A fully Distributed Parallel Global Search Algorithm

The n-dimensional direct search algorithm DIRECT of Jones,Perttunen, and Stuckman has attracted recent attention from the multidisciplinary design optimization community. Since DIRECT only requires function values (or ranking)and balances global exploration with local refinement better than n-dimensional bisection, it is well suited to the noisy function values typical of realistic simulations. While not efficient for high accuracy optimization, DIRECT is appropriate for the sort of global design space exploration done in large scale engineering design. Direct and pattern search schemes have the potential to exploit massive parallelism, but efficient use of massively parallel machines is nontrivial to achieve. This paper presents a fully distribute control version of DIRECT that is designed for massively parallel (distribute memory architectures. Parallel results are presented for a multidisciplinary design optimization problem — configuration design of a high speed civil transport

Paddlefish production : opportunities for Missouri pond and lake owners (2007)

New 7/07/3M

Parallel Global Aircraft Configuration Design Space Exploration

The preliminary design space exploration for large,interdisciplinary engineering problems is often a difficult and time-consuming task. General techniques are needed that efficiently and methodically search the design space. This work focuses on the use of parallel load balancing techniques integrated with a global optimizer to reduce the computational time of the design space exploration. The method is applied to the multidisciplinary design of a High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT). A modified Lipschitzian optimization algorithm generates large sets of design points that are evaluated concurrently using a variety of load balancing schemes.The load balancing schemes implemented in this study are: static load balancing, dynamic load balancing with a master-slave organization, fully distributed dynamic load balancing, an fully distributed dynamic load balancing via threads. All of the parallel computing schemes have high parallel efficiencies. When the variation in the design evaluation times is small, the computational overhead needed for fully distributed dynamic load balancing is substantial enough so that it is more efficient to use a master-slave paradigm. However, when the variation in evaluation times is increased, fully distributed load balancing is the most efficient

Dynamical Mean-Field Theory within the Full-Potential Methods: Electronic structure of Ce-115 materials

We implemented the charge self-consistent combination of Density Functional Theory and Dynamical Mean Field Theory (DMFT) in two full-potential methods, the Augmented Plane Wave and the Linear Muffin-Tin Orbital methods. We categorize the commonly used projection methods in terms of the causality of the resulting DMFT equations and the amount of partial spectral weight retained. The detailed flow of the Dynamical Mean Field algorithm is described, including the computation of response functions such as transport coefficients. We discuss the implementation of the impurity solvers based on hybridization expansion and an analytic continuation method for self-energy. We also derive the formalism for the bold continuous time quantum Monte Carlo method. We test our method on a classic problem in strongly correlated physics, the isostructural transition in Ce metal. We apply our method to the class of heavy fermion materials CeIrIn_5, CeCoIn_5 and CeRhIn_5 and show that the Ce 4f electrons are more localized in CeRhIn_5 than in the other two, a result corroborated by experiment. We show that CeIrIn_5 is the most itinerant and has a very anisotropic hybridization, pointing mostly towards the out-of-plane In atoms. In CeRhIn_5 we stabilized the antiferromagnetic DMFT solution below 3K, in close agreement with the experimental N\'eel temperature.Comment: The implementation of Bold-CTQMC added and some test of the method adde

All Weather Calibration of Wide Field Optical and NIR Surveys

The science goals for ground-based large-area surveys, such as the Dark Energy Survey, Pan-STARRS, and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, require calibration of broadband photometry that is stable in time and uniform over the sky to precisions of a per cent or better. This performance will need to be achieved with data taken over the course of many years, and often in less than ideal conditions. This paper describes a strategy to achieve precise internal calibration of imaging survey data taken in less than photometric conditions, and reports results of an observational study of the techniques needed to implement this strategy. We find that images of celestial fields used in this case study with stellar densities of order one per arcmin-squared and taken through cloudless skies can be calibrated with relative precision of 0.5 per cent (reproducibility). We report measurements of spatial structure functions of cloud absorption observed over a range of atmospheric conditions, and find it possible to achieve photometric measurements that are reproducible to 1 per cent in images that were taken through cloud layers that transmit as little as 25 per cent of the incident optical flux (1.5 magnitudes of extinction). We find, however, that photometric precision below 1 per cent is impeded by the thinnest detectable cloud layers. We comment on implications of these results for the observing strategies of future surveys.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal (AJ

Metastability of a granular surface in a spinning bucket

The surface shape of a spinning bucket of granular material is studied using a continuum model of surface flow developed by Bouchaud et al. and Mehta et al. An experimentally observed central subcritical region is reproduced by the model. The subcritical region occurs when a metastable surface becomes unstable via a nonlinear instability mechanism. The nonlinear instability mechanism destabilizes the surface in large systems while a linear instability mechanism is relevant for smaller systems. The range of angles in which the granular surface is metastable vanishes with increasing system size.Comment: 8 pages with postscript figures, RevTex, to appear in Phys. Rev.

The N-end rule pathway controls multiple functions during Arabidopsis shoot and leaf development

The ubiquitin-dependent N-end rule pathway relates the in vivo half-life of a protein to the identity of its N-terminal residue. This proteolytic system is present in all organisms examined and has been shown to have a multitude of functions in animals and fungi. In plants, however, the functional understanding of the N-end rule pathway is only beginning. The N-end rule has a hierarchic structure. Destabilizing activity of N-terminal Asp, Glu, and (oxidized) Cys requires their conjugation to Arg by an arginyl–tRNA–protein transferase (R-transferase). The resulting N-terminal Arg is recognized by the pathway's E3 ubiquitin ligases, called “N-recognins.” Here, we show that the Arabidopsis R-transferases AtATE1 and AtATE2 regulate various aspects of leaf and shoot development. We also show that the previously identified N-recognin PROTEOLYSIS6 (PRT6) mediates these R-transferase-dependent activities. We further demonstrate that the arginylation branch of the N-end rule pathway plays a role in repressing the meristem-promoting BREVIPEDICELLUS (BP) gene in developing leaves. BP expression is known to be excluded from Arabidopsis leaves by the activities of the ASYMMETRIC LEAVES1 (AS1) transcription factor complex and the phytohormone auxin. Our results suggest that AtATE1 and AtATE2 act redundantly with AS1, but independently of auxin, in the control of leaf development