1,181 research outputs found
Designing and Implementing an OVERFLOW Reader for ParaView and Comparing Performance Between Central Processing Units and Graphical Processing Units
In the Applied Aerosciences and CFD branch at Johnson Space Center, computational simulations are run that face many challenges. Two of which are the ability to customize software for specialized needs and the need to run simulations as fast as possible. There are many different tools that are used for running these simulations and each one has its own pros and cons. Once these simulations are run, there needs to be software capable of visualizing the results in an appealing manner. Some of this software is called open source, meaning that anyone can edit the source code to make modifications and distribute it to all other users in a future release. This is very useful, especially in this branch where many different tools are being used. File readers can be written to load any file format into a program, to ease the bridging from one tool to another. Programming such a reader requires knowledge of the file format that is being read as well as the equations necessary to obtain the derived values after loading. When running these CFD simulations, extremely large files are being loaded and having values being calculated. These simulations usually take a few hours to complete, even on the fastest machines. Graphics processing units (GPUs) are usually used to load the graphics for computers; however, in recent years, GPUs are being used for more generic applications because of the speed of these processors. Applications run on GPUs have been known to run up to forty times faster than they would on normal central processing units (CPUs). If these CFD programs are extended to run on GPUs, the amount of time they would require to complete would be much less. This would allow more simulations to be run in the same amount of time and possibly perform more complex computations
Extended Hauser-Feshbach Method for Statistical Binary-Decay of Light-Mass Systems
An Extended Hauser-Feshbach Method (EHFM) is developed for light heavy-ion
fusion reactions in order to provide a detailed analysis of all the possible
decay channels by including explicitly the fusion-fission phase-space in the
description of the cascade chain. The mass-asymmetric fission component is
considered as a complex-fragment binary-decay which can be treated in the same
way as the light-particle evaporation from the compound nucleus in
statistical-model calculations. The method of the phase-space integrations for
the binary-decay is an extension of the usual Hauser-Feshbach formalism to be
applied to the mass-symmetric fission part. The EHFM calculations include
ground-state binding energies and discrete levels in the low excitation-energy
regions which are essential for an accurate evaluation of the phase-space
integrations of the complex-fragment emission (fission). In the present
calculations, EHFM is applied to the first-chance binary-decay by assuming that
the second-chance fission decay is negligible. In a similar manner to the
description of the fusion-evaporation process, the usual cascade calculation of
light-particle emission from the highly excited complex fragments is applied.
This complete calculation is then defined as EHFM+CASCADE. Calculated
quantities such as charge-, mass- and kinetic-energy distributions are compared
with inclusive and/or exclusive data for the S+Mg and
Cl+C reactions which have been selected as typical examples.
Finally, the missing charge distributions extracted from exclusive measurements
are also successfully compared with the EHFM+CASCADE predictions.Comment: 34 pages, 6 Figures available upon request, Phys. Rev. C (to be
published
Three-Dimensional Simulations of Jets from Keplerian Disks: Self--Regulatory Stability
We present the extension of previous two-dimensional simulations of the
time-dependent evolution of non-relativistic outflows from the surface of
Keplerian accretion disks, to three dimensions. The accretion disk itself is
taken to provide a set of fixed boundary conditions for the problem. The 3-D
results are consistent with the theory of steady, axisymmetric, centrifugally
driven disk winds up to the Alfv\'en surface of the outflow. Beyond the
Alfv\'en surface however, the jet in 3-D becomes unstable to non-axisymmetric,
Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. We show that jets maintain their long-term
stability through a self-limiting process wherein the average Alfv\'enic Mach
number within the jet is maintained to order unity. This is accomplished in at
least two ways. First, poloidal magnetic field is concentrated along the
central axis of the jet forming a ``backbone'' in which the Alfv\'en speed is
sufficiently high to reduce the average jet Alfv\'enic Mach number to unity.
Second, the onset of higher order Kelvin-Helmholtz ``flute'' modes (m \ge 2)
reduce the efficiency with which the jet material is accelerated, and transfer
kinetic energy of the outflow into the stretched, poloidal field lines of the
distorted jet. This too has the effect of increasing the Alfv\'en speed, and
thus reducing the Alfv\'enic Mach number. The jet is able to survive the onset
of the more destructive m=1 mode in this way. Our simulations also show that
jets can acquire corkscrew, or wobbling types of geometries in this relatively
stable end-state, depending on the nature of the perturbations upon them.
Finally, we suggest that jets go into alternating periods of low and high
activity as the disappearance of unstable modes in the sub-Alfv\'enic regime
enables another cycle of acceleration to super-Alfv\'enic speeds.Comment: 57 pages, 22 figures, submitted to Ap
The Spatial Distribution of Star Formation in the Solar Neighbourhood: Do all stars form in clusters?
We present a global study of low mass, young stellar object (YSO) surface
densities in nearby (< 500 pc) star forming regions based on a comprehensive
collection of Spitzer Space Telescope surveys. We show that the distribution of
YSO surface densities in the solar neighbourhood is a smooth distribution,
being adequately described by a lognormal function from a few to 10^3 YSOs per
pc^2, with a peak at 22 stars/pc^2 and a dispersion of 0.85. We do not find
evidence for multiple discrete modes of star-formation (e.g. clustered and
distributed). Comparing the observed surface density distribution to previously
reported surface density threshold definitions of clusters, we find that the
fraction of stars in clusters is crucially dependent on the adopted
definitions, ranging from 40 to 90%. However, we find that only a low fraction
(< 26%) of stars are formed in dense environments where their
formation/evolution (along with their circumstellar disks and/or planets) may
be affected by the close proximity of their low-mass neighbours.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, MNRAS letters, accepte
MINERvA neutrino detector response measured with test beam data
The MINERvA collaboration operated a scaled-down replica of the solid
scintillator tracking and sampling calorimeter regions of the MINERvA detector
in a hadron test beam at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility. This article reports
measurements with samples of protons, pions, and electrons from 0.35 to 2.0
GeV/c momentum. The calorimetric response to protons, pions, and electrons are
obtained from these data. A measurement of the parameter in Birks' law and an
estimate of the tracking efficiency are extracted from the proton sample.
Overall the data are well described by a Geant4-based Monte Carlo simulation of
the detector and particle interactions with agreements better than 4%, though
some features of the data are not precisely modeled. These measurements are
used to tune the MINERvA detector simulation and evaluate systematic
uncertainties in support of the MINERvA neutrino cross section measurement
program.Comment: as accepted by NIM
Measurement of the branching ratio of pi^0 -> e^+e^- using K_L -> 3 pi^0 decays in flight
The branching ratio of the rare decay pi^0 -> e^+e^- has been measured in
E799-II, a rare kaon decay experiment using the KTeV detector at Fermilab. The
pi^0's were produced in fully-reconstructed K_L -> 3 pi^0 decays in flight. We
observed 275 candidate pi^0 -> e^+e^- events, with an expected background of
21.4 +- 6.2 events which includes the contribution from Dalitz decays. We
measured BR(pi^0 -> e^+e^-, x>0.95) = (6.09 +- 0.40 +- 0.24) times 10^{-8},
where the first error is statistical and the second systematic. This result is
the first significant observation of the excess rate for this decay above the
unitarity lower bound.Comment: New version shortened to PRL length limit. 5 pages, 4 figures.
Published in Phys. Rev. Let
A phase I/II study of 4 monthly courses of high-dose cyclophosphamide and thiotepa for metastatic breast cancer patients
This pilot phase I/II study intended to determine the maximum tolerated dose of cyclophosphamide and thiotepa administered on four consecutive courses with peripheral blood progenitor cell and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor support, as first-line therapy for hormone-refractory metastatic breast cancer patients. Twenty-eight patients were entered in the study. After two courses of epirubicin (120âmgâmâ2) and cyclophosphamide (2âg mâ2) followed by granulocyte-colony stimulating factor injection and leukaphereses, patients received four cycles of cyclophosphamide and thiotepa. Each cycle was followed by peripheral blood progenitor cell and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor supports, then repeated every 28 to 35 days. Six escalating dose levels of cyclophosphamide and thiotepa were planned, beginning at cyclophosphamide 1.5âg mâ2 and thiotepa 200âmgâmâ2. At least three patients were enrolled for each dose level. Eighteen patients completed the study. The maximum tolerated dose was 3000âmgâmâ2 cyclophosphamide and 400âmgâmâ2 thiotepa per course. Haematological toxicity was manageable on an outpatient basis and did not increase significantly with dose escalation. Dose-limiting toxicity was chemotherapy-induced immuno-suppression, which resulted in one toxic death and two life-threatening infections. Median times to treatment failure and survival were 11 and 26 months, respectively. Three patients were alive, free of disease 30 months after completion of the study. Such therapy allows for high-dose intensity and high cumulative doses on a short period of time with manageable toxicity
Internet-based medical education: a realist review of what works, for whom and in what circumstances
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
Hemocyanin facilitates lignocellulose digestion by wood-boring marine crustaceans
Woody (lignocellulosic) plant biomass is an abundant renewable feedstock, rich in polysaccharides that are bound into an insoluble fiber composite with lignin. Marine crustacean woodborers of the genus Limnoria are among the few animals that can survive on a diet of this recalcitrant material without relying on gut resident microbiota. Analysis of fecal pellets revealed that Limnoria targets hexose-containing polysaccharides (mainly cellulose, and also glucomannans), corresponding with the abundance of cellulases in their digestive system, but xylans and lignin are largely unconsumed. We show that the limnoriid respiratory protein, hemocyanin, is abundant in the hindgut where wood is digested, that incubation of wood with hemocyanin markedly enhances its digestibility by cellulases, and that it modifies lignin. We propose that this activity of hemocyanins is instrumental to the ability of Limnoria to feed on wood in the absence of gut symbionts. These findings may hold potential for innovations in lignocellulose biorefining
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