51,250 research outputs found
Implementation of Design Changes Towards a More Reliable, Hands-off Magnetron Ion Source
As the main ion source for the accelerator complex, magnetron ion
sources have been used at Fermilab since the 1970s. At the offline test stand,
new R&D is carried out to develop and upgrade the present magnetron-type
sources of ions of up to 80 mA and 35 keV beam energy in the context of
the Proton Improvement Plan. The aim of this plan is to provide high-power
proton beams for the experiments at FNAL. In order to reduce the amount of
tuning and monitoring of these ion sources, a new electronic system consisting
of a current-regulated arc discharge modulator allow the ion source to run at a
constant arc current for improved beam output and operation. A solenoid-type
gas valve feeds gas into the source precisely and independently of
ambient temperature. This summary will cover several studies and design changes
that have been tested and will eventually be implemented on the operational
magnetron sources at Fermilab. Innovative results for this type of ion source
include cathode geometries, solenoid gas valves, current controlled arc pulser,
cesium boiler redesign, gas mixtures of hydrogen and nitrogen, and duty factor
reduction, with the aim to improve source lifetime, stability, and reducing the
amount of tuning needed. In this summary, I will highlight the advances made in
ion sources at Fermilab and will outline the directions of the continuing R&D
effort.Comment: 4 pp. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with
arXiv:1701.0175
Improvements on the Stability and Operation of a Magnetron H- Ion Source
The magnetron H- ion sources developed in the 1970s currently in operation at
Fermilab provide beam to the rest of the accelerator complex. A series of
modifications to these sources have been tested in a dedicated offline test
stand with the aim of improving different operational issues. The solenoid type
gas valve was tested as an alternative to the piezoelectric gas valve in order
to avoid its temperature dependence. A new cesium oven was designed and tested
in order to avoid glass pieces that were present with the previous oven,
improve thermal insulation and fine tune its temperature. A current-regulated
arc modulator was developed to run the ion source at a constant arc current,
providing very stable beam outputs during operations. In order to reduce beam
noise, the addition of small amounts of N2 gas was explored, as well as testing
different cathode shapes with increasing plasma volume. This paper summarizes
the studies and modifications done in the source over the last three years with
the aim of improving its stability, reliability and overall performance.Comment: 8 pages, 19 figure
Explaining Machine Learning Classifiers through Diverse Counterfactual Explanations
Post-hoc explanations of machine learning models are crucial for people to
understand and act on algorithmic predictions. An intriguing class of
explanations is through counterfactuals, hypothetical examples that show people
how to obtain a different prediction. We posit that effective counterfactual
explanations should satisfy two properties: feasibility of the counterfactual
actions given user context and constraints, and diversity among the
counterfactuals presented. To this end, we propose a framework for generating
and evaluating a diverse set of counterfactual explanations based on
determinantal point processes. To evaluate the actionability of
counterfactuals, we provide metrics that enable comparison of
counterfactual-based methods to other local explanation methods. We further
address necessary tradeoffs and point to causal implications in optimizing for
counterfactuals. Our experiments on four real-world datasets show that our
framework can generate a set of counterfactuals that are diverse and well
approximate local decision boundaries, outperforming prior approaches to
generating diverse counterfactuals. We provide an implementation of the
framework at https://github.com/microsoft/DiCE.Comment: 13 page
Proteomics of Cytochrome c Oxidase-Negative versus -Positive Muscle Fiber Sections in Mitochondrial Myopathy
The mosaic distribution of cytochrome c oxidase(+) (COX+) and COX - muscle fibers in mitochondrial disorders allows the sampling of fibers with compensated and decompensated mitochondrial function from the same individual. We apply laser capture microdissection to excise individual COX+ and COX- fibers from the biopsies of mitochondrial myopathy patients. Using mass spectrometry-based proteomics, we quantify >4,000 proteins per patient. While COX+ fibers show a higher expression of respiratory chain components, COX- fibers display protean adaptive responses, including upregulation of mitochondrial ribosomes, translation proteins, and chaperones. Upregulated proteins include C1QBP, required for mitoribosome formation and protein synthesis, and STOML2, which organizes cardiolipin-enriched microdomains and the assembly of respiratory supercomplexes. Factoring in fast/slow fiber type, COX (-) slow fibers show a compensatory upregulation of beta-oxidation, the AAA(+) protease AFG3L1, and the OPA1-dependent cristae remodeling program. These findings reveal compensatory mechanisms in muscle fibers struggling with energy shortage and metabolic stress
Stress-intensity factor calculations using the boundary force method
The Boundary Force Method (BFM) was formulated for the three fundamental problems of elasticity: the stress boundary value problem, the displacement boundary value problem, and the mixed boundary value problem. Because the BFM is a form of an indirect boundary element method, only the boundaries of the region of interest are modeled. The elasticity solution for the stress distribution due to concentrated forces and a moment applied at an arbitrary point in a cracked infinite plate is used as the fundamental solution. Thus, unlike other boundary element methods, here the crack face need not be modeled as part of the boundary. The formulation of the BFM is described and the accuracy of the method is established by analyzing a center-cracked specimen subjected to mixed boundary conditions and a three-hole cracked configuration subjected to traction boundary conditions. The results obtained are in good agreement with accepted numerical solutions. The method is then used to generate stress-intensity solutions for two common cracked configurations: an edge crack emanating from a semi-elliptical notch, and an edge crack emanating from a V-notch. The BFM is a versatile technique that can be used to obtain very accurate stress intensity factors for complex crack configurations subjected to stress, displacement, or mixed boundary conditions. The method requires a minimal amount of modeling effort
Boundary force method for analyzing two-dimensional cracked bodies
The Boundary Force Method (BFM) was formulated for the two-dimensional stress analysis of complex crack configurations. In this method, only the boundaries of the region of interest are modeled. The boundaries are divided into a finite number of straight-line segments, and at the center of each segment, concentrated forces and a moment are applied. This set of unknown forces and moments is calculated to satisfy the prescribed boundary conditions of the problem. The elasticity solution for the stress distribution due to concentrated forces and a moment applied at an arbitrary point in a cracked infinite plate are used as the fundamental solution. Thus, the crack need not be modeled as part of the boundary. The formulation of the BFM is described and the accuracy of the method is established by analyzing several crack configurations for which accepted stress-intensity factor solutions are known. The crack configurations investigated include mode I and mixed mode (mode I and II) problems. The results obtained are, in general, within + or - 0.5 percent of accurate numerical solutions. The versatility of the method is demonstrated through the analysis of complex crack configurations for which limited or no solutions are known
A transformation sequencing approach to pseudorandom number generation
This paper presents a new approach to designing pseudorandom number generators based on cellular automata. Current cellular automata designs either focus on i) ensuring desirable sequence properties such as maximum length period, balanced distribution of bits and uniform distribution of n-bit tuples etc. or ii) ensuring the generated sequences pass stringent randomness tests. In this work, important design patterns are first identified from the latter approach and then incorporated into cellular automata such that the desirable sequence properties are preserved like in the former approach. Preliminary experiment results show that the new cellular automata designed have potential in passing all DIEHARD tests
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