a áreas rurais, mas devido às diversas alterações no ambiente como, desmatamentos, urbanização e intenso processo migratório, ocorreu a expansão das áreas endêmicas, levando à urbanização da doença, principalmente nas regiões Sudeste e Centro Oeste do país. No município de Montes Claros, situado ao norte de Minas Gerais, foi feito um estudo para verificação da situação da LV. No ano de 2002 foi realizado inquérito sorológico canino e no período de setembro de 2002 a agosto de 2003 foi feito levantamento entomológico, utilizando armadilhas luminosas de CDC. A prevalência da LV canina apresentou taxa média de infecção em torno de 5%. A fauna de flebotomíneos estimada foi de 16 espécies, totalizando 1043 exemplares. Lutzomyia longipalpis foi a espécie predominante com 74%, o que sugere a sua participação na transmissão de LV em Montes Claros.Visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil was initially associated with rural areas. However, due to several environmental modifications such as deforestation, urbanization and intense migratory processes, there has been an expansion of endemic areas, leading to urbanization of the disease, mainly in the central and northeastern regions of Brazil. In the municipality of Montes Claros, located in the north of the state of Minas Gerais, an epidemiological survey on VL was carried out. A canine serological inquiry was carried out in 2002 and an entomological survey, using luminous CDC traps, was performed from September 2002 to August 2003. Canine VL prevalence showed an average infection rate of approximately 5%. An estimated 16 species comprised the phlebotomine sand fly fauna, based on a total of 1043 specimens. The predominant species was Lutzomyia longipalpis with a rate of 74%, suggesting its participation in the transmission of VL in the municipality of Montes Claros.

Crop canopy BRDF simulation and analysis using Monte Carlo method

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Huang, J.; Wu, B.; Tian, Y.; Zeng, Y.

2006-01-01

This author designs the random process between photons and crop canopy. A Monte Carlo model has been developed to simulate the Bi-directional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) of crop canopy. Comparing Monte Carlo model to MCRM model, this paper analyzes the variations of different LAD and

Suppression of the initial transient in Monte Carlo criticality simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Richet, Y.

2006-12-01

Criticality Monte Carlo calculations aim at estimating the effective multiplication factor (k-effective) for a fissile system through iterations simulating neutrons propagation (making a Markov chain). Arbitrary initialization of the neutron population can deeply bias the k-effective estimation, defined as the mean of the k-effective computed at each iteration. A simplified model of this cycle k-effective sequence is built, based on characteristics of industrial criticality Monte Carlo calculations. Statistical tests, inspired by Brownian bridge properties, are designed to discriminate stationarity of the cycle k-effective sequence. The initial detected transient is, then, suppressed in order to improve the estimation of the system k-effective. The different versions of this methodology are detailed and compared, firstly on a plan of numerical tests fitted on criticality Monte Carlo calculations, and, secondly on real criticality calculations. Eventually, the best methodologies observed in these tests are selected and allow to improve industrial Monte Carlo criticality calculations. (author)

The SGHWR version of the Monte Carlo code W-MONTE. Part 1. The theoretical model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Allen, F.R.

1976-03-01

W-MONTE provides a multi-group model of neutron transport in the exact geometry of a reactor lattice using Monte Carlo methods. It is currently restricted to uniform axial properties. Material data is normally obtained from a preliminary WIMS lattice calculation in the transport group structure. The SGHWR version has been required for analysis of zero energy experiments and special aspects of power reactor lattices, such as the unmoderated lattice region above the moderator when drained to dump height. Neutron transport is modelled for a uniform infinite lattice, simultaneously treating the cases of no leakage, radial leakage or axial leakage only, and the combined effects of radial and axial leakage. Multigroup neutron balance edits are incorporated for the separate effects of radial and axial leakage to facilitate the analysis of leakage and to provide effective diffusion theory parameters for core representation in reactor cores. (author)

A practical look at Monte Carlo variance reduction methods in radiation shielding

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Olsher, Richard H. [Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos (United States)

2006-04-15

With the advent of inexpensive computing power over the past two decades, applications of Monte Carlo radiation transport techniques have proliferated dramatically. At Los Alamos, the Monte Carlo codes MCNP5 and MCNPX are used routinely on personal computer platforms for radiation shielding analysis and dosimetry calculations. These codes feature a rich palette of Variance Reduction (VR) techniques. The motivation of VR is to exchange user efficiency for computational efficiency. It has been said that a few hours of user time often reduces computational time by several orders of magnitude. Unfortunately, user time can stretch into the many hours as most VR techniques require significant user experience and intervention for proper optimization. It is the purpose of this paper to outline VR strategies, tested in practice, optimized for several common radiation shielding tasks, with the hope of reducing user setup time for similar problems. A strategy is defined in this context to mean a collection of MCNP radiation transport physics options and VR techniques that work synergistically to optimize a particular shielding task. Examples are offered the areas of source definition, skyshine, streaming, and transmission.

A practical look at Monte Carlo variance reduction methods in radiation shielding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olsher, Richard H.

2006-01-01

With the advent of inexpensive computing power over the past two decades, applications of Monte Carlo radiation transport techniques have proliferated dramatically. At Los Alamos, the Monte Carlo codes MCNP5 and MCNPX are used routinely on personal computer platforms for radiation shielding analysis and dosimetry calculations. These codes feature a rich palette of Variance Reduction (VR) techniques. The motivation of VR is to exchange user efficiency for computational efficiency. It has been said that a few hours of user time often reduces computational time by several orders of magnitude. Unfortunately, user time can stretch into the many hours as most VR techniques require significant user experience and intervention for proper optimization. It is the purpose of this paper to outline VR strategies, tested in practice, optimized for several common radiation shielding tasks, with the hope of reducing user setup time for similar problems. A strategy is defined in this context to mean a collection of MCNP radiation transport physics options and VR techniques that work synergistically to optimize a particular shielding task. Examples are offered the areas of source definition, skyshine, streaming, and transmission

Experimental and Monte Carlo studies of fluence corrections for graphite calorimetry in low- and high-energy clinical proton beams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lourenço, Ana; Thomas, Russell; Bouchard, Hugo; Kacperek, Andrzej; Vondracek, Vladimir; Royle, Gary; Palmans, Hugo

2016-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine fluence corrections necessary to convert absorbed dose to graphite, measured by graphite calorimetry, to absorbed dose to water. Fluence corrections were obtained from experiments and Monte Carlo simulations in low- and high-energy proton beams. Methods: Fluence corrections were calculated to account for the difference in fluence between water and graphite at equivalent depths. Measurements were performed with narrow proton beams. Plane-parallel-plate ionization chambers with a large collecting area compared to the beam diameter were used to intercept the whole beam. High- and low-energy proton beams were provided by a scanning and double scattering delivery system, respectively. A mathematical formalism was established to relate fluence corrections derived from Monte Carlo simulations, using the FLUKA code [A. Ferrari et al., “FLUKA: A multi-particle transport code,” in CERN 2005-10, INFN/TC 05/11, SLAC-R-773 (2005) and T. T. Böhlen et al., “The FLUKA Code: Developments and challenges for high energy and medical applications,” Nucl. Data Sheets 120, 211–214 (2014)], to partial fluence corrections measured experimentally. Results: A good agreement was found between the partial fluence corrections derived by Monte Carlo simulations and those determined experimentally. For a high-energy beam of 180 MeV, the fluence corrections from Monte Carlo simulations were found to increase from 0.99 to 1.04 with depth. In the case of a low-energy beam of 60 MeV, the magnitude of fluence corrections was approximately 0.99 at all depths when calculated in the sensitive area of the chamber used in the experiments. Fluence correction calculations were also performed for a larger area and found to increase from 0.99 at the surface to 1.01 at greater depths. Conclusions: Fluence corrections obtained experimentally are partial fluence corrections because they account for differences in the primary and part of the secondary

Experimental and Monte Carlo studies of fluence corrections for graphite calorimetry in low- and high-energy clinical proton beams

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lourenço, Ana, E-mail: am.lourenco@ucl.ac.uk [Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom and Division of Acoustics and Ionising Radiation, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington TW11 0LW (United Kingdom); Thomas, Russell; Bouchard, Hugo [Division of Acoustics and Ionising Radiation, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington TW11 0LW (United Kingdom); Kacperek, Andrzej [National Eye Proton Therapy Centre, Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Wirral CH63 4JY (United Kingdom); Vondracek, Vladimir [Proton Therapy Center, Budinova 1a, Prague 8 CZ-180 00 (Czech Republic); Royle, Gary [Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 6BT (United Kingdom); Palmans, Hugo [Division of Acoustics and Ionising Radiation, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington TW11 0LW, United Kingdom and Medical Physics Group, EBG MedAustron GmbH, A-2700 Wiener Neustadt (Austria)

2016-07-15

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine fluence corrections necessary to convert absorbed dose to graphite, measured by graphite calorimetry, to absorbed dose to water. Fluence corrections were obtained from experiments and Monte Carlo simulations in low- and high-energy proton beams. Methods: Fluence corrections were calculated to account for the difference in fluence between water and graphite at equivalent depths. Measurements were performed with narrow proton beams. Plane-parallel-plate ionization chambers with a large collecting area compared to the beam diameter were used to intercept the whole beam. High- and low-energy proton beams were provided by a scanning and double scattering delivery system, respectively. A mathematical formalism was established to relate fluence corrections derived from Monte Carlo simulations, using the FLUKA code [A. Ferrari et al., “FLUKA: A multi-particle transport code,” in CERN 2005-10, INFN/TC 05/11, SLAC-R-773 (2005) and T. T. Böhlen et al., “The FLUKA Code: Developments and challenges for high energy and medical applications,” Nucl. Data Sheets 120, 211–214 (2014)], to partial fluence corrections measured experimentally. Results: A good agreement was found between the partial fluence corrections derived by Monte Carlo simulations and those determined experimentally. For a high-energy beam of 180 MeV, the fluence corrections from Monte Carlo simulations were found to increase from 0.99 to 1.04 with depth. In the case of a low-energy beam of 60 MeV, the magnitude of fluence corrections was approximately 0.99 at all depths when calculated in the sensitive area of the chamber used in the experiments. Fluence correction calculations were also performed for a larger area and found to increase from 0.99 at the surface to 1.01 at greater depths. Conclusions: Fluence corrections obtained experimentally are partial fluence corrections because they account for differences in the primary and part of the secondary

TH-E-18A-01: Developments in Monte Carlo Methods for Medical Imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Badal, A [U.S. Food and Drug Administration (CDRH/OSEL), Silver Spring, MD (United States); Zbijewski, W [Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (United States); Bolch, W [University of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); Sechopoulos, I [Emory University, Atlanta, GA (United States)

2014-06-15

Monte Carlo simulation methods are widely used in medical physics research and are starting to be implemented in clinical applications such as radiation therapy planning systems. Monte Carlo simulations offer the capability to accurately estimate quantities of interest that are challenging to measure experimentally while taking into account the realistic anatomy of an individual patient. Traditionally, practical application of Monte Carlo simulation codes in diagnostic imaging was limited by the need for large computational resources or long execution times. However, recent advancements in high-performance computing hardware, combined with a new generation of Monte Carlo simulation algorithms and novel postprocessing methods, are allowing for the computation of relevant imaging parameters of interest such as patient organ doses and scatter-to-primaryratios in radiographic projections in just a few seconds using affordable computational resources. Programmable Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), for example, provide a convenient, affordable platform for parallelized Monte Carlo executions that yield simulation times on the order of 10{sup 7} xray/ s. Even with GPU acceleration, however, Monte Carlo simulation times can be prohibitive for routine clinical practice. To reduce simulation times further, variance reduction techniques can be used to alter the probabilistic models underlying the x-ray tracking process, resulting in lower variance in the results without biasing the estimates. Other complementary strategies for further reductions in computation time are denoising of the Monte Carlo estimates and estimating (scoring) the quantity of interest at a sparse set of sampling locations (e.g. at a small number of detector pixels in a scatter simulation) followed by interpolation. Beyond reduction of the computational resources required for performing Monte Carlo simulations in medical imaging, the use of accurate representations of patient anatomy is crucial to the

TH-E-18A-01: Developments in Monte Carlo Methods for Medical Imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Badal, A; Zbijewski, W; Bolch, W; Sechopoulos, I

2014-01-01

Monte Carlo simulation methods are widely used in medical physics research and are starting to be implemented in clinical applications such as radiation therapy planning systems. Monte Carlo simulations offer the capability to accurately estimate quantities of interest that are challenging to measure experimentally while taking into account the realistic anatomy of an individual patient. Traditionally, practical application of Monte Carlo simulation codes in diagnostic imaging was limited by the need for large computational resources or long execution times. However, recent advancements in high-performance computing hardware, combined with a new generation of Monte Carlo simulation algorithms and novel postprocessing methods, are allowing for the computation of relevant imaging parameters of interest such as patient organ doses and scatter-to-primaryratios in radiographic projections in just a few seconds using affordable computational resources. Programmable Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), for example, provide a convenient, affordable platform for parallelized Monte Carlo executions that yield simulation times on the order of 10 7 xray/ s. Even with GPU acceleration, however, Monte Carlo simulation times can be prohibitive for routine clinical practice. To reduce simulation times further, variance reduction techniques can be used to alter the probabilistic models underlying the x-ray tracking process, resulting in lower variance in the results without biasing the estimates. Other complementary strategies for further reductions in computation time are denoising of the Monte Carlo estimates and estimating (scoring) the quantity of interest at a sparse set of sampling locations (e.g. at a small number of detector pixels in a scatter simulation) followed by interpolation. Beyond reduction of the computational resources required for performing Monte Carlo simulations in medical imaging, the use of accurate representations of patient anatomy is crucial to the virtual

Evaluation of {sup 222}Rn concentration of the internal and external environments of residences at Monte Alegre municipality, Para, Brazil; Avaliacao da concentracao do {sup 222}Rn nos ambientes internos e externos de residencias do municipio de Monte Alegre, PA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Melo, Vicente de Paula

1999-07-01

The human being is constantly exposed to the natural radioactivity in the environment where he lives. This radioactivity comes mainly from materials present in the terrestrial crust that possess in their constitution chemical elements belonging to the radioactive families of uranium and thorium. The use of such materials for the construction of houses constitutes an important exposure form to the natural radiation, above all to the radioactive gas {sup 222}Rn, that it is exhaled from them. The Brazilian soil is composed, among other, of minerals that contain appreciable concentrations of these elements. The inhabitants of Monte Alegre town in Para, located at 2 deg 00' 24,9 'S ; 54 deg 04 ' 13,5 {sup W}, used in the construction of their houses stones obtained from an area 20 km distant of Monte Alegre, denominated Ingles de Souza, located at 01 deg 56' 4 0,1 S; 54 deg 12 149,7 W, where a small residential village, denominated National Agricultural Colony of Para (CANP), is located. The objective of this work was to evaluate the indoor concentration of {sup 222}Rn in the residences of Monte Alegre and CANP. Determinations of the {sup 238}U and {sup 226}Ra concentrations, measurements of the radon flux in samples of stones and soils of the two regions, as well as measurements to the gamma dose close of the soil and inside the residences, were also carried out. The average results of the radon concentration in the air of the investigated residences did not exceed the limits of 200 Bq. m{sup 3} (action level) and 600 Bq. m{sup 3} (intervention level) recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). The concentrations of natural radionuclides and the radon flux determined at the village showed values 17 times higher than those found at the urban area of Monte Alegre, while the average indoor gamma dose rate in the village residences was 0.86 mSv/a. (author)

Evaluation of {sup 222}Rn concentration of the internal and external environments of residences at Monte Alegre municipality, Para, Brazil; Avaliacao da concentracao do {sup 222}Rn nos ambientes internos e externos de residencias do municipio de Monte Alegre, PA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Melo, Vicente de Paula

1999-07-01

The human being is constantly exposed to the natural radioactivity in the environment where he lives. This radioactivity comes mainly from materials present in the terrestrial crust that possess in their constitution chemical elements belonging to the radioactive families of uranium and thorium. The use of such materials for the construction of houses constitutes an important exposure form to the natural radiation, above all to the radioactive gas {sup 222}Rn, that it is exhaled from them. The Brazilian soil is composed, among other, of minerals that contain appreciable concentrations of these elements. The inhabitants of Monte Alegre town in Para, located at 2 deg 00' 24,9 'S ; 54 deg 04 ' 13,5 {sup W}, used in the construction of their houses stones obtained from an area 20 km distant of Monte Alegre, denominated Ingles de Souza, located at 01 deg 56' 4 0,1 S; 54 deg 12 149,7 W, where a small residential village, denominated National Agricultural Colony of Para (CANP), is located. The objective of this work was to evaluate the indoor concentration of {sup 222}Rn in the residences of Monte Alegre and CANP. Determinations of the {sup 238}U and {sup 226}Ra concentrations, measurements of the radon flux in samples of stones and soils of the two regions, as well as measurements to the gamma dose close of the soil and inside the residences, were also carried out. The average results of the radon concentration in the air of the investigated residences did not exceed the limits of 200 Bq. m{sup 3} (action level) and 600 Bq. m{sup 3} (intervention level) recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). The concentrations of natural radionuclides and the radon flux determined at the village showed values 17 times higher than those found at the urban area of Monte Alegre, while the average indoor gamma dose rate in the village residences was 0.86 mSv/a. (author)

PEPSI - a Monte Carlo generator for polarized leptoproduction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mankiewicz, L.

1992-01-01

We describe PEPSI (Polarized Electron Proton Scattering Interactions) a Monte Carlo program for polarized deep inelastic leptoproduction mediated by electromagnetic interaction, and explain how to use it. The code is a modification of the Lepto 4.3 Lund Monte Carlo for unpolarized scattering. The hard virtual gamma-parton scattering is generated according to the polarization-dependent QCD cross-section of the first order in α S . PEPSI requires the standard polarization-independent JETSET routines to simulate the fragmentation into final hadrons. (orig.)

Monte Carlo method for solving a parabolic problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tian Yi

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we present a numerical method based on random sampling for a parabolic problem. This method combines use of the Crank-Nicolson method and Monte Carlo method. In the numerical algorithm, we first discretize governing equations by Crank-Nicolson method, and obtain a large sparse system of linear algebraic equations, then use Monte Carlo method to solve the linear algebraic equations. To illustrate the usefulness of this technique, we apply it to some test problems.

NUEN-618 Class Project: Actually Implicit Monte Carlo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vega, R. M. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Brunner, T. A. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2017-12-14

This research describes a new method for the solution of the thermal radiative transfer (TRT) equations that is implicit in time which will be called Actually Implicit Monte Carlo (AIMC). This section aims to introduce the TRT equations, as well as the current workhorse method which is known as Implicit Monte Carlo (IMC). As the name of the method proposed here indicates, IMC is a misnomer in that it is only semi-implicit, which will be shown in this section as well.

Monte Carlo simulations and dosimetric studies of an irradiation facility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Belchior, A. [Instituto Tecnologico e Nuclear, Estrada nacional no. 10, Apartado 21, 2686-953 Sacavem (Portugal)], E-mail: anabelchior@itn.pt; Botelho, M.L; Vaz, P. [Instituto Tecnologico e Nuclear, Estrada nacional no. 10, Apartado 21, 2686-953 Sacavem (Portugal)

2007-09-21

There is an increasing utilization of ionizing radiation for industrial applications. Additionally, the radiation technology offers a variety of advantages in areas, such as sterilization and food preservation. For these applications, dosimetric tests are of crucial importance in order to assess the dose distribution throughout the sample being irradiated. The use of Monte Carlo methods and computational tools in support of the assessment of the dose distributions in irradiation facilities can prove to be economically effective, representing savings in the utilization of dosemeters, among other benefits. One of the purposes of this study is the development of a Monte Carlo simulation, using a state-of-the-art computational tool-MCNPX-in order to determine the dose distribution inside an irradiation facility of Cobalt 60. This irradiation facility is currently in operation at the ITN campus and will feature an automation and robotics component, which will allow its remote utilization by an external user, under REEQ/996/BIO/2005 project. The detailed geometrical description of the irradiation facility has been implemented in MCNPX, which features an accurate and full simulation of the electron-photon processes involved. The validation of the simulation results obtained was performed by chemical dosimetry methods, namely a Fricke solution. The Fricke dosimeter is a standard dosimeter and is widely used in radiation processing for calibration purposes.

Monte Carlo burnup codes acceleration using the correlated sampling method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dieudonne, C.

2013-01-01

For several years, Monte Carlo burnup/depletion codes have appeared, which couple Monte Carlo codes to simulate the neutron transport to deterministic methods, which handle the medium depletion due to the neutron flux. Solving Boltzmann and Bateman equations in such a way allows to track fine 3-dimensional effects and to get rid of multi-group hypotheses done by deterministic solvers. The counterpart is the prohibitive calculation time due to the Monte Carlo solver called at each time step. In this document we present an original methodology to avoid the repetitive and time-expensive Monte Carlo simulations, and to replace them by perturbation calculations: indeed the different burnup steps may be seen as perturbations of the isotopic concentration of an initial Monte Carlo simulation. In a first time we will present this method, and provide details on the perturbative technique used, namely the correlated sampling. In a second time we develop a theoretical model to study the features of the correlated sampling method to understand its effects on depletion calculations. In a third time the implementation of this method in the TRIPOLI-4 code will be discussed, as well as the precise calculation scheme used to bring important speed-up of the depletion calculation. We will begin to validate and optimize the perturbed depletion scheme with the calculation of a REP-like fuel cell depletion. Then this technique will be used to calculate the depletion of a REP-like assembly, studied at beginning of its cycle. After having validated the method with a reference calculation we will show that it can speed-up by nearly an order of magnitude standard Monte-Carlo depletion codes. (author) [fr

Monte Carlo Simulation in Statistical Physics An Introduction

CERN Document Server

Binder, Kurt

2010-01-01

Monte Carlo Simulation in Statistical Physics deals with the computer simulation of many-body systems in condensed-matter physics and related fields of physics, chemistry and beyond, to traffic flows, stock market fluctuations, etc.). Using random numbers generated by a computer, probability distributions are calculated, allowing the estimation of the thermodynamic properties of various systems. This book describes the theoretical background to several variants of these Monte Carlo methods and gives a systematic presentation from which newcomers can learn to perform such simulations and to analyze their results. The fifth edition covers Classical as well as Quantum Monte Carlo methods. Furthermore a new chapter on the sampling of free-energy landscapes has been added. To help students in their work a special web server has been installed to host programs and discussion groups (http://wwwcp.tphys.uni-heidelberg.de). Prof. Binder was awarded the Berni J. Alder CECAM Award for Computational Physics 2001 as well ...

Monte Carlo simulation in statistical physics an introduction

CERN Document Server

Binder, Kurt

1992-01-01

The Monte Carlo method is a computer simulation method which uses random numbers to simulate statistical fluctuations The method is used to model complex systems with many degrees of freedom Probability distributions for these systems are generated numerically and the method then yields numerically exact information on the models Such simulations may be used tosee how well a model system approximates a real one or to see how valid the assumptions are in an analyical theory A short and systematic theoretical introduction to the method forms the first part of this book The second part is a practical guide with plenty of examples and exercises for the student Problems treated by simple sampling (random and self-avoiding walks, percolation clusters, etc) are included, along with such topics as finite-size effects and guidelines for the analysis of Monte Carlo simulations The two parts together provide an excellent introduction to the theory and practice of Monte Carlo simulations

Geometry and Dynamics for Markov Chain Monte Carlo

Science.gov (United States)

Barp, Alessandro; Briol, François-Xavier; Kennedy, Anthony D.; Girolami, Mark

2018-03-01

Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods have revolutionised mathematical computation and enabled statistical inference within many previously intractable models. In this context, Hamiltonian dynamics have been proposed as an efficient way of building chains which can explore probability densities efficiently. The method emerges from physics and geometry and these links have been extensively studied by a series of authors through the last thirty years. However, there is currently a gap between the intuitions and knowledge of users of the methodology and our deep understanding of these theoretical foundations. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive introduction to the geometric tools used in Hamiltonian Monte Carlo at a level accessible to statisticians, machine learners and other users of the methodology with only a basic understanding of Monte Carlo methods. This will be complemented with some discussion of the most recent advances in the field which we believe will become increasingly relevant to applied scientists.

Vectorizing and macrotasking Monte Carlo neutral particle algorithms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heifetz, D.B.

1987-04-01

Monte Carlo algorithms for computing neutral particle transport in plasmas have been vectorized and macrotasked. The techniques used are directly applicable to Monte Carlo calculations of neutron and photon transport, and Monte Carlo integration schemes in general. A highly vectorized code was achieved by calculating test flight trajectories in loops over arrays of flight data, isolating the conditional branches to as few a number of loops as possible. A number of solutions are discussed to the problem of gaps appearing in the arrays due to completed flights, which impede vectorization. A simple and effective implementation of macrotasking is achieved by dividing the calculation of the test flight profile among several processors. A tree of random numbers is used to ensure reproducible results. The additional memory required for each task may preclude using a larger number of tasks. In future machines, the limit of macrotasking may be possible, with each test flight, and split test flight, being a separate task

Rare event simulation using Monte Carlo methods

CERN Document Server

Rubino, Gerardo

2009-01-01

In a probabilistic model, a rare event is an event with a very small probability of occurrence. The forecasting of rare events is a formidable task but is important in many areas. For instance a catastrophic failure in a transport system or in a nuclear power plant, the failure of an information processing system in a bank, or in the communication network of a group of banks, leading to financial losses. Being able to evaluate the probability of rare events is therefore a critical issue. Monte Carlo Methods, the simulation of corresponding models, are used to analyze rare events. This book sets out to present the mathematical tools available for the efficient simulation of rare events. Importance sampling and splitting are presented along with an exposition of how to apply these tools to a variety of fields ranging from performance and dependability evaluation of complex systems, typically in computer science or in telecommunications, to chemical reaction analysis in biology or particle transport in physics. ...

Monte-Carlo event generation for the LHC

CERN Document Server

Siegert, Frank

This thesis discusses recent developments for the simulation of particle physics in the light of the start-up of the Large Hadron Collider. Simulation programs for fully exclusive events, dubbed Monte-Carlo event generators, are improved in areas related to the perturbative as well as non-perturbative regions of strong interactions. A short introduction to the main principles of event generation is given to serve as a basis for the following discussion. An existing algorithm for the correction of parton-shower emissions with the help of exact tree-level matrix elements is revisited and significantly improved as attested by first results. In a next step, an automated implementation of the POWHEG method is presented. It allows for the combination of parton showers with full next-to-leading order QCD calculations and has been tested in several processes. These two methods are then combined into a more powerful framework which allows to correct a parton shower with full next-to-leading order matrix elements and h...

The bat fauna of the Kararaô and Kararaô Novo caves in the area under the influence of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, in Pará, Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Zortéa

Full Text Available Abstract Brazil’s large territory displays significant richness in caves with about 12 thousand caves already recorded. Nevertheless, studies on bats in these environments are extremely scarce and fragmented. This study characterized the chiropteran fauna from two sandstone caves under the influence of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam (Belo Monte UHE in Pará, Brazil. The Kararaô and Kararaô Novo caves are located on the same ridge, 250 m apart. Three expeditions were carried out in 2013 and 2014, with a 4- to 5-month interval in between. A total of 589 animals were caught, 246 in the Kararaô cave and 343 in the Kararaô Novo cave. Fifteen species were recorded (13 in each cave representing 79% similarity. With the exception of Vampyrum spectrum, which is not a cave species, the remaining recorded species were mostly cave bat species. Some species seemed to use the caves seasonally, although the basis of this pattern is still unknown. The most commonly observed species were Pteronotus personatus (dominant in the Kararaô cave, P. parnellii (dominant in the Kararaô Novo cave, and Lionycteris spurrelli, which accounted for 65% of all captures recorded for the two caves. Natalus macrourus is a species recorded in the Kararaô cave that is regionally threatened with extinction. Both caves are less than 500 m from the future reservoir; however, because the Kararaô cave entry is in an area that is lower than the reservoir, it can suffer alterations that would affect its dynamics. This raises great concern about the cave’s associated fauna.

Multi-Index Monte Carlo (MIMC)

KAUST Repository

Haji Ali, Abdul Lateef; Nobile, Fabio; Tempone, Raul

2015-01-01

We propose and analyze a novel Multi-Index Monte Carlo (MIMC) method for weak approximation of stochastic models that are described in terms of differential equations either driven by random measures or with random coefficients. The MIMC method is both a stochastic version of the combination technique introduced by Zenger, Griebel and collaborators and an extension of the Multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) method first described by Heinrich and Giles. Inspired by Giles’s seminal work, instead of using first-order differences as in MLMC, we use in MIMC high-order mixed differences to reduce the variance of the hierarchical differences dramatically. Under standard assumptions on the convergence rates of the weak error, variance and work per sample, the optimal index set turns out to be of Total Degree (TD) type. When using such sets, MIMC yields new and improved complexity results, which are natural generalizations of Giles’s MLMC analysis, and which increase the domain of problem parameters for which we achieve the optimal convergence.

Multi-Index Monte Carlo (MIMC)

KAUST Repository

Haji Ali, Abdul Lateef

2015-01-07

We propose and analyze a novel Multi-Index Monte Carlo (MIMC) method for weak approximation of stochastic models that are described in terms of differential equations either driven by random measures or with random coefficients. The MIMC method is both a stochastic version of the combination technique introduced by Zenger, Griebel and collaborators and an extension of the Multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) method first described by Heinrich and Giles. Inspired by Giles’s seminal work, instead of using first-order differences as in MLMC, we use in MIMC high-order mixed differences to reduce the variance of the hierarchical differences dramatically. Under standard assumptions on the convergence rates of the weak error, variance and work per sample, the optimal index set turns out to be of Total Degree (TD) type. When using such sets, MIMC yields new and improved complexity results, which are natural generalizations of Giles’s MLMC analysis, and which increase the domain of problem parameters for which we achieve the optimal convergence.

Simulation of Rossi-α method with analog Monte-Carlo method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu Yuzhao; Xie Qilin; Song Lingli; Liu Hangang

2012-01-01

The analog Monte-Carlo code for simulating Rossi-α method based on Geant4 was developed. The prompt neutron decay constant α of six metal uranium configurations in Oak Ridge National Laboratory were calculated. α was also calculated by Burst-Neutron method and the result was consistent with the result of Rossi-α method. There is the difference between results of analog Monte-Carlo simulation and experiment, and the reasons for the difference is the gaps between uranium layers. The influence of gaps decrease as the sub-criticality deepens. The relative difference between results of analog Monte-Carlo simulation and experiment changes from 19% to 0.19%. (authors)

Quasi-Monte Carlo methods for lattice systems. A first look

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jansen, K.; Cyprus Univ., Nicosia; Leovey, H.; Griewank, A.; Nube, A.; Humboldt-Universitaet, Berlin; Mueller-Preussker, M.

2013-02-01

We investigate the applicability of Quasi-Monte Carlo methods to Euclidean lattice systems for quantum mechanics in order to improve the asymptotic error behavior of observables for such theories. In most cases the error of an observable calculated by averaging over random observations generated from an ordinary Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation behaves like N -1/2 , where N is the number of observations. By means of Quasi-Monte Carlo methods it is possible to improve this behavior for certain problems up to N -1 . We adapted and applied this approach to simple systems like the quantum harmonic and anharmonic oscillator and verified an improved error scaling.

Quasi-Monte Carlo methods for lattice systems. A first look

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jansen, K. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany). John von Neumann-Inst. fuer Computing NIC; Cyprus Univ., Nicosia (Cyprus). Dept. of Physics; Leovey, H.; Griewank, A. [Humboldt-Universitaet, Berlin (Germany). Inst. fuer Mathematik; Nube, A. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen (Germany). John von Neumann-Inst. fuer Computing NIC; Humboldt-Universitaet, Berlin (Germany). Inst. fuer Physik; Mueller-Preussker, M. [Humboldt-Universitaet, Berlin (Germany). Inst. fuer Physik

2013-02-15

We investigate the applicability of Quasi-Monte Carlo methods to Euclidean lattice systems for quantum mechanics in order to improve the asymptotic error behavior of observables for such theories. In most cases the error of an observable calculated by averaging over random observations generated from an ordinary Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation behaves like N{sup -1/2}, where N is the number of observations. By means of Quasi-Monte Carlo methods it is possible to improve this behavior for certain problems up to N{sup -1}. We adapted and applied this approach to simple systems like the quantum harmonic and anharmonic oscillator and verified an improved error scaling.

Monte Carlo calculations of thermodynamic properties of deuterium under high pressures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Levashov, P R; Filinov, V S; BoTan, A; Fortov, V E; Bonitz, M

2008-01-01

Two different numerical approaches have been applied for calculations of shock Hugoniots and compression isentrope of deuterium: direct path integral Monte Carlo and reactive Monte Carlo. The results show good agreement between two methods at intermediate pressure which is an indication of correct accounting of dissociation effects in the direct path integral Monte Carlo method. Experimental data on both shock and quasi-isentropic compression of deuterium are well described by calculations. Thus dissociation of deuterium molecules in these experiments together with interparticle interaction play significant role

Error reduction techniques for Monte Carlo neutron transport calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ju, J.H.W.

1981-01-01

Monte Carlo methods have been widely applied to problems in nuclear physics, mathematical reliability, communication theory, and other areas. The work in this thesis is developed mainly with neutron transport applications in mind. For nuclear reactor and many other applications, random walk processes have been used to estimate multi-dimensional integrals and obtain information about the solution of integral equations. When the analysis is statistically based such calculations are often costly, and the development of efficient estimation techniques plays a critical role in these applications. All of the error reduction techniques developed in this work are applied to model problems. It is found that the nearly optimal parameters selected by the analytic method for use with GWAN estimator are nearly identical to parameters selected by the multistage method. Modified path length estimation (based on the path length importance measure) leads to excellent error reduction in all model problems examined. Finally, it should be pointed out that techniques used for neutron transport problems may be transferred easily to other application areas which are based on random walk processes. The transport problems studied in this dissertation provide exceptionally severe tests of the error reduction potential of any sampling procedure. It is therefore expected that the methods of this dissertation will prove useful in many other application areas

Monte Carlo simulated dynamical magnetization of single-chain magnets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Jun; Liu, Bang-Gui, E-mail: bgliu@iphy.ac.cn

2015-03-15

Here, a dynamical Monte-Carlo (DMC) method is used to study temperature-dependent dynamical magnetization of famous Mn{sub 2}Ni system as typical example of single-chain magnets with strong magnetic anisotropy. Simulated magnetization curves are in good agreement with experimental results under typical temperatures and sweeping rates, and simulated coercive fields as functions of temperature are also consistent with experimental curves. Further analysis indicates that the magnetization reversal is determined by both thermal-activated effects and quantum spin tunnelings. These can help explore basic properties and applications of such important magnetic systems. - Highlights: • Monte Carlo simulated magnetization curves are in good agreement with experimental results. • Simulated coercive fields as functions of temperature are consistent with experimental results. • The magnetization reversal is understood in terms of the Monte Carlo simulations.

Exponentially-convergent Monte Carlo via finite-element trial spaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morel, Jim E.; Tooley, Jared P.; Blamer, Brandon J.

2011-01-01

Exponentially-Convergent Monte Carlo (ECMC) methods, also known as adaptive Monte Carlo and residual Monte Carlo methods, were the subject of intense research over a decade ago, but they never became practical for solving the realistic problems. We believe that the failure of previous efforts may be related to the choice of trial spaces that were global and thus highly oscillatory. As an alternative, we consider finite-element trial spaces, which have the ability to treat fully realistic problems. As a first step towards more general methods, we apply piecewise-linear trial spaces to the spatially-continuous two-stream transport equation. Using this approach, we achieve exponential convergence and computationally demonstrate several fundamental properties of finite-element based ECMC methods. Finally, our results indicate that the finite-element approach clearly deserves further investigation. (author)

Monte Carlo Calculation of Sensitivities to Secondary Angular Distributions. Theory and Validation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perell, R. L.

2002-01-01

The basic methods for solution of the transport equation that are in practical use today are the discrete ordinates (SN) method, and the Monte Carlo (Monte Carlo) method. While the SN method is typically less computation time consuming, the Monte Carlo method is often preferred for detailed and general description of three-dimensional geometries, and for calculations using cross sections that are point-wise energy dependent. For analysis of experimental and calculated results, sensitivities are needed. Sensitivities to material parameters in general, and to the angular distribution of the secondary (scattered) neutrons in particular, can be calculated by well known SN methods, using the fluxes obtained from solution of the direct and the adjoint transport equations. Algorithms to calculate sensitivities to cross-sections with Monte Carlo methods have been known for quite a time. However, only just recently we have developed a general Monte Carlo algorithm for the calculation of sensitivities to the angular distribution of the secondary neutrons

Monte Carlo treatment planning with modulated electron radiotherapy: framework development and application

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, Andrew William

Within the field of medical physics, Monte Carlo radiation transport simulations are considered to be the most accurate method for the determination of dose distributions in patients. The McGill Monte Carlo treatment planning system (MMCTP), provides a flexible software environment to integrate Monte Carlo simulations with current and new treatment modalities. A developing treatment modality called energy and intensity modulated electron radiotherapy (MERT) is a promising modality, which has the fundamental capabilities to enhance the dosimetry of superficial targets. An objective of this work is to advance the research and development of MERT with the end goal of clinical use. To this end, we present the MMCTP system with an integrated toolkit for MERT planning and delivery of MERT fields. Delivery is achieved using an automated "few leaf electron collimator" (FLEC) and a controller. Aside from the MERT planning toolkit, the MMCTP system required numerous add-ons to perform the complex task of large-scale autonomous Monte Carlo simulations. The first was a DICOM import filter, followed by the implementation of DOSXYZnrc as a dose calculation engine and by logic methods for submitting and updating the status of Monte Carlo simulations. Within this work we validated the MMCTP system with a head and neck Monte Carlo recalculation study performed by a medical dosimetrist. The impact of MMCTP lies in the fact that it allows for systematic and platform independent large-scale Monte Carlo dose calculations for different treatment sites and treatment modalities. In addition to the MERT planning tools, various optimization algorithms were created external to MMCTP. The algorithms produced MERT treatment plans based on dose volume constraints that employ Monte Carlo pre-generated patient-specific kernels. The Monte Carlo kernels are generated from patient-specific Monte Carlo dose distributions within MMCTP. The structure of the MERT planning toolkit software and

Proton therapy analysis using the Monte Carlo method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Noshad, Houshyar [Center for Theoretical Physics and Mathematics, AEOI, P.O. Box 14155-1339, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)]. E-mail: hnoshad@aeoi.org.ir; Givechi, Nasim [Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2005-10-01

The range and straggling data obtained from the transport of ions in matter (TRIM) computer program were used to determine the trajectories of monoenergetic 60 MeV protons in muscle tissue by using the Monte Carlo technique. The appropriate profile for the shape of a proton pencil beam in proton therapy as well as the dose deposited in the tissue were computed. The good agreements between our results as compared with the corresponding experimental values are presented here to show the reliability of our Monte Carlo method.

Simplified monte carlo simulation for Beijing spectrometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Taijie; Wang Shuqin; Yan Wuguang; Huang Yinzhi; Huang Deqiang; Lang Pengfei

1986-01-01

The Monte Carlo method based on the functionization of the performance of detectors and the transformation of values of kinematical variables into ''measured'' ones by means of smearing has been used to program the Monte Carlo simulation of the performance of the Beijing Spectrometer (BES) in FORTRAN language named BESMC. It can be used to investigate the multiplicity, the particle type, and the distribution of four-momentum of the final states of electron-positron collision, and also the response of the BES to these final states. Thus, it provides a measure to examine whether the overall design of the BES is reasonable and to decide the physical topics of the BES

Monte Carlo simulation of gas Cerenkov detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mack, J.M.; Jain, M.; Jordan, T.M.

1984-01-01

Theoretical study of selected gamma-ray and electron diagnostic necessitates coupling Cerenkov radiation to electron/photon cascades. A Cerenkov production model and its incorporation into a general geometry Monte Carlo coupled electron/photon transport code is discussed. A special optical photon ray-trace is implemented using bulk optical properties assigned to each Monte Carlo zone. Good agreement exists between experimental and calculated Cerenkov data in the case of a carbon-dioxide gas Cerenkov detector experiment. Cerenkov production and threshold data are presented for a typical carbon-dioxide gas detector that converts a 16.7 MeV photon source to Cerenkov light, which is collected by optics and detected by a photomultiplier

Solving the transport equation by Monte Carlo method and application for biological shield calculations; Resavanje transportne jednacine Monte Carlo metodom i njena primena u zadacima proracuna bioloskog stita

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kocic, A [Institute of Nuclear Sciences Boris Kidric, Vinca, Beograd (Serbia and Montenegro)

1977-07-01

General sampling Monte Carlo scheme for neutron transport equation has been described. Programme TRANSFER for neutron beam transmission analysis has been used to calculate the neutron leakage spectrum, detector efficiency and neutron angular distribution of the example problem (author) [Serbo-Croat] U radu se najpre razmatraju osnovni problemi resavanja transportne jednacine i nacin kako Monte Karlo metoda omogucuje da se prevazidju neki od njih: visedimenzionalnost zadatka, problem dubokog prodiranja i dovoljno fino tretiranje efikasnih preseka. Dalje, govori se o iskustvima sa primenom Monte Karlo metode u Laboratoriji za nuklearnu energetiku i tehnicku fiziku i o primeni ove metode na probleme zastite. Na kraju dati su i analizirani ilustrativni primeri proracuna transporta neutrona kroz ravan sloj zastitnog materijala koriscenjem Monte Karlo programa TRANSFER (author)

A contribution to the Monte Carlo method in the reactor theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lieberoth, J.

1976-01-01

The report gives a contribution to the further development of the Monte-Carlo Method to solve the neutron transport problem. The necessary fundamentals, mainly of statistical nature, are collected and partly derived, such as the statistical weight, the use of random numbers or the Monte-Carlo integration method. Special emphasis is put on the so-called team-method, which will help to reduce the statistical error of Monte-Carlo estimates, and on the path-method, which can be used to calculate the neutron fluxes in pre-defined local points

Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy/Monte Carlo simulation approach for the non-destructive analysis of corrosion patina-bearing alloys in archaeological bronzes: The case of the bowl from the Fareleira 3 site (Vidigueira, South Portugal)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bottaini, C. [Hercules Laboratory, University of Évora, Palacio do Vimioso, Largo Marquês de Marialva 8, 7000-809 Évora (Portugal); Mirão, J. [Hercules Laboratory, University of Évora, Palacio do Vimioso, Largo Marquês de Marialva 8, 7000-809 Évora (Portugal); Évora Geophysics Centre, Rua Romão Ramalho 59, 7000 Évora (Portugal); Figuereido, M. [Archaeologist — Monte da Capelinha, Apartado 54, 7005, São Miguel de Machede, Évora (Portugal); Candeias, A. [Hercules Laboratory, University of Évora, Palacio do Vimioso, Largo Marquês de Marialva 8, 7000-809 Évora (Portugal); Évora Chemistry Centre, Rua Romão Ramalho 59, 7000 Évora (Portugal); Brunetti, A. [Department of Political Science and Communication, University of Sassari, Via Piandanna 2, 07100 Sassari (Italy); Schiavon, N., E-mail: schiavon@uevora.pt [Hercules Laboratory, University of Évora, Palacio do Vimioso, Largo Marquês de Marialva 8, 7000-809 Évora (Portugal); Évora Geophysics Centre, Rua Romão Ramalho 59, 7000 Évora (Portugal)

2015-01-01

Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) is a well-known technique for non-destructive and in situ analysis of archaeological artifacts both in terms of the qualitative and quantitative elemental composition because of its rapidity and non-destructiveness. In this study EDXRF and realistic Monte Carlo simulation using the X-ray Monte Carlo (XRMC) code package have been combined to characterize a Cu-based bowl from the Iron Age burial from Fareleira 3 (Southern Portugal). The artifact displays a multilayered structure made up of three distinct layers: a) alloy substrate; b) green oxidized corrosion patina; and c) brownish carbonate soil-derived crust. To assess the reliability of Monte Carlo simulation in reproducing the composition of the bulk metal of the objects without recurring to potentially damaging patina's and crust's removal, portable EDXRF analysis was performed on cleaned and patina/crust coated areas of the artifact. Patina has been characterized by micro X-ray Diffractometry (μXRD) and Back-Scattered Scanning Electron Microscopy + Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (BSEM + EDS). Results indicate that the EDXRF/Monte Carlo protocol is well suited when a two-layered model is considered, whereas in areas where the patina + crust surface coating is too thick, X-rays from the alloy substrate are not able to exit the sample. - Highlights: • EDXRF/Monte Carlo simulation is used to characterize an archeological alloy. • EDXRF analysis was performed on cleaned and patina coated areas of the artifact. • EDXRF/Montes Carlo protocol is well suited when a two-layered model is considered. • When the patina is too thick, X-rays from substrate are unable to exit the sample.

Avariide kiuste Monte Carlosse / Aare Arula

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Arula, Aare

2007-01-01

Vt. ka Tehnika dlja Vsehh nr. 3, lk. 26-27. 26. jaanuaril 1937 Tallinnast Monte Carlo tähesõidule startinud Karl Siitanit ja tema meeskonda ootasid ees seiklused, mis oleksid neile peaaegu elu maksnud

A Monte Carlo Simulation Framework for Testing Cosmological Models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heymann Y.

2014-10-01

Full Text Available We tested alternative cosmologies using Monte Carlo simulations based on the sam- pling method of the zCosmos galactic survey. The survey encompasses a collection of observable galaxies with respective redshifts that have been obtained for a given spec- troscopic area of the sky. Using a cosmological model, we can convert the redshifts into light-travel times and, by slicing the survey into small redshift buckets, compute a curve of galactic density over time. Because foreground galaxies obstruct the images of more distant galaxies, we simulated the theoretical galactic density curve using an average galactic radius. By comparing the galactic density curves of the simulations with that of the survey, we could assess the cosmologies. We applied the test to the expanding-universe cosmology of de Sitter and to a dichotomous cosmology.

Weighted-delta-tracking for Monte Carlo particle transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morgan, L.W.G.; Kotlyar, D.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • This paper presents an alteration to the Monte Carlo Woodcock tracking technique. • The alteration improves computational efficiency within regions of high absorbers. • The rejection technique is replaced by a statistical weighting mechanism. • The modified Woodcock method is shown to be faster than standard Woodcock tracking. • The modified Woodcock method achieves a lower variance, given a specified accuracy. - Abstract: Monte Carlo particle transport (MCPT) codes are incredibly powerful and versatile tools to simulate particle behavior in a multitude of scenarios, such as core/criticality studies, radiation protection, shielding, medicine and fusion research to name just a small subset applications. However, MCPT codes can be very computationally expensive to run when the model geometry contains large attenuation depths and/or contains many components. This paper proposes a simple modification to the Woodcock tracking method used by some Monte Carlo particle transport codes. The Woodcock method utilizes the rejection method for sampling virtual collisions as a method to remove collision distance sampling at material boundaries. However, it suffers from poor computational efficiency when the sample acceptance rate is low. The proposed method removes rejection sampling from the Woodcock method in favor of a statistical weighting scheme, which improves the computational efficiency of a Monte Carlo particle tracking code. It is shown that the modified Woodcock method is less computationally expensive than standard ray-tracing and rejection-based Woodcock tracking methods and achieves a lower variance, given a specified accuracy

A continuation multilevel Monte Carlo algorithm

KAUST Repository

Collier, Nathan; Haji Ali, Abdul Lateef; Nobile, Fabio; von Schwerin, Erik; Tempone, Raul

2014-01-01

We propose a novel Continuation Multi Level Monte Carlo (CMLMC) algorithm for weak approximation of stochastic models. The CMLMC algorithm solves the given approximation problem for a sequence of decreasing tolerances, ending when the required error

Direct Monte Carlo simulation of nanoscale mixed gas bearings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyaw Sett Myo

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The conception of sealed hard drives with helium gas mixture has been recently suggested over the current hard drives for achieving higher reliability and less position error. Therefore, it is important to understand the effects of different helium gas mixtures on the slider bearing characteristics in the head–disk interface. In this article, the helium/air and helium/argon gas mixtures are applied as the working fluids and their effects on the bearing characteristics are studied using the direct simulation Monte Carlo method. Based on direct simulation Monte Carlo simulations, the physical properties of these gas mixtures such as mean free path and dynamic viscosity are achieved and compared with those obtained from theoretical models. It is observed that both results are comparable. Using these gas mixture properties, the bearing pressure distributions are calculated under different fractions of helium with conventional molecular gas lubrication models. The outcomes reveal that the molecular gas lubrication results could have relatively good agreement with those of direct simulation Monte Carlo simulations, especially for pure air, helium, or argon gas cases. For gas mixtures, the bearing pressures predicted by molecular gas lubrication model are slightly larger than those from direct simulation Monte Carlo simulation.

Monte Carlo: in the beginning and some great expectations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Metropolis, N.

1985-01-01

The central theme will be on the historical setting and origins of the Monte Carlo Method. The scene was post-war Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. There was an inevitability about the Monte Carlo Event: the ENIAC had recently enjoyed its meteoric rise (on a classified Los Alamos problem); Stan Ulam had returned to Los Alamos; John von Neumann was a frequent visitor. Techniques, algorithms, and applications developed rapidly at Los Alamos. Soon, the fascination of the Method reached wider horizons. The first paper was submitted for publication in the spring of 1949. In the summer of 1949, the first open conference was held at the University of California at Los Angeles. Of some interst perhaps is an account of Fermi's earlier, independent application in neutron moderation studies while at the University of Rome. The quantum leap expected with the advent of massively parallel processors will provide stimuli for very ambitious applications of the Monte Carlo Method in disciplines ranging from field theories to cosmology, including more realistic models in the neurosciences. A structure of multi-instruction sets for parallel processing is ideally suited for the Monte Carlo approach. One may even hope for a modest hardening of the soft sciences

A Monte Carlo simulation model for stationary non-Gaussian processes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grigoriu, M.; Ditlevsen, Ove Dalager; Arwade, S. R.

2003-01-01

includes translation processes and is useful for both Monte Carlo simulation and analytical studies. As for translation processes, the mixture of translation processes can have a wide range of marginal distributions and correlation functions. Moreover, these processes can match a broader range of second...... athe proposed Monte Carlo algorithm and compare features of translation processes and mixture of translation processes. Keywords: Monte Carlo simulation, non-Gaussian processes, sampling theorem, stochastic processes, translation processes......A class of stationary non-Gaussian processes, referred to as the class of mixtures of translation processes, is defined by their finite dimensional distributions consisting of mixtures of finite dimensional distributions of translation processes. The class of mixtures of translation processes...

Vectorization of phase space Monte Carlo code in FACOM vector processor VP-200

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miura, Kenichi

1986-01-01

This paper describes the vectorization techniques for Monte Carlo codes in Fujitsu's Vector Processor System. The phase space Monte Carlo code FOWL is selected as a benchmark, and scalar and vector performances are compared. The vectorized kernel Monte Carlo routine which contains heavily nested IF tests runs up to 7.9 times faster in vector mode than in scalar mode. The overall performance improvement of the vectorized FOWL code over the original scalar code reaches 3.3. The results of this study strongly indicate that supercomputer can be a powerful tool for Monte Carlo simulations in high energy physics. (Auth.)

A hybrid transport-diffusion method for Monte Carlo radiative-transfer simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Densmore, Jeffery D.; Urbatsch, Todd J.; Evans, Thomas M.; Buksas, Michael W.

2007-01-01

Discrete Diffusion Monte Carlo (DDMC) is a technique for increasing the efficiency of Monte Carlo particle-transport simulations in diffusive media. If standard Monte Carlo is used in such media, particle histories will consist of many small steps, resulting in a computationally expensive calculation. In DDMC, particles take discrete steps between spatial cells according to a discretized diffusion equation. Each discrete step replaces many small Monte Carlo steps, thus increasing the efficiency of the simulation. In addition, given that DDMC is based on a diffusion equation, it should produce accurate solutions if used judiciously. In practice, DDMC is combined with standard Monte Carlo to form a hybrid transport-diffusion method that can accurately simulate problems with both diffusive and non-diffusive regions. In this paper, we extend previously developed DDMC techniques in several ways that improve the accuracy and utility of DDMC for nonlinear, time-dependent, radiative-transfer calculations. The use of DDMC in these types of problems is advantageous since, due to the underlying linearizations, optically thick regions appear to be diffusive. First, we employ a diffusion equation that is discretized in space but is continuous in time. Not only is this methodology theoretically more accurate than temporally discretized DDMC techniques, but it also has the benefit that a particle's time is always known. Thus, there is no ambiguity regarding what time to assign a particle that leaves an optically thick region (where DDMC is used) and begins transporting by standard Monte Carlo in an optically thin region. Also, we treat the interface between optically thick and optically thin regions with an improved method, based on the asymptotic diffusion-limit boundary condition, that can produce accurate results regardless of the angular distribution of the incident Monte Carlo particles. Finally, we develop a technique for estimating radiation momentum deposition during the

A Monte Carlo burnup code linking MCNP and REBUS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hanan, N.A.; Olson, A.P.; Pond, R.B.; Matos, J.E.

1998-01-01

The REBUS-3 burnup code, used in the anl RERTR Program, is a very general code that uses diffusion theory (DIF3D) to obtain the fluxes required for reactor burnup analyses. Diffusion theory works well for most reactors. However, to include the effects of exact geometry and strong absorbers that are difficult to model using diffusion theory, a Monte Carlo method is required. MCNP, a general-purpose, generalized-geometry, time-dependent, Monte Carlo transport code, is the most widely used Monte Carlo code. This paper presents a linking of the MCNP code and the REBUS burnup code to perform these difficult analyses. The linked code will permit the use of the full capabilities of REBUS which include non-equilibrium and equilibrium burnup analyses. Results of burnup analyses using this new linked code are also presented. (author)

A Monte Carlo burnup code linking MCNP and REBUS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hanan, N. A.

1998-01-01

The REBUS-3 burnup code, used in the ANL RERTR Program, is a very general code that uses diffusion theory (DIF3D) to obtain the fluxes required for reactor burnup analyses. Diffusion theory works well for most reactors. However, to include the effects of exact geometry and strong absorbers that are difficult to model using diffusion theory, a Monte Carlo method is required. MCNP, a general-purpose, generalized-geometry, time-dependent, Monte Carlo transport code, is the most widely used Monte Carlo code. This paper presents a linking of the MCNP code and the REBUS burnup code to perform these difficult burnup analyses. The linked code will permit the use of the full capabilities of REBUS which include non-equilibrium and equilibrium burnup analyses. Results of burnup analyses using this new linked code are also presented

Review of quantum Monte Carlo methods and results for Coulombic systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ceperley, D.

1983-01-01

The various Monte Carlo methods for calculating ground state energies are briefly reviewed. Then a summary of the charged systems that have been studied with Monte Carlo is given. These include the electron gas, small molecules, a metal slab and many-body hydrogen

A Monte Carlo approach to the ship-centric Markov decision process for analyzing decisions over converting a containership to LNG power

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kana, A.A.; Harrison, B.M.

2017-01-01

A Monte Carlo approach to the ship-centric Markov decision process (SC-MDP) is presented for analyzing whether a container ship should convert to LNG power in the face of evolving Emission Control Area regulations. The SC-MDP model was originally developed as a means to analyze uncertain,

Monte Carlo Numerical Models for Nuclear Logging Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fusheng Li

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Nuclear logging is one of most important logging services provided by many oil service companies. The main parameters of interest are formation porosity, bulk density, and natural radiation. Other services are also provided from using complex nuclear logging tools, such as formation lithology/mineralogy, etc. Some parameters can be measured by using neutron logging tools and some can only be measured by using a gamma ray tool. To understand the response of nuclear logging tools, the neutron transport/diffusion theory and photon diffusion theory are needed. Unfortunately, for most cases there are no analytical answers if complex tool geometry is involved. For many years, Monte Carlo numerical models have been used by nuclear scientists in the well logging industry to address these challenges. The models have been widely employed in the optimization of nuclear logging tool design, and the development of interpretation methods for nuclear logs. They have also been used to predict the response of nuclear logging systems for forward simulation problems. In this case, the system parameters including geometry, materials and nuclear sources, etc., are pre-defined and the transportation and interactions of nuclear particles (such as neutrons, photons and/or electrons in the regions of interest are simulated according to detailed nuclear physics theory and their nuclear cross-section data (probability of interacting. Then the deposited energies of particles entering the detectors are recorded and tallied and the tool responses to such a scenario are generated. A general-purpose code named Monte Carlo N– Particle (MCNP has been the industry-standard for some time. In this paper, we briefly introduce the fundamental principles of Monte Carlo numerical modeling and review the physics of MCNP. Some of the latest developments of Monte Carlo Models are also reviewed. A variety of examples are presented to illustrate the uses of Monte Carlo numerical models

Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods for Bayesian Data Analysis in Astronomy

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Sanjib

2017-08-01

Markov Chain Monte Carlo based Bayesian data analysis has now become the method of choice for analyzing and interpreting data in almost all disciplines of science. In astronomy, over the last decade, we have also seen a steady increase in the number of papers that employ Monte Carlo based Bayesian analysis. New, efficient Monte Carlo based methods are continuously being developed and explored. In this review, we first explain the basics of Bayesian theory and discuss how to set up data analysis problems within this framework. Next, we provide an overview of various Monte Carlo based methods for performing Bayesian data analysis. Finally, we discuss advanced ideas that enable us to tackle complex problems and thus hold great promise for the future. We also distribute downloadable computer software (available at https://github.com/sanjibs/bmcmc/ ) that implements some of the algorithms and examples discussed here.

Fundamentals of Monte Carlo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wollaber, Allan Benton

2016-01-01

This is a powerpoint presentation which serves as lecture material for the Parallel Computing summer school. It goes over the fundamentals of the Monte Carlo calculation method. The material is presented according to the following outline: Introduction (background, a simple example: estimating @@), Why does this even work? (The Law of Large Numbers, The Central Limit Theorem), How to sample (inverse transform sampling, rejection), and An example from particle transport.

Fundamentals of Monte Carlo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wollaber, Allan Benton [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2016-06-16

This is a powerpoint presentation which serves as lecture material for the Parallel Computing summer school. It goes over the fundamentals of the Monte Carlo calculation method. The material is presented according to the following outline: Introduction (background, a simple example: estimating π), Why does this even work? (The Law of Large Numbers, The Central Limit Theorem), How to sample (inverse transform sampling, rejection), and An example from particle transport.

Studies of Monte Carlo Modelling of Jets at ATLAS

CERN Document Server

Kar, Deepak; The ATLAS collaboration

2017-01-01

The predictions of different Monte Carlo generators for QCD jet production, both in multijets and for jets produced in association with other objects, are presented. Recent improvements in showering Monte Carlos provide new tools for assessing systematic uncertainties associated with these jets.  Studies of the dependence of physical observables on the choice of shower tune parameters and new prescriptions for assessing systematic uncertainties associated with the choice of shower model and tune are presented.

Monte Carlos of the new generation: status and progress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frixione, Stefano

2005-01-01

Standard parton shower monte carlos are designed to give reliable descriptions of low-pT physics. In the very high-energy regime of modern colliders, this is may lead to largely incorrect predictions of the basic reaction processes. This motivated the recent theoretical efforts aimed at improving monte carlos through the inclusion of matrix elements computed beyond the leading order in QCD. I briefly review the progress made, and discuss bottom production at the Tevatron

Quantum Monte Carlo for vibrating molecules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, W.R.; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab., CA

1996-08-01

Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) has successfully computed the total electronic energies of atoms and molecules. The main goal of this work is to use correlation function quantum Monte Carlo (CFQMC) to compute the vibrational state energies of molecules given a potential energy surface (PES). In CFQMC, an ensemble of random walkers simulate the diffusion and branching processes of the imaginary-time time dependent Schroedinger equation in order to evaluate the matrix elements. The program QMCVIB was written to perform multi-state VMC and CFQMC calculations and employed for several calculations of the H 2 O and C 3 vibrational states, using 7 PES's, 3 trial wavefunction forms, two methods of non-linear basis function parameter optimization, and on both serial and parallel computers. In order to construct accurate trial wavefunctions different wavefunctions forms were required for H 2 O and C 3 . In order to construct accurate trial wavefunctions for C 3 , the non-linear parameters were optimized with respect to the sum of the energies of several low-lying vibrational states. In order to stabilize the statistical error estimates for C 3 the Monte Carlo data was collected into blocks. Accurate vibrational state energies were computed using both serial and parallel QMCVIB programs. Comparison of vibrational state energies computed from the three C 3 PES's suggested that a non-linear equilibrium geometry PES is the most accurate and that discrete potential representations may be used to conveniently determine vibrational state energies

Initial Assessment of Parallelization of Monte Carlo Calculation using Graphics Processing Units

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Sung Hoon; Joo, Han Gyu

2009-01-01

Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is an effective tool for calculating neutron transports in complex geometry. However, because Monte Carlo simulates each neutron behavior one by one, it takes a very long computing time if enough neutrons are used for high precision of calculation. Accordingly, methods that reduce the computing time are required. In a Monte Carlo code, parallel calculation is well-suited since it simulates the behavior of each neutron independently and thus parallel computation is natural. The parallelization of the Monte Carlo codes, however, was done using multi CPUs. By the global demand for high quality 3D graphics, the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) has developed into a highly parallel, multi-core processor. This parallel processing capability of GPUs can be available to engineering computing once a suitable interface is provided. Recently, NVIDIA introduced CUDATM, a general purpose parallel computing architecture. CUDA is a software environment that allows developers to manage GPU using C/C++ or other languages. In this work, a GPU-based Monte Carlo is developed and the initial assessment of it parallel performance is investigated

Monte Carlo-based tail exponent estimator

Science.gov (United States)

Barunik, Jozef; Vacha, Lukas

2010-11-01

In this paper we propose a new approach to estimation of the tail exponent in financial stock markets. We begin the study with the finite sample behavior of the Hill estimator under α-stable distributions. Using large Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the Hill estimator overestimates the true tail exponent and can hardly be used on samples with small length. Utilizing our results, we introduce a Monte Carlo-based method of estimation for the tail exponent. Our proposed method is not sensitive to the choice of tail size and works well also on small data samples. The new estimator also gives unbiased results with symmetrical confidence intervals. Finally, we demonstrate the power of our estimator on the international world stock market indices. On the two separate periods of 2002-2005 and 2006-2009, we estimate the tail exponent.

Monte Carlo Simulation for Particle Detectors

CERN Document Server

Pia, Maria Grazia

2012-01-01

Monte Carlo simulation is an essential component of experimental particle physics in all the phases of its life-cycle: the investigation of the physics reach of detector concepts, the design of facilities and detectors, the development and optimization of data reconstruction software, the data analysis for the production of physics results. This note briefly outlines some research topics related to Monte Carlo simulation, that are relevant to future experimental perspectives in particle physics. The focus is on physics aspects: conceptual progress beyond current particle transport schemes, the incorporation of materials science knowledge relevant to novel detection technologies, functionality to model radiation damage, the capability for multi-scale simulation, quantitative validation and uncertainty quantification to determine the predictive power of simulation. The R&D on simulation for future detectors would profit from cooperation within various components of the particle physics community, and synerg...

The specific bias in dynamic Monte Carlo simulations of nuclear reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamamoto, T.; Endo, H.; Ishizu, T.; Tatewaki, I.

2013-01-01

During the development of Monte-Carlo-based dynamic code system, we have encountered two major Monte-Carlo-specific problems. One is the break down due to 'false super-criticality' which is caused by an accidentally large eigenvalue due to statistical error in spite of the fact that the reactor is actually not critical. The other problem, which is the main topic in this paper, is that the statistical error in power level using the reactivity calculated with Monte Carlo code is not symmetric about its mean but always positively biased. This signifies that the bias is accumulated as the calculation proceeds and consequently results in an over-estimation of the final power level. It should be noted that the bias will not be eliminated by refining the time step as long as the variance is not zero. A preliminary investigation on this matter using the one-group-precursor point kinetic equations was made and it was concluded that the bias in power level is approximately proportional to the product of variance in Monte Carlo calculation and elapsed time. This conclusion was verified with some numerical experiments. This outcome is important in quantifying the required precision of the Monte-Carlo-based reactivity calculations. (authors)

Speed-up of ab initio hybrid Monte Carlo and ab initio path integral hybrid Monte Carlo simulations by using an auxiliary potential energy surface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakayama, Akira; Taketsugu, Tetsuya; Shiga, Motoyuki

2009-01-01

Efficiency of the ab initio hybrid Monte Carlo and ab initio path integral hybrid Monte Carlo methods is enhanced by employing an auxiliary potential energy surface that is used to update the system configuration via molecular dynamics scheme. As a simple illustration of this method, a dual-level approach is introduced where potential energy gradients are evaluated by computationally less expensive ab initio electronic structure methods. (author)

Monte Carlo method to characterize radioactive waste drums

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lima, Josenilson B.; Dellamano, Jose C.; Potiens Junior, Ademar J.

2013-01-01

Non-destructive methods for radioactive waste drums characterization have being developed in the Waste Management Department (GRR) at Nuclear and Energy Research Institute IPEN. This study was conducted as part of the radioactive wastes characterization program in order to meet specifications and acceptance criteria for final disposal imposed by regulatory control by gamma spectrometry. One of the main difficulties in the detectors calibration process is to obtain the counting efficiencies that can be solved by the use of mathematical techniques. The aim of this work was to develop a methodology to characterize drums using gamma spectrometry and Monte Carlo method. Monte Carlo is a widely used mathematical technique, which simulates the radiation transport in the medium, thus obtaining the efficiencies calibration of the detector. The equipment used in this work is a heavily shielded Hyperpure Germanium (HPGe) detector coupled with an electronic setup composed of high voltage source, amplifier and multiport multichannel analyzer and MCNP software for Monte Carlo simulation. The developing of this methodology will allow the characterization of solid radioactive wastes packed in drums and stored at GRR. (author)

Improved diffusion coefficients generated from Monte Carlo codes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herman, B. R.; Forget, B.; Smith, K.; Aviles, B. N.

2013-01-01

Monte Carlo codes are becoming more widely used for reactor analysis. Some of these applications involve the generation of diffusion theory parameters including macroscopic cross sections and diffusion coefficients. Two approximations used to generate diffusion coefficients are assessed using the Monte Carlo code MC21. The first is the method of homogenization; whether to weight either fine-group transport cross sections or fine-group diffusion coefficients when collapsing to few-group diffusion coefficients. The second is a fundamental approximation made to the energy-dependent P1 equations to derive the energy-dependent diffusion equations. Standard Monte Carlo codes usually generate a flux-weighted transport cross section with no correction to the diffusion approximation. Results indicate that this causes noticeable tilting in reconstructed pin powers in simple test lattices with L2 norm error of 3.6%. This error is reduced significantly to 0.27% when weighting fine-group diffusion coefficients by the flux and applying a correction to the diffusion approximation. Noticeable tilting in reconstructed fluxes and pin powers was reduced when applying these corrections. (authors)

Monte Carlo calculations of electron transport on microcomputers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung, Manho; Jester, W.A.; Levine, S.H.; Foderaro, A.H.

1990-01-01

In the work described in this paper, the Monte Carlo program ZEBRA, developed by Berber and Buxton, was converted to run on the Macintosh computer using Microsoft BASIC to reduce the cost of Monte Carlo calculations using microcomputers. Then the Eltran2 program was transferred to an IBM-compatible computer. Turbo BASIC and Microsoft Quick BASIC have been used on the IBM-compatible Tandy 4000SX computer. The paper shows the running speed of the Monte Carlo programs on the different computers, normalized to one for Eltran2 on the Macintosh-SE or Macintosh-Plus computer. Higher values refer to faster running times proportionally. Since Eltran2 is a one-dimensional program, it calculates energy deposited in a semi-infinite multilayer slab. Eltran2 has been modified to a two-dimensional program called Eltran3 to computer more accurately the case with a point source, a small detector, and a short source-to-detector distance. The running time of Eltran3 is about twice as long as that of Eltran2 for a similar case

pyNSMC: A Python Module for Null-Space Monte Carlo Uncertainty Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

White, J.; Brakefield, L. K.

2015-12-01

The null-space monte carlo technique is a non-linear uncertainty analyses technique that is well-suited to high-dimensional inverse problems. While the technique is powerful, the existing workflow for completing null-space monte carlo is cumbersome, requiring the use of multiple commandline utilities, several sets of intermediate files and even a text editor. pyNSMC is an open-source python module that automates the workflow of null-space monte carlo uncertainty analyses. The module is fully compatible with the PEST and PEST++ software suites and leverages existing functionality of pyEMU, a python framework for linear-based uncertainty analyses. pyNSMC greatly simplifies the existing workflow for null-space monte carlo by taking advantage of object oriented design facilities in python. The core of pyNSMC is the ensemble class, which draws and stores realized random vectors and also provides functionality for exporting and visualizing results. By relieving users of the tedium associated with file handling and command line utility execution, pyNSMC instead focuses the user on the important steps and assumptions of null-space monte carlo analysis. Furthermore, pyNSMC facilitates learning through flow charts and results visualization, which are available at many points in the algorithm. The ease-of-use of the pyNSMC workflow is compared to the existing workflow for null-space monte carlo for a synthetic groundwater model with hundreds of estimable parameters.

Evaluation of 222Rn concentration of the internal and external environments of residences at Monte Alegre municipality, Para, Brazil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Melo, Vicente de Paula

1999-01-01

The human being is constantly exposed to the natural radioactivity in the environment where he lives. This radioactivity comes mainly from materials present in the terrestrial crust that possess in their constitution chemical elements belonging to the radioactive families of uranium and thorium. The use of such materials for the construction of houses constitutes an important exposure form to the natural radiation, above all to the radioactive gas 222 Rn, that it is exhaled from them. The Brazilian soil is composed, among other, of minerals that contain appreciable concentrations of these elements. The inhabitants of Monte Alegre town in Para, located at 2 deg 00' 24,9 'S ; 54 deg 04 ' 13,5 W , used in the construction of their houses stones obtained from an area 20 km distant of Monte Alegre, denominated Ingles de Souza, located at 01 deg 56' 4 0,1 S; 54 deg 12 149,7 W, where a small residential village, denominated National Agricultural Colony of Para (CANP), is located. The objective of this work was to evaluate the indoor concentration of 222 Rn in the residences of Monte Alegre and CANP. Determinations of the 238 U and 226 Ra concentrations, measurements of the radon flux in samples of stones and soils of the two regions, as well as measurements to the gamma dose close of the soil and inside the residences, were also carried out. The average results of the radon concentration in the air of the investigated residences did not exceed the limits of 200 Bq. m 3 (action level) and 600 Bq. m 3 (intervention level) recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). The concentrations of natural radionuclides and the radon flux determined at the village showed values 17 times higher than those found at the urban area of Monte Alegre, while the average indoor gamma dose rate in the village residences was 0.86 mSv/a. (author)

Optimization of FIBMOS Through 2D Silvaco ATLAS and 2D Monte Carlo Particle-based Device Simulations

OpenAIRE

Kang, J.; He, X.; Vasileska, D.; Schroder, D. K.

2001-01-01

Focused Ion Beam MOSFETs (FIBMOS) demonstrate large enhancements in core device performance areas such as output resistance, hot electron reliability and voltage stability upon channel length or drain voltage variation. In this work, we describe an optimization technique for FIBMOS threshold voltage characterization using the 2D Silvaco ATLAS simulator. Both ATLAS and 2D Monte Carlo particle-based simulations were used to show that FIBMOS devices exhibit enhanced current drive ...

Safety assessment of infrastructures using a new Bayesian Monte Carlo method

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rajabali Nejad, Mohammadreza; Demirbilek, Z.

2011-01-01

A recently developed Bayesian Monte Carlo (BMC) method and its application to safety assessment of structures are described in this paper. We use a one-dimensional BMC method that was proposed in 2009 by Rajabalinejad in order to develop a weighted logical dependence between successive Monte Carlo

75 FR 59963 - Safety Zone: Monte Foundation Firework Display, Monterey, CA

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-29

...-AA00 Safety Zone: Monte Foundation Firework Display, Monterey, CA AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. ACTION... Monte Foundation Firework Display. This safety zone is established to ensure the safety of participants... be completed. Because of the dangers posed by the pyrotechnics used in this fireworks display, the...

Monte Carlo studies of ZEPLIN III

CERN Document Server

Dawson, J; Davidge, D C R; Gillespie, J R; Howard, A S; Jones, W G; Joshi, M; Lebedenko, V N; Sumner, T J; Quenby, J J

2002-01-01

A Monte Carlo simulation of a two-phase xenon dark matter detector, ZEPLIN III, has been achieved. Results from the analysis of a simulated data set are presented, showing primary and secondary signal distributions from low energy gamma ray events.

Optimised Iteration in Coupled Monte Carlo - Thermal-Hydraulics Calculations

Science.gov (United States)

Hoogenboom, J. Eduard; Dufek, Jan

2014-06-01

This paper describes an optimised iteration scheme for the number of neutron histories and the relaxation factor in successive iterations of coupled Monte Carlo and thermal-hydraulic reactor calculations based on the stochastic iteration method. The scheme results in an increasing number of neutron histories for the Monte Carlo calculation in successive iteration steps and a decreasing relaxation factor for the spatial power distribution to be used as input to the thermal-hydraulics calculation. The theoretical basis is discussed in detail and practical consequences of the scheme are shown, among which a nearly linear increase per iteration of the number of cycles in the Monte Carlo calculation. The scheme is demonstrated for a full PWR type fuel assembly. Results are shown for the axial power distribution during several iteration steps. A few alternative iteration method are also tested and it is concluded that the presented iteration method is near optimal.

Optimized iteration in coupled Monte-Carlo - Thermal-hydraulics calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoogenboom, J.E.; Dufek, J.

2013-01-01

This paper describes an optimised iteration scheme for the number of neutron histories and the relaxation factor in successive iterations of coupled Monte Carlo and thermal-hydraulic reactor calculations based on the stochastic iteration method. The scheme results in an increasing number of neutron histories for the Monte Carlo calculation in successive iteration steps and a decreasing relaxation factor for the spatial power distribution to be used as input to the thermal-hydraulics calculation. The theoretical basis is discussed in detail and practical consequences of the scheme are shown, among which a nearly linear increase per iteration of the number of cycles in the Monte Carlo calculation. The scheme is demonstrated for a full PWR type fuel assembly. Results are shown for the axial power distribution during several iteration steps. A few alternative iteration methods are also tested and it is concluded that the presented iteration method is near optimal. (authors)

Profit Forecast Model Using Monte Carlo Simulation in Excel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petru BALOGH

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Profit forecast is very important for any company. The purpose of this study is to provide a method to estimate the profit and the probability of obtaining the expected profit. Monte Carlo methods are stochastic techniques–meaning they are based on the use of random numbers and probability statistics to investigate problems. Monte Carlo simulation furnishes the decision-maker with a range of possible outcomes and the probabilities they will occur for any choice of action. Our example of Monte Carlo simulation in Excel will be a simplified profit forecast model. Each step of the analysis will be described in detail. The input data for the case presented: the number of leads per month, the percentage of leads that result in sales, , the cost of a single lead, the profit per sale and fixed cost, allow obtaining profit and associated probabilities of achieving.

Calibration and Monte Carlo modelling of neutron long counters

CERN Document Server

Tagziria, H

2000-01-01

The Monte Carlo technique has become a very powerful tool in radiation transport as full advantage is taken of enhanced cross-section data, more powerful computers and statistical techniques, together with better characterisation of neutron and photon source spectra. At the National Physical Laboratory, calculations using the Monte Carlo radiation transport code MCNP-4B have been combined with accurate measurements to characterise two long counters routinely used to standardise monoenergetic neutron fields. New and more accurate response function curves have been produced for both long counters. A novel approach using Monte Carlo methods has been developed, validated and used to model the response function of the counters and determine more accurately their effective centres, which have always been difficult to establish experimentally. Calculations and measurements agree well, especially for the De Pangher long counter for which details of the design and constructional material are well known. The sensitivit...

Adaptive anisotropic diffusion filtering of Monte Carlo dose distributions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miao Binhe; Jeraj, Robert; Bao Shanglian; Mackie, Thomas R

2003-01-01

The Monte Carlo method is the most accurate method for radiotherapy dose calculations, if used correctly. However, any Monte Carlo dose calculation is burdened with statistical noise. In this paper, denoising of Monte Carlo dose distributions with a three-dimensional adaptive anisotropic diffusion method was investigated. The standard anisotropic diffusion method was extended by changing the filtering parameters adaptively according to the local statistical noise. Smoothing of dose distributions with different noise levels in an inhomogeneous phantom, a conventional and an IMRT treatment case is shown. The resultant dose distributions were analysed using several evaluating criteria. It is shown that the adaptive anisotropic diffusion method can reduce statistical noise significantly (two to five times, corresponding to the reduction of simulation time by a factor of up to 20), while preserving important gradients of the dose distribution well. The choice of free parameters of the method was found to be fairly robust

MONTE CARLO SIMULATION AND VALUATION: A STOCHASTIC APPROACH SIMULAÇÃO DE MONTE CARLO E VALUATION: UMA ABORDAGEM ESTOCÁSTICA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcos Roberto Gois de Oliveira

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Among the various business valuation methodologies, the discounted cash flow is still the most adopted nowadays on both academic and professional environment. Although many authors support thatmethodology as the most adequate one for business valuation, its projective feature implies in an uncertaintyissue presents in all financial models based on future expectations, the risk that the projected assumptionsdoes not occur. One of the alternatives to measure the risk inherent to the discounted cash flow valuation isto add Monte Carlo Simulation to the deterministic business valuation model in order to create a stochastic model, which can perform a statistic analysis of risk. The objective of this work was to evaluate thepertinence regarding the Monte Carlo Simulation adoption to measure the uncertainty inherent to the business valuation using discounted cash flow, identifying whether the Monte Carlo simulation enhance theaccuracy of this asset pricing methodology. The results of this work assures the operational e icacy ofdiscounted cash flow business valuation using Monte Carlo Simulation, confirming that the adoption of thatmethodology allows a relevant enhancement of the results in comparison with those obtained by using thedeterministic business valuation model.Dentre as diversas metodologias de avaliação de empresas, a avaliação por fluxo de caixa descontadocontinua sendo a mais adotada na atualidade, tanto no meio acadêmico como no profissional. Embora  essametodologia seja considerada por diversos autores como a mais adequada para a avaliação de empresas no contexto atual, seu caráter projetivo remete a um componente de incerteza presente em todos os modelos baseados em expectativas futuras o risco de as premissas de projeção adotadas não se concretizarem. Uma das alternativas para a mensuração do risco inerente à avaliação de empresas pelo fluxo de caixa descontadoconsiste na incorporação da Simulação de Monte

Multi-Index Monte Carlo (MIMC)

KAUST Repository

Haji Ali, Abdul Lateef

2016-01-06

We propose and analyze a novel Multi-Index Monte Carlo (MIMC) method for weak approximation of stochastic models that are described in terms of differential equations either driven by random measures or with random coefficients. The MIMC method is both a stochastic version of the combination technique introduced by Zenger, Griebel and collaborators and an extension of the Multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) method first described by Heinrich and Giles. Inspired by Giles s seminal work, instead of using first-order differences as in MLMC, we use in MIMC high-order mixed differences to reduce the variance of the hierarchical differences dramatically. Under standard assumptions on the convergence rates of the weak error, variance and work per sample, the optimal index set turns out to be of Total Degree (TD) type. When using such sets, MIMC yields new and improved complexity results, which are natural generalizations of Giles s MLMC analysis, and which increase the domain of problem parameters for which we achieve the optimal convergence, O(TOL-2).

Multi-Index Monte Carlo (MIMC)

KAUST Repository

Haji Ali, Abdul Lateef; Nobile, Fabio; Tempone, Raul

2016-01-01

We propose and analyze a novel Multi-Index Monte Carlo (MIMC) method for weak approximation of stochastic models that are described in terms of differential equations either driven by random measures or with random coefficients. The MIMC method is both a stochastic version of the combination technique introduced by Zenger, Griebel and collaborators and an extension of the Multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) method first described by Heinrich and Giles. Inspired by Giles s seminal work, instead of using first-order differences as in MLMC, we use in MIMC high-order mixed differences to reduce the variance of the hierarchical differences dramatically. Under standard assumptions on the convergence rates of the weak error, variance and work per sample, the optimal index set turns out to be of Total Degree (TD) type. When using such sets, MIMC yields new and improved complexity results, which are natural generalizations of Giles s MLMC analysis, and which increase the domain of problem parameters for which we achieve the optimal convergence, O(TOL-2).

Global Monte Carlo Simulation with High Order Polynomial Expansions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

William R. Martin; James Paul Holloway; Kaushik Banerjee; Jesse Cheatham; Jeremy Conlin

2007-01-01

The functional expansion technique (FET) was recently developed for Monte Carlo simulation. The basic idea of the FET is to expand a Monte Carlo tally in terms of a high order expansion, the coefficients of which can be estimated via the usual random walk process in a conventional Monte Carlo code. If the expansion basis is chosen carefully, the lowest order coefficient is simply the conventional histogram tally, corresponding to a flat mode. This research project studied the applicability of using the FET to estimate the fission source, from which fission sites can be sampled for the next generation. The idea is that individual fission sites contribute to expansion modes that may span the geometry being considered, possibly increasing the communication across a loosely coupled system and thereby improving convergence over the conventional fission bank approach used in most production Monte Carlo codes. The project examined a number of basis functions, including global Legendre polynomials as well as 'local' piecewise polynomials such as finite element hat functions and higher order versions. The global FET showed an improvement in convergence over the conventional fission bank approach. The local FET methods showed some advantages versus global polynomials in handling geometries with discontinuous material properties. The conventional finite element hat functions had the disadvantage that the expansion coefficients could not be estimated directly but had to be obtained by solving a linear system whose matrix elements were estimated. An alternative fission matrix-based response matrix algorithm was formulated. Studies were made of two alternative applications of the FET, one based on the kernel density estimator and one based on Arnoldi's method of minimized iterations. Preliminary results for both methods indicate improvements in fission source convergence. These developments indicate that the FET has promise for speeding up Monte Carlo fission source convergence

Cosmic rays Monte Carlo simulations for the Extreme Energy Events Project

CERN Document Server

Abbrescia, M; Aiola, S; Antolini, R; Avanzini, C; Baldini Ferroli, R; Bencivenni, G; Bossini, E; Bressan, E; Chiavassa, A; Cicalò, C; Cifarelli, L; Coccia, E; De Gruttola, D; De Pasquale, S; Di Giovanni, A; D'Incecco, M; Dreucci, M; Fabbri, F L; Frolov, V; Garbini, M; Gemme, G; Gnesi, I; Gustavino, C; Hatzifotiadou, D; La Rocca, P; Li, S; Librizzi, F; Maggiora, A; Massai, M; Miozzi, S; Panareo, M; Paoletti, R; Perasso, L; Pilo, F; Piragino, G; Regano, A; Riggi, F; Righini, G C; Sartorelli, G; Scapparone, E; Scribano, A; Selvi, M; Serci, S; Siddi, E; Spandre, G; Squarcia, S; Taiuti, M; Tosello, F; Votano, L; Williams, M C S; Yánez, G; Zichichi, A; Zuyeuski, R

2014-01-01

The Extreme Energy Events Project (EEE Project) is an innovative experiment to study very high energy cosmic rays by means of the detection of the associated air shower muon component. It consists of a network of tracking detectors installed inside Italian High Schools. Each tracking detector, called EEE telescope, is composed of three Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPCs). At present, 43 telescopes are installed and taking data, opening the way for the detection of far away coincidences over a total area of about 3 × 10 5 km 2 . In this paper we present the Monte Carlo simulations that have been performed to predict the expected coincidence rate between distant EEE telescopes.

Reference dosimetry of proton pencil beams based on dose-area product: a proof of concept.

Science.gov (United States)

Gomà, Carles; Safai, Sairos; Vörös, Sándor

2017-06-21

This paper describes a novel approach to the reference dosimetry of proton pencil beams based on dose-area product ([Formula: see text]). It depicts the calibration of a large-diameter plane-parallel ionization chamber in terms of dose-area product in a 60 Co beam, the Monte Carlo calculation of beam quality correction factors-in terms of dose-area product-in proton beams, the Monte Carlo calculation of nuclear halo correction factors, and the experimental determination of [Formula: see text] of a single proton pencil beam. This new approach to reference dosimetry proves to be feasible, as it yields [Formula: see text] values in agreement with the standard and well-established approach of determining the absorbed dose to water at the centre of a broad homogeneous field generated by the superposition of regularly-spaced proton pencil beams.

A review of radiation dosimetry applications using the MCNP Monte Carlo code

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Solberg, T.D.; DeMarco, J.J.; Chetty, I.J.; Mesa, A.V.; Cagnon, C.H.; Li, A.N.; Mather, K.K.; Medin, P.M.; Arellano, A.R.; Smathers, J.B. [California Univ., Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Radiation Oncology

2001-07-01

The Monte Carlo code MCNP (Monte Carlo N-Particle) has a significant history dating to the early years of the Manhattan Project. More recently, MCNP has been used successfully to solve many problems in the field of medical physics. In radiotherapy applications MCNP has been used successfully to calculate the bremsstrahlung spectra from medical linear accelerators, for modeling the dose distributions around high dose rate brachytherapy sources, and for evaluating the dosimetric properties of new radioactive sources used in intravascular irradiation for prevention of restenosis following angioplasty. MCNP has also been used for radioimmunotherapy and boron neutron capture therapy applications. It has been used to predict fast neutron activation of shielding and biological materials. One area that holds tremendous clinical promise is that of radiotherapy treatment planning. In diagnostic applications, MCNP has been used to model X-ray computed tomography and positron emission tomography scanners, to compute the dose delivered from CT procedures, and to determine detector characteristics of nuclear medicine devices. MCNP has been used to determine particle fluxes around radiotherapy treatment devices and to perform shielding calculations in radiotherapy treatment rooms. This manuscript is intended to provide to the reader a comprehensive summary of medical physics applications of the MCNP code. (orig.)

A review of radiation dosimetry applications using the MCNP Monte Carlo code

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Solberg, T.D.; DeMarco, J.J.; Chetty, I.J.; Mesa, A.V.; Cagnon, C.H.; Li, A.N.; Mather, K.K.; Medin, P.M.; Arellano, A.R.; Smathers, J.B.

2002-01-01

The Monte Carlo code MCNP (Monte Carlo N-Particle) has a significant history dating to the early years of the Manhattan Project. More recently, MCNP has been used successfully to solve many problems in the field of medical physics. In radiotherapy applications MCNP has been used successfully to calculate the bremsstrahlung spectra from medical linear accelerators, for modeling the dose distributions around high dose rate brachytherapy sources, and for evaluating the dosimetric properties of new radioactive sources used in intravascular irradiation for prevention of restenosis following angioplasty. MCNP has also been used for radioimmunotherapy and boron neutron capture therapy applications. It has been used to predict fast neutron activation of shielding and biological materials. One area that holds tremendous clinical promise is that of radiotherapy treatment planning. In diagnostic applications, MCNP has been used to model X-ray computed tomography and positron emission tomography scanners, to compute the dose delivered from CT procedures, and to determine detector characteristics of nuclear medicine devices. MCNP has been used to determine particle fluxes around radiotherapy treatment devices and to perform shielding calculations in radiotherapy treatment rooms. This manuscript is intended to provide to the reader a comprehensive summary of medical physics applications of the MCNP code. (author)

MONK - a general purpose Monte Carlo neutronics program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sherriffs, V.S.W.

1978-01-01

MONK is a Monte Carlo neutronics code written principally for criticality calculations relevant to the transport, storage, and processing of fissile material. The code exploits the ability of the Monte Carlo method to represent complex shapes with very great accuracy. The nuclear data used is derived from the UK Nuclear Data File processed to the required format by a subsidiary program POND. A general description is given of the MONK code together with the subsidiary program SCAN which produces diagrams of the system specified. Details of the data input required by MONK and SCAN are also given. (author)

Application of voxel phantoms and Monte Carlo methods to internal and external dosimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hunt, J.G.; Santos, D. de S.; Silva, F.C. da; Dantas, B.M.; Azeredo, A.; Malatova, I.; Foltanova, S.

2000-01-01

Voxel phantoms and the Monte Carlo technique are applied to the areas of calibration of in vivo measurement systems, Specific Effective Energy calculations, and dose calculations due to external sources of radiation. The main advantages of the use of voxel phantoms is their high level of detail of body structures, and the ease with which their physical dimensions can be changed. For the simulation of in vivo measurement systems for calibration purposes, a voxel phantom with a format of 871 'slices' each of 277 x 148 picture elements was used. The Monte Carlo technique is used to simulate the tissue contamination, to transport the photons through the tissues and to simulate the detection of the radiation. For benchmarking, the program was applied to obtain calibration factors for the in vivo measurement of 241 Am, U nat and 137 Cs deposited in various tissues or in the whole body, as measured with a NaI or Gernlanium detector. The calculated and real activities in all cases were found to be in good agreement. For the calculation of Specific Effective Energies (SEEs) and the calculation of dose received from external sources, the Yale voxel phantom with a format of 493 slices' each of 87 x 147 picture elements was used. The Monte Carlo program was developed to calculate external doses due to environmental, occupational or accidental exposures. The program calculates tissue and effective dose for the following geometries: cloud immersion, ground contamination, X-ray irradiation, point source irradiation or others. The benchmarking results for the external source are in good agreement with the measured values. The results obtained for the SEEs are compatible with the ICRP values. (author)

Monte Carlo simulation with the Gate software using grid computing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reuillon, R.; Hill, D.R.C.; Gouinaud, C.; El Bitar, Z.; Breton, V.; Buvat, I.

2009-03-01

Monte Carlo simulations are widely used in emission tomography, for protocol optimization, design of processing or data analysis methods, tomographic reconstruction, or tomograph design optimization. Monte Carlo simulations needing many replicates to obtain good statistical results can be easily executed in parallel using the 'Multiple Replications In Parallel' approach. However, several precautions have to be taken in the generation of the parallel streams of pseudo-random numbers. In this paper, we present the distribution of Monte Carlo simulations performed with the GATE software using local clusters and grid computing. We obtained very convincing results with this large medical application, thanks to the EGEE Grid (Enabling Grid for E-science), achieving in one week computations that could have taken more than 3 years of processing on a single computer. This work has been achieved thanks to a generic object-oriented toolbox called DistMe which we designed to automate this kind of parallelization for Monte Carlo simulations. This toolbox, written in Java is freely available on SourceForge and helped to ensure a rigorous distribution of pseudo-random number streams. It is based on the use of a documented XML format for random numbers generators statuses. (authors)

Counterion release from a discretely charged surface in an electrolyte: Monte Carlo simulation study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hernández-Contreras, M

2015-01-01

Monte Carlo simulations allowed us to determine the amount of released electric charges from a discretely charged surface in 1:1 aqueous electrolyte solution as a function of surface charge density. Within the restricted primitive model and for a fixed concentration of 0.1 M bulk electrolyte in solution, there is an increase in the number of released counterions per unit surface area as the strength of the surface charge is enhanced. A similar behaviour of the number of released counterions was also found through the use of mean field and liquid theory methods

Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulations of hydrogen adsorption on aluminophosphate molecular sieves

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Song, Mee Kyung [Bioinformatics and Molecular Design Research Center, B138A, Yonsei Engineering Research Complex, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749 (Korea); No, Kyoung Tai [Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749 (Korea)

2009-03-15

The hydrogen adsorption simulations were carried for several model AlPOs (VPI-5, AlPO-5, AlPO-11 and AlPO-25) employing the Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations at 77 K to investigate the effect of pore size and the pore volume on the hydrogen uptake. The adsorption capacity showed no relationship with the pore size, surface area and micropore volume of AlPOs. However, the adsorption capacity per unit micropore volume increased as the pore size decreases. The heat of adsorption also increased as the pore size decreases. For all model AlPOs, the hydrogen exists homogeneously near the oxygen atoms in the framework. (author)

Methodology of Continuous-Energy Adjoint Monte Carlo for Neutron, Photon, and Coupled Neutron-Photon Transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoogenboom, J. Eduard

2003-01-01

Adjoint Monte Carlo may be a useful alternative to regular Monte Carlo calculations in cases where a small detector inhibits an efficient Monte Carlo calculation as only very few particle histories will cross the detector. However, in general purpose Monte Carlo codes, normally only the multigroup form of adjoint Monte Carlo is implemented. In this article the general methodology for continuous-energy adjoint Monte Carlo neutron transport is reviewed and extended for photon and coupled neutron-photon transport. In the latter cases the discrete photons generated by annihilation or by neutron capture or inelastic scattering prevent a direct application of the general methodology. Two successive reaction events must be combined in the selection process to accommodate the adjoint analog of a reaction resulting in a photon with a discrete energy. Numerical examples illustrate the application of the theory for some simplified problems

PEPSI — a Monte Carlo generator for polarized leptoproduction

Science.gov (United States)

Mankiewicz, L.; Schäfer, A.; Veltri, M.

1992-09-01

We describe PEPSI (Polarized Electron Proton Scattering Interactions), a Monte Carlo program for polarized deep inelastic leptoproduction mediated by electromagnetic interaction, and explain how to use it. The code is a modification of the LEPTO 4.3 Lund Monte Carlo for unpolarized scattering. The hard virtual gamma-parton scattering is generated according to the polarization-dependent QCD cross-section of the first order in α S. PEPSI requires the standard polarization-independent JETSET routines to simulate the fragmentation into final hadrons.

Monte Carlo simulations in skin radiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sarvari, A.; Jeraj, R.; Kron, T.

2000-01-01

The primary goal of this work was to develop a procedure for calculation the appropriate filter shape for a brachytherapy applicator used for skin radiotherapy. In the applicator a radioactive source is positioned close to the skin. Without a filter, the resultant dose distribution would be highly nonuniform.High uniformity is usually required however. This can be achieved using an appropriately shaped filter, which flattens the dose profile. Because of the complexity of the transport and geometry, Monte Carlo simulations had to be used. An 192 Ir high dose rate photon source was used. All necessary transport parameters were simulated with the MCNP4B Monte Carlo code. A highly efficient iterative procedure was developed, which enabled calculation of the optimal filter shape in only few iterations. The initially non-uniform dose distributions became uniform within a percent when applying the filter calculated by this procedure. (author)

Modern analysis of ion channeling data by Monte Carlo simulations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nowicki, Lech [Andrzej SoItan Institute for Nuclear Studies, ul. Hoza 69, 00-681 Warsaw (Poland)]. E-mail: lech.nowicki@fuw.edu.pl; Turos, Andrzej [Institute of Electronic Materials Technology, Wolczynska 133, 01-919 Warsaw (Poland); Ratajczak, Renata [Andrzej SoItan Institute for Nuclear Studies, ul. Hoza 69, 00-681 Warsaw (Poland); Stonert, Anna [Andrzej SoItan Institute for Nuclear Studies, ul. Hoza 69, 00-681 Warsaw (Poland); Garrido, Frederico [Centre de Spectrometrie Nucleaire et Spectrometrie de Masse, CNRS-IN2P3-Universite Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay (France)

2005-10-15

Basic scheme of ion channeling spectra Monte Carlo simulation is reformulated in terms of statistical sampling. The McChasy simulation code is described and two examples of the code applications are presented. These are: calculation of projectile flux in uranium dioxide crystal and defect analysis for ion implanted InGaAsP/InP superlattice. Virtues and pitfalls of defect analysis using Monte Carlo simulations are discussed.