Classification with Asymmetric Label Noise: Consistency and Maximal Denoising

In many real-world classification problems, the labels of training examples are randomly corrupted. Most previous theoretical work on classification with label noise assumes that the two classes are separable, that the label noise is independent of the true class label, or that the noise proportions for each class are known. In this work, we give conditions that are necessary and sufficient for the true class-conditional distributions to be identifiable. These conditions are weaker than those analyzed previously, and allow for the classes to be nonseparable and the noise levels to be asymmetric and unknown. The conditions essentially state that a majority of the observed labels are correct and that the true class-conditional distributions are "mutually irreducible," a concept we introduce that limits the similarity of the two distributions. For any label noise problem, there is a unique pair of true class-conditional distributions satisfying the proposed conditions, and we argue that this pair corresponds in a certain sense to maximal denoising of the observed distributions. Our results are facilitated by a connection to "mixture proportion estimation," which is the problem of estimating the maximal proportion of one distribution that is present in another. We establish a novel rate of convergence result for mixture proportion estimation, and apply this to obtain consistency of a discrimination rule based on surrogate loss minimization. Experimental results on benchmark data and a nuclear particle classification problem demonstrate the efficacy of our approach

Measurements of Separate Neutron and Gamma-Ray Coincidences with Liquid Scintillators and Digital PSD Technique

A new technique is presented for the measurement of neutron and/or gamma-ray coincidences. Separate neutron neutron, neutron gamma-ray, gamma-ray neutron, and gamma-ray gamma-ray coincidences are acquired with liquid scintillation detectors and a digital pulse shape discrimination (PSD) technique based on standard charge integration method. The measurement technique allows for the collection of fast coincidences in a time window of the order of a few tens of nanoseconds between the coincident particles. The PSD allows for the acquisition of the coincidences in all particle combinations. The measurements are compared to results obtained with the MCNP-PoliMi code, which simulates neutron and gamma-ray coincidences from from a source on an event-by-event basis. This comparison leads to good qualitative agreement

Characterization of a Li-6 loaded liquid organic scintillator for fast neutron spectrometry and thermal neutron detection

The characterization of a liquid scintillator incorporating an aqueous solution of enriched lithium chloride to produce a scintillator with 0.40% Li-6 is presented, including the performance of the scintillator in terms of its optical properties and neutron response. The scintillator was incorporated into a fast neutron spectrometer, and the light output spectra from 2.5 MeV, 14.1 MeV, and Cf-252 neutrons were measured using capture-gated coincidence techniques. The spectrometer was operated without coincidence to perform thermal neutron measurements. Possible improvements in spectrometer performance are discussed.Comment: Submitted to Applied Radiation and Isotopes. 11 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables. Revision addresses reviewers' comment

Measurement and Characterization of Nuclear Material at Idaho National Laboratory

A measurement plan and preliminary Monte Carlo simulations are presented for the investigation of well-defined mixed-oxide fuel pins. Measurement analysis including pulse-height distributions and time-dependent cross-correlation functions will be performed separately for neutrons and gamma rays. The utilization of Monte Carlo particle transport codes, specifically MCNP-PoliMi, is discussed in conjunction with the anticipated measurements. Four EJ-309 liquid scintillation detectors with an accurate pulse timing and digital, offline, optimized pulse-shape discrimination method will be used to prove the dependency of pulse-height distributions, cross-correlation functions, and material multiplicities upon fuel pin composition, fuel pin quantity, and detector geometry. The objective of the measurements and simulations is to identify novel methods for describing mixed-oxide fuel samples by relating measured quantities to fuel characteristics such as criticality, mass quantity, and material composition. This research has applications in nuclear safeguards and nonproliferation

Fast neutron spectrum unfolding for nuclear nonproliferation and safeguards applications

We present new neutron spectrum unfolding results obtained from measurements with Cf-252 and plutonium-oxide sources. The precise knowledge of the neutron energy spectrum provides information about the presence or absence of fissile material and about the characteristics of the material. We used a neutron spectrum unfolding technique based on a modification of the least-squares method. The main innovation is the use of a Krylov subspace iteration which performs better on ill-conditioned systems of linear equations than standard direct-solution methods. The proposed technique performed well in the unfolding of measured neutron pulseheight distributions from a Cf-252 neutron source and from plutonium-oxide samples and could be easily implemented in a portable neutron spectroscopy system for nuclear nonproliferation and safeguard applications

Neutron and gamma-ray cross-correlation measurements of plutonium oxide powder

a b s t r a c t For the first time, measurements of the time-dependent cross-correlation distributions of plutonium oxide have been made separately for neutrons and gamma rays. Six EJ-309 liquid scintillation detectors with a digital, offline pulse shape discrimination and pulse timing method were used to measure five different samples of varying mass and burnup. The number of (neutron, neutron) correlations were selectively analyzed versus plutonium mass and a clear, increasing trend was observed. Additionally, the measurement scenarios were modeled using the MCNP-PoliMi code and good agreement was observed between the measured and simulated cross-correlation functions

Monte Carlo Simulation for LINAC Standoff Interrogation of Nuclear Material

The development of new techniques for the interrogation of shielded nuclear materials relies on the use of Monte Carlo codes to accurately simulate the entire system, including the interrogation source, the fissile target and the detection environment. The objective of this modeling effort is to develop analysis tools and methods-based on a relevant scenario-which may be applied to the design of future systems for active interrogation at a standoff. For the specific scenario considered here, the analysis will focus on providing the information needed to determine the type and optimum position of the detectors. This report describes the results of simulations for a detection system employing gamma rays to interrogate fissile and nonfissile targets. The simulations were performed using specialized versions of the codes MCNPX and MCNP-PoliMi. Both prompt neutron and gamma ray and delayed neutron fluxes have been mapped in three dimensions. The time dependence of the prompt neutrons in the system has also been characterized For this particular scenario, the flux maps generated with the Monte Carlo model indicate that the detectors should be placed approximately 50 cm behind the exit of the accelerator, 40 cm away from the vehicle, and 150 cm above the ground. This position minimizes the number of neutrons coming from the accelerator structure and also receives the maximum flux of prompt neutrons coming from the source. The lead shielding around the accelerator minimizes the gamma-ray background from the accelerator in this area. The number of delayed neutrons emitted from the target is approximately seven orders of magnitude less than the prompt neutrons emitted from the system. Therefore, in order to possibly detect the delayed neutrons, the detectors should be active only after all prompt neutrons have scattered out of the system. Preliminary results have shown this time to be greater than 5 ?s after the accelerator pulse. This type of system is illustrative of a host of real-world scenarios of interest to nonproliferation and homeland security. Due to the multistep procedure of the MCNPX/MCNP-PoliMi code system, the analysis of somewhat modular - meaning that changing details such as the detector type, position, or surroundings does not require a re-calculation of the source-target interactions. This feature allows for efficient parametric analysis of numerous system parameters without recomputing the constant source-target behavior. Such efficient analysis mechanisms could prove invaluable in the design and future deployment of an active interrogation detection system

New Strings for Old Veneziano Amplitudes III. Symplectic Treatment

A d-dimensional rational polytope P is a polytope whose vertices are located at the nodes of d-dimensional Z-lattice. Consider a number of points inside the inflated polytope (with coefficient of inflation k, k=1,2, 3...). The Ehrhart polynomial of P counts the number of such lattice points (nodes) inside the inflated P and (may be) at its faces (including vertices). In Part I (hep-th/0410242) of our four parts work we noticed that the Veneziano amplitude is just the Laplace transform of the generating function (considered as a partition function in the sence of statistical mechanics) for the Ehrhart polynomial for the regular inflated simplex obtained as a deformation retract of the Fermat (hyper) surface living in complex projective space. This observation is sufficient for development of new symplectic (this work) and supersymmetric (hep-th/0411241)physical models reproducing the Veneziano (and Veneziano-like) amplitudes. General ideas (e.g.those related to the properties of Ehrhart polynomials) are illustrated by simple practical examples (e.g. use of mirror symmetry for explanation of available experimental data on pion-pion scattering) worked out in some detail. Obtained final results are in formal accord with those earlier obtained by Vergne [PNAS 93 (1996) 14238].Comment: 48 pages J.Geom.Phys.(in press, available on line

A scintillator‐based approach to monitor secondary neutron production during proton therapy

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135048/1/mp3813.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135048/2/mp3813_am.pd