ALE advantage in hypervelocity impact calculations

The ALE3D code is used to model experiments relevant to hypervelocity impact lethality, carried out in the 4-5 km/s velocity range. The code is run in the Eulerian and ALE modes. Zoning in the calculations is refined beyond the level found in most lethality calculations, but still short of convergence. The level of zoning refinement that produces equivalent results in uniformly zoned Eulerian calculations and ALE ones utilizing specialized zoning, weighting and relaxation techniques is established. It takes 11 times fewer zones and about 60% as many cycles when ALE capabilities are used. Calculations are compared to experimental results

Tri-Lab data models and format (DMF) project: parallel I/O and data exchange

A central goal of the ASCI program is to push simulation and modeling for Science-based Stockpile Stewardship to unprecedented levels. ASCI applications will use extremely high-fidelity models, on the order of one billion cells, to generate terabytes of raw data. Such vast amounts of data produced by these supercomputing applications will overwhelm scientists, whose efforts to understand their results are hindered by inadequate visualization and data management tools. Much of the Scientific Data Management (SDM) effort concerns managing the large and complex data emerging from these simulation codes. One particular area for which commercial and scalable solutions do not exist is in Parallel I/O and data exchange between simulations. To address these needs, the Tri-lab Data Models and Formats effort of the SDM project is developing capabilities to enable the capturing and sharing of simulation data

Parallelizing Monte Carlo with PMC

PMC (Parallel Monte Carlo) is a system of generic interface routines that allows easy porting of Monte Carlo packages of large-scale physics simulation codes to Massively Parallel Processor (MPP) computers. By loading various versions of PMC, simulation code developers can configure their codes to run in several modes: serial, Monte Carlo runs on the same processor as the rest of the code; parallel, Monte Carlo runs in parallel across many processors of the MPP with the rest of the code running on other MPP processor(s); distributed, Monte Carlo runs in parallel across many processors of the MPP with the rest of the code running on a different machine. This multi-mode approach allows maintenance of a single simulation code source regardless of the target machine. PMC handles passing of messages between nodes on the MPP, passing of messages between a different machine and the MPP, distributing work between nodes, and providing independent, reproducible sequences of random numbers. Several production codes have been parallelized under the PMC system. Excellent parallel efficiency in both the distributed and parallel modes results if sufficient workload is available per processor. Experiences with a Monte Carlo photonics demonstration code and a Monte Carlo neutronics package are described

Simulations of implosions with a 3D, parallel, unstructured-grid, radiation-hydrodynamics code

An unstructured-grid, radiation-hydrodynamics code is used to simulate implosions. Although most of the problems are spherically symmetric, they are run on 3D, unstructured grids in order to test the code�s ability to maintain spherical symmetry of the converging waves. Three problems, of increasing complexity, are presented. In the first, a cold, spherical, ideal gas bubble is imploded by an enclosing high pressure source. For the second, we add non-linear heat conduction and drive the implosion with twelve laser beams centered on the vertices of an icosahedron. In the third problem, a NIF capsule is driven with a Planckian radiation source

Vorinostat in advanced prostate cancer patients progressing on prior chemotherapy (National Cancer Institute Trial 6862)

BACKGROUND: This phase 2 trial was designed to evaluate the efficacy of vorinostat in chemotherapy-pretreated patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. METHODS: Patients with disease progression on 1 prior chemotherapy, a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ≥5 ng/mL, and adequate organ function were treated with 400 mg vorinostat orally daily. The primary endpoint was the 6-month progression rate. Secondary endpoints included safety, rate of PSA decline, objective response, overall survival, and effects of vorinostat on serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels. RESULTS: Twenty-seven eligible patients were accrued. The median number of cycles delivered was 2 (range, 1-7). All patients were taken off therapy before 6 months. The best objective response in the eligible patient was stable disease in 2 (7%) patients. No PSA decline of ≥50% was observed. There was 1 grade 4 adverse event (AE), and 44% of patients experienced grade 3 adverse events. The most common adverse events were fatigue (81%), nausea (74%), anorexia (59%), vomiting (33%), diarrhea (33%), and weight loss (26%). Median time to progression and overall survival were 2.8 and 11.7 months, respectively. Median IL-6 levels (pg/mL) were higher in patients removed from the protocol for toxicity compared with progression at all time points, including baseline (5.2 vs 2.1, P = .02), Day 15 Cycle 1 (9.5 vs 2.2, P = .01), Day 1 Cycle 2 (9.8 vs 2.2, P = .01), and end of study (11.0 vs 2.9, P = .09). CONCLUSIONS: Vorinostat at this dose was associated with significant toxicities limiting efficacy assessment in this patient population. The significant association between IL-6 levels and removal from the study for toxicities warrants further investigation. Cancer 2009. © 2009 American Cancer Society.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64445/1/24597_ftp.pd

Odyssey

We present results obtained with the Odyssey simulation code. Odyssey is a 1, 2, and 3 dimensional AMR code using cartesian, cylindrical, and spherical coordinates. The results provide an interesting snapshot of Odyssey at this point in its development. Results include parallel performance and scaling, Eulerian hydrodynamics algorithm comparisons, ADI based diffusion solvers on hierarchical meshes, ECB treatment of material interfaces in diffusion solves

Neural Reuse and the Nature of Evolutionary Constraints

In humans, the reuse of neural structure is particularly pronounced at short, task-relevant timescales. Here, an argument is developed for the claim that facts about neural reuse at task-relevant timescales conflict with at least one characterization of neural reuse at an evolutionary timescale. It is then argued that, in order to resolve the conflict, we must conceptualize evolutionary-scale reuse more abstractly than has been generally recognized. The final section of the paper explores the relationship between neural reuse and human nature. It is argued that neural reuse is not well-described as a process that constrains our present cognitive capacities. Instead, it liberates those capacities from the ancestral tethers that might otherwise have constrained them

New computational method for non-LTE, the linear response matrix

We investigate non-local thermodynamic equilibrium atomic kinetics using nonequilibrium thermodynamics and linear response theory. This approach gives a rigorous general framework for exploiting results from non-LTE kinetic calculations and offers a practical data-tabulation scheme suitable for use in plasma simulation codes. We describe how this method has been implemented to supply a fast and accurate non-LTE option in Lasnex

Niraparib plus abiraterone acetate with prednisone in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and homologous recombination repair gene alterations: second interim analysis of the randomized phase III MAGNITUDE trial

Background: Patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) and BRCA alterations have poor outcomes. MAGNITUDE found patients with homologous recombination repair gene alterations (HRR+), particularly BRCA1/2, benefit from first-line therapy with niraparib plus abiraterone acetate and prednisone (AAP). Here we report longer follow-up from the second prespecified interim analysis (IA2). Patients and methods: Patients with mCRPC were prospectively identified as HRR+ with/without BRCA1/2 alterations and randomized 1 : 1 to niraparib (200 mg orally) plus AAP (1000 mg/10 mg orally) or placebo plus AAP. At IA2, secondary endpoints [time to symptomatic progression, time to initiation of cytotoxic chemotherapy, overall survival (OS)] were assessed. Results: Overall, 212 HRR+ patients received niraparib plus AAP (BRCA1/2 subgroup, n = 113). At IA2 with 24.8 months of median follow-up in the BRCA1/2 subgroup, niraparib plus AAP significantly prolonged radiographic progression-free survival {rPFS; blinded independent central review; median rPFS 19.5 versus 10.9 months; hazard ratio (HR) = 0.55 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.39-0.78]; nominal P = 0.0007} consistent with the first prespecified interim analysis. rPFS was also prolonged in the total HRR+ population [HR = 0.76 (95% CI 0.60-0.97); nominal P = 0.0280; median follow-up 26.8 months]. Improvements in time to symptomatic progression and time to initiation of cytotoxic chemotherapy were observed with niraparib plus AAP. In the BRCA1/2 subgroup, the analysis of OS with niraparib plus AAP demonstrated an HR of 0.88 (95% CI 0.58-1.34; nominal P = 0.5505); the prespecified inverse probability censoring weighting analysis of OS, accounting for imbalances in subsequent use of poly adenosine diphosphate-ribose polymerase inhibitors and other life-prolonging therapies, demonstrated an HR of 0.54 (95% CI 0.33-0.90; nominal P = 0.0181). No new safety signals were observed. Conclusions: MAGNITUDE, enrolling the largest BRCA1/2 cohort in first-line mCRPC to date, demonstrated improved rPFS and other clinically relevant outcomes with niraparib plus AAP in patients with BRCA1/2-altered mCRPC, emphasizing the importance of identifying this molecular subset of patients