Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Neural Network Representation of Cross Sections

I learned about radial basis neural networks which utilize an activation function, and since the activation function are mostly Gaussian I wanted to see if they could be applied to the simulation of cross section data.  (Resonance structures in most cross sections are modeled with the Briet-Wigner formula, which is essentially a modified Gaussian).  I asked to do it in place of my homework, but wasn't allowed.

Neural Network Cross Sections

Cross section data from http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/sigma/index.jsp, U238 total. Can download a text file, and than just import it in. First column is energy (eV), second is cross section (b).
load('CrossSectionData.mat');

Creating the network

net = newrb(data(:,1),data(:,2));
% Viewing the created network
net.view
NEWRB, neurons = 0, MSE = 0
Sorry this is transparent

Looking at the performance

loglog(data(:,1),data(:,2));
hold all;
loglog(data(:,1),sim(net,data(:,1)));
hold off;
legend('ENDF','Neural Network');
title('(n,total) of U^{238}');
xlabel('Energy (eV)');
ylabel('Cross Section (b)');
ENDF data not visible because the neural network lies over top


Looking at the error

figure;
loglog(data(:,1),abs(data(:,2)-sim(net,data(:,1))));
title('Error of Simulated Network');
xlabel('Energy (eV)');
ylabel('abs(\sigma_{NNDC} - \sigma_{net}');
% No Error - Might be bad at extrapolation
sum(abs(data(:,2)-sim(net,data(:,1))))
ans =

     0

Zero error, so plot is empty on a log scale (can't take logarithm of zero)

There are games that could be played.  The number of neurons could be reduced, and the activation functions could be changed to resemble more of the form of the Briet-Wigner. 

Monday, September 26, 2011

NIM:A

Check out Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, Vol. 656, Issue 1, 11 Nov 2011 pg. 92-95.  It is a great read.

I've been working on making a coordinate invariant finite difference solver for the general Helmholtz equation so I can solve neutron transport coupled with heat and mass transport.  I can do something similar in COMSOL, but I only figured out how to do one group diffusion.

Also been spending a little amount of time on studying the boiling of water in a closed environment.  Yay Mondays!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Nuclear Security Challenges

I recently attended two talks by Ambassador Linton Brooks (START Treaties (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties)) in which he talked about nuclear security challenges.  I few of the more intresting items I learned.
  • One of the largest problems facing America is orphan sources.  I thought these were mostly small things, (a few curies), but evidently they are large - and most come from Radiosotope Thermal Generators that were used to power lighthouses along the Soviet coastline.  I think the idea behind RTG's are nifty - they are used to power deep space craft - but the dose rate / chance for proliferation makes them sort of impratical.  For example, Sr90 (used by the Russian RTG's) has a beta decay of 0.546 MeV to Y90, which then has a beta decay of 2.28 MeV to Zr90, which is stable. The half life of Sr90 is about 20 years, and the half life of Y90 is days, so we can assume that all we are essentially getting 2.82 MeV per decay.  In order to get 1 Watt we would then need 2.74E12 decays/s or 74 Ci, and this doesn't account for any efficiencies.
  • A majority of Russians still consider the US a threat, while the US no longer considers Russia to be a nuclear threat.  I thought both nations no longer considered each other to be threats.
  • The reduction treaties only count strategic weapons, not tactical ones.  Counting tactical weapons is a lot more sensitive.
  • There was a dirty bomb incident in Russia.  The device never went off.  
  • Perhaps the largest threat for the US is preventing a conflict escalation between Pakistan and India.
  • Nobody knows how to deal with North Korea, a "Jerkwater State"

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Fall 2011 Club Sectionals (Recap)

Voodo didn't make it regional  :(.  It's kinda alright though, regionals are 9 1/2 hours away.  I feel that we could have done a lot more damage if we played more together. Here are a few pictures of the weekend.

I catch over Chain daily

Friday, September 16, 2011

Fall 2011 Club Sectionals

Sectionals are this weekend in Chattanooga, TN.  I'm getting a little bit of the pre-tournament jitters, which is good.  Looking forward to good times, and maybe a couple wins, we play Chain and then Slow Country Boil (don't know anything about them).  Breaking out the chops!

Good luck to Gambit, Tanasi, Yuk and other teams this weekend.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Guarding the Upline

Sectionals is this weekend, first game is against Chain, then against Six Pack.  Voodoo scrimmaged UT tonight, with us winning, though UT didn't play their best lines.  In scrimmaging I had a hard time guarding a throw and go handler (Mark) on the up line.  It seems the only way to defend is to make sure it doesn't happen - after it happens the defender is playing catchup / damage control.  I found myself just chasing Mark up the field as he essentially did throw and go's with various players.  The way I understand the rules is that you have three steps to stop after a catch, so as long as you throw it within those three steps without changing direction it isn't a travel.  Mark is also left handed, so running off his backhand plays off a force flick. J?

Monday, September 12, 2011

Grading

I don't have to grade.  But sometimes I like to help my friends grade the radiation labs.  It is kinda fun in its way - everybody gets together with a six pack or two and goes to town.  I'm classy - I write (illegibly) in red pen, but then give them a sticker.  You get a better sticker if you grade is lower; those foo's getting A's only get a star.  Do badly, and you might get a dinosaur.  Why a dinosaur?  Toad told me at one point that whenever I don't know how to answer a test question I should just draw a dinosaur.

I spent the entire day debugging my finite difference code because I forgot a minus sign.  On a related note I learned a little bit about Jacobian Free Newton Krylov methods for solving coupled physics problems.  The basic gist is to ignore the non-diagonal element of the Jacobian, which makes it quickly possible to find a solution to multi-physics problems.  (The general idea is to have a system Jx=S, where J is the Jacobian, x is state vectors (temperature,concentrations,stresses), and S is the source term.  It them comes to solving the matrix system, which is much faster if it is diagonally dominant and sparse.)  This seems like something I want to implement for Blue Box.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Sunday Pickup

I have been going to a lot of Sunday pickup recently.  I think it is making me a worse player.  I get to try different things, but the intensity is not there.  I'm getting into bad habits just as the series is starting.  I can get away with throws that will be turns in real games, but most of the time I don't see it until afterwards.  These are mostly low break flicks the go across the middle of the field.  Voodoo (SO) isn't looking like a regionals caliber team, mostly because we have only had one real practice the entire season, and we didn't have a tournament with all our players.  I got plans to bring some fire, and we'll see where it goes from there.

Congrats to Dire Wolf players.

Monday, September 5, 2011

The Mountain Cut

Defenders inability to learn
All of the frisbee teams I have been on have emphasized the Mountain Cut.  Cut one direction, and then quickly change and go the opposite.  For a defender then, why do we get beaten by this cut?  We should expect that after a few steps the offense is going to change direction.  Is it just that defenders just don't know the moment?  This seems to simple; would think that with a little prediction the defense could dominate.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Boomsday / Shawn Adams

Saucer House on Signal Mountain
Went to a tournament with VooDoo (instead of VooDo (SO)) in Chattenagooga. Tournament results are not what they could be; but I'm alright with that.  I tried for a Callahan off of a well placed pull during our first game today with a chest high bid and missed entirely; it was pretty funny.   Other than that their wasn't many highlights or low lights - just two days of mediocre ultimate.

I stayed at a friends house on Signal Mountain, and on the way up we passed a saucer house. 

Downtown Chattanooga is really nice.  Has a nice feel.

This evening is Boomsday, which evidently is the largest labor day fireworks in the Nation.  Should be fun if it doesn't rain.