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High-performance sparse matrix multipliers are essential for deep learning applications, and as big data analytics continues to evolve, specialized accelerators are also needed to efficiently handle sparse matrix operations. This paper proposes a modified, configurable, outer product based architecture for sparse matrix multiplication, and explores design space of the proposed architecture. The performance of various architecture configurations has been examined for input samples with similar characteristics. The proposed architecture has been implemented on Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA using 32-bit single precision floating-point arithmetic and also in 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit fixed-point arithmetic formats. The effect of quantization in the proposed architecture has been analyzed extensively and the results have been reported. The performance of the proposed architecture has been compared with state-of-the-art implementations, and an improvement of 9.21% has been observed in the performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

FPGAs facilitate prototyping and debug, and recently accelerate full-stack simulations due to their rapid turnaround time (TAT). However, this TAT is restrictive in exhaustive design space explorations of parameterized RTL generators, especially DNN accelerators that unleash an explosive full-stack search space. This paper presents Quickloop, an efficient and scalable framework to enable FPGA-accelerated exploration. Quickloop first abstracts away the cumbersome flow of RTL generation, software stack, FPGA toolflow, workload execution and metrics extraction by wrapping these stages into isolated Quicksteps, featuring cascadability, scalability, and replay. Then, we analytically minimize the FPGA toolflow TAT via a novel, data-driven strategy that intelligently utilizes build fragments from previous iterations, enhancing the loop efficiency and simultaneously lowering the toolflow's compute utilization. Quickloop is built around the OpenAI Gym environment framework and thus supports drop-in regression and reinforcement learning explorations. With a Quickloop around a reference Berkeley's Gemmini DNN accelerator, we exhaustively explore its parameter space and discover complex performance patterns, based on full-stack simulation of Imagenet benchmarks as a workload. Compared to conventional FPGA toolflow, we further show that Quickloop effectively reduces episodal time by above 30%, as the episode approaches realistic lengths. • Machine Learning. • Accelerators. • Systolic Array. • Design Space Exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linear optics parameters are often estimated using turn-by-turn (TbT) data. In-plane beta functions, which are the most common measurement objectives, can be estimated from the amplitudes or phases of TbT data, providing an overall characterization of the linear lattice. In addition to estimating uncoupled Twiss parameters, TbT data can also be utilized for characterizing coupled linear motion. We investigate several methods for constructing a full normalization matrix at each beam position monitor (BPM). BPMs provide information on beam centroid transverse coordinates, but direct observation of transverse momenta is not available. To estimate momenta, one can use a pair of BPMs or fit data obtained from several BPMs. By using both coordinates and momenta, it is possible to fit the one-turn matrix (or its power) at each BPM, allowing for the computation of coupled Twiss parameters. Another approach involves the minimization of side peak amplitudes in the spectrum of normalized complex coordinates. Similarly, the normalization matrix can be estimated by fitting linear coupled invariants. In this study, we derive and utilize a special form of the normalization matrix, which remains non-singular in the zero coupling limit. Coupled Twiss parameters can be obtained from the normalization matrix. The paper presents the results of applying and comparing these methods to both modeled and measured VEPP-4M TbT data, demonstrating effective estimation of coupled Twiss parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• New experimental data on fragmentation of 200 MeV/u 40-Ar in copper. • Fine-resolution depth-profiles of nuclides induced by 200 MeV/u 40-Ar in copper. • FLUKA simulations of the experimental depth-profiles of the induced nuclides. • Comparison of the measured and simulated profiles. • Experimental data for development of physical models implemented in FLUKA. This work is a further contribution to our long-term experimental studies of activation- and fragmentation-related effects induced by high-energy heavy-ion irradiation in selected accelerator-construction materials. A stacked-foil copper target consisting of thin foils with different thicknesses was irradiated by 200 MeV/u 40Ar ions. Gamma spectra of the radiation emitted from the activated foils were measured and the nuclides created in the foils as a result of nuclear interaction between the 40Ar ions and the copper target nuclei were identified. The activities of all identified nuclides have been determined from the gamma spectra. The measured activity of each nuclide has been converted to the number of nuclei (of that nuclide) contained in the foil. Finally, the depth-profiles of the induced nuclides, i.e. the number of the induced nuclei as a function of the target depth, have been constructed and analyzed. The measured depth-profiles provide information on physical mechanisms of the high-energy heavy-ion fragmentation. The measured depth-profiles have been also compared with the simulated ones obtained with FLUKA2020. Keeping in mind complexity of the nucleus-nucleus interactions in the broad energy interval, the measured and simulated depth-profiles show a reasonable agreement. However, in some cases, discrepancies between the measured and the simulated depth-profiles have been observed. These cases are presented and discussed in the paper, as they can serve improvement of physical models implemented in the simulation codes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The High Fluence Irradiation Facility at the University of Tokyo, which had provided a platform for dual-beam irradiation in Japan, was severely damaged by the 2011 earthquake. This paper reports a modification at this facility, i.e., installing a low-energy ion implanter instead of repairing the previous Van de Graaff accelerator. The platform of the dual-beam irradiation and/or s gas-ion beam irradiation was reconstructed, and the newly installed ion implanter was a stable, uniform, and high-density light element ion beam. The radiation-induced amorphization (RIA) behavior in Zr(Fe,Cr) 2 Laves phase was investigated in 180 keV-He+ beam irradiation to assess the performance of this ion implanter, and the irradiation temperature and dose-dependent RIA behavior were confirmed. Implying that this modification ensures the capability in terms of gas-ion beam irradiation and dual-beam irradiation in this facility, which will promote the research progress on radiation effects in nuclear material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to find a method to synthesize spinel solid solution at low temperature, in this paper, pseudo-boehmite and copper nitrate were used as raw materials, and citric acid was used as accelerator for the first time, the Cu 1−x Al 2.5 spinel solid solutions were synthesized by ball milling treatment of the solid mixture and then calcined at elevated temperatures. The obtained materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunner−Emmett−Teller (BET) measurements, H 2 -temperature programmed reduction (H 2 -TPR), infrared (IR) and thermogravimetric methods (TG), and the mechanism of citric acid promoting the synthesis of the spinel solid solution was suggested. The results show that an optimal amount of citric acid can significantly promote the formation of the spinel structure, thus substantially decreasing the synthetic temperature from the above 900 °C–700 °C. At 700 °C, the preparation without the accelerator resulted in small amount of the spinel solid solution, while the use of accelerator gave rise to 82.96% spinel solid solution. Importantly, the Cu 1−x Al 2.5 spinel solid solution prepared at 700 °C demonstrates the best sustained release catalytic performance, and the catalytic activity reached more than 90% and remained stable within 50 h. The findings of this report might be provide guidance for the solid phase preparation of catalysts at relatively lower temperatures, thus facilitating the commercialization of the sustained release catalyst system. For the preparation of Cu–Al spinel by ball milling, citric acid was used as an accelerator for the first time, effectively decreasing the synthetic temperature. [Display omitted] • Citric acid was used as an accelerator for the first time. • The synthetic temperature of Cu–Al spinel by was decreased. • Possible mechanism for such an acceleration has been suggested. • The obtained solid solution can be used as a sustained release catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the latest high-current multi cusp type ion source developed at TRIUMF, which is capable of producing a negative hydrogen ion beam (H − ) of 60 mA of direct current at 140V and 90A arc. The results achieved to date including emittance measurements and filament lifetime issues are presented. The low current version of this ion source is suitable for medical cyclotrons as well as accelerators and the high current version is intended for producing large neutral hydrogen beams for fusion research. The description of the source magnetic configuration, the electron filter profile and the differential pumping techniques given in the paper will allow the building of an arc discharge H − ion source with similar properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Benchmark comparison of Geant4 and MCNP6 in characterisation of fast neutron beam. • SOI Bridge microdosimeter measured experimentally and compared with the two codes. • Neutron capture products from p+ B-implanted regions of the Bridge was investigated. In this study, Monte Carlo codes, Geant4 and MCNP6, were used to characterize the fast neutron therapeutic beam produced at iThemba LABS in South Africa. Experimental and simulation results were compared using the latest generation of Silicon on Insulator (SOI) microdosimeters from the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics (CMRP). Geant4 and MCNP6 were able to successfully model the neutron gantry and simulate the expected neutron energy spectrum produced from the reaction by protons bombarding a 9Be target. The neutron beam was simulated in a water phantom and its characteristics recorded by the silicon microdosimeters; bare and covered by a 10B enriched boron carbide converter, at different positions. The microdosimetric quantities calculated using Geant4 and MCNP6 are in agreement with experimental measurements. The thermal neutron sensitivity and production of 10B capture products in the p+ boron-implanted dopant regions of the Bridge microdosimeter is investigated. The obtained results are useful for the future development of dedicated SOI microdosimeters for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT). This paper provides a benchmark comparison of Geant4 and MCNP6 capabilities in the context of further applications of these codes for neutron microdosimetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Identifies distinct FinTech entrepreneurial ecosystems in both London and Singapore. • Explores accelerator networks in the creation of FinTech entrepreneurial ecosystems. • Draws on 100 interviews with a variety of FinTech and broader technology actors. • Advances a conceptualisation of complex adaptive systems. • Significant implications for the traditional finance sector. As the global startup ecosystem matures its constituent actors are co-evolving in interrelated ways, producing localised entrepreneurial ecosystems around the world. The entrepreneurial ecosystem literature has identified the shared attributes of these systems, but understandings of their inner-workings, interconnectedness, and variance across such systems is lacking. This paper explores the emergence of FinTech entrepreneurial ecosystems in London and Singapore, finding that a single accelerator actor has played a significant role in driving their emergence out of the existing, broader, entrepreneurial ecosystems. It argues that while the entrepreneurial ecosystem literature benefits from a conceptualisation of these ecosystems as complex adaptive systems, there must be a consideration of the potential for transformative agency by actors in the evolutionary dynamics of entrepreneurial ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a fusion reactor, the plasma based on a deuterium-tritium reaction generates high energy neutron flux interacting with the materials of the plasma facing components. In order to study the irradiated behavior of these materials, the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) was conceived to generate these fusion relevant neutrons through d -Li stripping source. IFMIF is presently in its Engineering Validation and Engineering Design Activities (EVEDA) phase under the Broader Approach agreement signed between EURATOM and Japanese Government in 2007. This agreement mandates the IFMIF/EVEDA project to validate the design of the different systems of IFMIF and to produce an integrated engineering design of IFMIF, together with the data necessary for future decisions on its construction and operation. While the Engineering Validation Activity (EVA) of the Lithium Target Facility and the Test Facility was completed by constructing prototypes, the EVA of the Accelerator Facility with the Linear IFMIF Prototype Accelerator (LIPAc) is still on-going at the Rokkasho Fusion Institute, Japan. This paper overviews the achievements in the previous phase ended on 31 March 2020 and the progress in the current phase to complete the commissioning of the LIPAc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a heterogeneous processor design for CNN-based AI applications on IoT devices. The heterogeneous processor contains an embedded RISC-V CPU that works as a general processor and an efficient CNN-accelerator that supports a variety of CNN models with a list of macro instructions. For demonstration, we implement a prototype on an FPGA platform with the RISC-V CPU working under 20 MHz and the CNN accelerator working under 100 MHz. As a case study, we run a CNN-based face detection and recognition application on this prototype. The prototype can process one image in 0.72 seconds and an ASIC implementation working under 400 MHz can process one image in less than 0.15 seconds by estimation, which can satisfy the needs for many IoT scenarios such as access control systems and check-in systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triethanolamine (TEA) is a multifunctional organic additive, applied chiefly to a grinding aid and accelerator for cement. Its effect on cement paste in a sulfate-rich environment remains still unclear and elusive. In this paper, the expansion and mechanical performance of cement paste under external sulfate attack were measured. Thermodynamic model lent itself to estimate the correlation between triethanolamine and generated products content ahead of quantified phase analysis. The transformation of internal component was surveyed by multiple technologies of thermal gravimetric (TG), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), while inductively coupled plasma (ICP) was applied to investigate the evolution of interstitial ion concentration. Furthermore, the changes of pore structure over immersion time were separately figured and tabulated by virtue of mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP). The above analysis shows that when cement paste suffers sulfate attack, triethanolamine intensifies the formation of calcite and exacerbates the decalcification of C-S-H, promoting a large quantity of insoluble precipitation including mirabilite of abundant crystalline water which accounts essentially for severe damage. Determined after comprehensive evaluation, the addition of TEA is conducive to the emergence of physical sulfate attack and an increment of the total porosity and permeability, contributing to an extension of microcracks and a more fragile structure, ultimately makes cement paste appear as a reduction in strength and stiffness. • Triethanolamine correlates adversely with the resistance to sulfate attack of cement paste • The complex of sulfate and aluminum ions occupied by the TEA intensifies decalcification of C-S-H • Triethanolamine loosens internal structure and permeability paths inside cement paste within sulfate attack [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the potential use of eggshell powder (ESP) as green accelerator in ground palm oil fuel ash (GPOFA) concrete. Three categories of ESPs namely uncarbonised ESP (UC-ESP), carbonised ESP (C-ESP) and decarbonised ESP (DC-ESP) corresponding to no calcination and calcination at temperatures of 750 and 1000 °C, respectively, were prepared and studied. In addition, ESPs was used as cement replacement (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 wt%) in GPOFA concrete and their performance were examined in term of reactivity, workability, heat hydration, compressive strength and microstructure performance. It was found that the presence of UC-ESP, C-ESP and DC-ESP can provide a low, medium and superior accelerator behaviour in the early age of GPOFA concrete. Overall, the GPOFA concrete combined with DC-ESP revealed an excellence SiO 2 -CaO reactivity, giving a twice compressive strength at early age and provides inductive hydration behaviour with low hydration temperature and significant improvement in dense gels formulation. Hence, this study provides a positive impact for rapid construction technology. As a conclusion, modified ESP is a highly potential as partial cement replacement and accelerator for concrete. • Eggshell powder (ESP) calcined at different temperatures are studies. • ESP is used as accelerator for palm oil fuel ash (POFA) concrete. • SiO 2 -CaO derived from GPOFA and calcined ESP provided an excellence accelerator in concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving urban green economic efficiency is a necessary response to environmental constraints and the transformation of economic development mode, and how to improve green economic efficiency through smart city pilot has become an important consideration. In this study, we construct the Date Envelopment Analysis-Slack Based Model to measure the green economic efficiency, and further evaluate the impacts of smart city on green economic efficiency using the propensity score matching-Differences-in-Differences (PSM-DID) model. The mainly results are as follows. The urban green economic efficiency can be improved by smart city pilot, and be improved by smart city through technology effect, structure effect and energy effect. Smart city with the dual attributes, information technology and environmental regulation, acts as a role of accelerator that both promote economic efficiency and environment, and thus accelerates the improvement of green economic efficiency. Smart city plays a significant role in cities with high level of talent aggregation and financial development, low level of population density, network infrastructure and urban expansion. The results of this paper provide the policy implications for the construction of smart city and sustainable development. • Smart city pilot can improve the urban green economic efficiency. • Smart city plays the role through the effects of technology, structure and energy. • Smart city is an accelerator both promotes economic efficiency and environment. • The effect of smart city varies across urban structure and characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The stream computing using manycore architecture such as GPU and the accelerators on FPGA has become one of the main methods for achieving high performance computing that such accelerators are employed in the recent top supercomputers. The stream computing implements an implicit concurrent program execution in massively parallel architecture applying, for exam- ple, OpenCL runtime. Although the potential high performance is achieved by the accelerator, programmers need to consider two kinds of programs; one is the control program on the host CPU such as buffer management for I/O data and invocation timings for the kernel program on the accelerator, and another is the kernel program itself executed by the accelerator. To eliminate this double programming difficulty, this paper proposes a new execution tool for the accelerator programs called CarSh providing a commandline-based interface that receives executable file described by XML over the flow-model frame- work of the Caravela platform. CarSh also provides the virtual buffer function to exchange the data streams from one kernel program to another. It eliminates explicit physical buffer management on the host CPU side from the programmer. Through the evaluations regarding performance and programmability, this paper concludes that CarSh implements a simple and transparent programming interface for the stream computing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: More than 60 years after the late Nobel laureate Hannes Alfvén had published a letter stating that oscillating magnetic fields can accelerate ionised matter via magneto–hydrodynamic interactions in a wave like fashion, the technical implementation of Alfvén waves for propulsive purposes has been proposed, patented and examined for the first time by a group of inventors. Consequently improved since then, the name of the latest concept, relying on magneto-acoustic waves to accelerate electric conductive matter, is MOA2—Magnetic field Oscillating Amplified Accelerator. Based on computer simulations, which were undertaken to get a first estimate on the performance of the system, MOA2 is a corrosion free and highly flexible propulsion system, whose performance parameters might easily be adapted in operation, by changing the mass flow and/or the power level. As such the system is capable of delivering a maximum specific impulse of 13116s (12.87mN) at a power level of 11.16kW, using Xe as propellant, but can also be attuned to provide a thrust of 236.5mN (2411s) at 6.15kW of power. First tests—that are further described in this paper—have been conducted successfully with a 400W prototype system at an ambient pressure of 0.20Pa, delivered 9.24mN of thrust at 1472s I SP , thereby underlining the feasibility of the concept. Based on these results, space propulsion is expected to be a prime application for MOA2—a claim that is supported by numerous applications such as Solar and/or Nuclear Electric Propulsion or even as an ‘afterburner system’ for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion. However, MOA2 has so far seen most of its R&D impetus from terrestrial applications, like coating, semiconductor implantation and manufacturing as well as steel cutting. Based on this observation, MOA2 resembles an R&D paradigm buster, as it is the first space propulsion system, whose R&D is driven primarily by its terrestrial applications. Different terrestrial applications exist, but the most successful scenarios so far revolve around MOA2''s unique features with respect to high throughput/low target temperature coatings on sensitive materials. In combination with its intrinsic high flexibility, MOA2 is highly suited for a common space-terrestrial application research and utilisation strategy. This paper presents the recent developments of the MOA2 R&D activities at Q2 Technologie(s), the company in Vienna, Austria, which has been set up to further develop and test the magneto-acoustic wave technology and its applications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The third accelerator of the multi-ion irradiation platform JANNUS (Joint Accelerators for Nanosciences and NUclear Simulation), a 6SDH-2 Pelletron from National Electrostatic Corporation, Middleton was installed at Saclay in October 2009. The first triple beam irradiation combining Fe, He and H ion beams has been performed in March 2010. In the first part of this paper, we give a technical description of the triple beam facility, its performances and experimental capabilities. Typically, damage dose up to 100dpa can be reached in 10h irradiation with heavy ion beams, with or without simultaneous bombardment by protons, helium-4 ions or any other heavy ion beam. In the second part of this paper, we illustrate some IBA results obtained after irradiation and implantation experiments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

By considering the information granulation in Granular Computing, the concept of the multi-granularity is important. It is mainly because different results of information granulation will imply different levels of granularity. Nevertheless, multi-granularity has been paid less attention to the problem of attribute reduction in rough set which is regarded as one of the most important mathematical tools in Granular Computing. Therefore, how to search the multi-granularity reduct will be mainly explored in this paper. Different from the previous studies which generate reduct by using one and only one granularity, multi-granularity reduct is actually a set of the reducts derived from multiple levels of granularity. A natural way for computing multi-granularity reduct is to repeat the process of searching reduct for each level of granularity. Obviously, such an approach is time-consuming. To fill such a gap, an acceleration strategy is introduced into the process of searching multi-granularity reduct. Our acceleration strategy can be respectively realized through considering two variations of granularity: 1) from a finer granularity to a coarser granularity; 2) from a coarser granularity to a finer granularity. Such two variations indicate that the reduct related to previous granularity may have guidance on the computation of reduct related to the present granularity. Consequently, two accelerators are designed for speeding up the process of finding multi-granularity reduct. The experimental results over 16 UCI data sets show that our accelerators can not only reduce the elapsed time of searching attributes significantly, but also select attributes which will not contribute to a poorer classification performance. This study suggests new trends concerning the problem of attribute reduction and the corresponding searching strategy. • The multi-granularity is introduced into attribute reduction. • An acceleration strategy is proposed to speed up the process of finding multi-granularity reduct. • Our approach can reduce the time consumption of finding reduct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High Voltage Engineering has developed a high-current, light-ion 3.5 MV single-ended accelerator system to meet the stringent requirements on beam intensity and stability of the LUNA-MV project at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS), L'Aquila, Italy. The accelerator has an all permanent magnet, 10 GHz ECR ion source to deliver intense beams of H (∼1 mA), He and C. The machine ensures energy stability below 10−5, terminal voltage ripple of 1.5 × 10−5 and uninterrupted operations time greater than 24 h as requested by LNGS. Various changes to the standard in-line Singletron accelerator were needed to satisfy these requirements. In this paper, we highlight design details about the accelerator and ECR source and present early performance results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid computing platforms are now commonplace, featuring a large number of CPU cores and accelerators. This trend makes balancing computations between these heterogeneous resources performance critical. In this paper we propose aggregating several CPU cores in order to execute larger parallel tasks and improve load balancing between CPUs and accelerators. Additionally, we present our approach to exploit internal parallelism within tasks, by combining two runtime system schedulers: a global runtime system to schedule the main task graph and a local one to cope with internal task parallelism. We demonstrate the relevance of our approach in the context of the dense Cholesky factorization kernel implemented on top of the StarPU task-based runtime system. We present experimental results showing that our solution outperforms state-of-the-art implementations on two architectures: a heterogeneous CPU+GPU machine and the Intel Xeon Phi Knights Landing processor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Inter-University Accelerator Center, New Delhi is involved in commissioning a superconducting linear accelerator (LINAC) as a booster to its existing 15 UD Pelletron accelerator. The booster consists of three LINAC modules, each containing eight superconducting Nb quarter wave resonators and a superconducting solenoid magnet. The first LINAC module preceded by a superbuncher with one cavity and followed by a rebuncher cryostat with two cavities was installed in 0° beam line of Pelletron and has been under operation for some time at the Center. The module is integrated with a liquid helium (LHe) refrigerator through a cryogen valve box and the distribution line. The performance tests of each component like the RF cavity, the cryomodule and the liquid helium distribution line were carried out independently prior to the beam acceleration test. After having many trial runs on this integrated cryonetwork system, beam acceleration tests were performed during 2007. The energy of silicon beam with charge state of +10 has been enhanced approximately from 130MeV to 158MeV using the first module with seven effective cavities and the accelerated beam was delivered at user’s scattering chamber. The present paper highlights the performance of the first module producing an accelerating beam duly bunched in the rebuncher. The performance of first LINAC cryomodule along with problems and the solution associated with the cryogenic system and the cavities encountered during the beam runs are presented in this paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Tsetlin Machine (TM) is a machine learning algorithm based on an ensemble of Tsetlin Automata (TAs) that learns propositional logic expressions from Boolean input features. In this paper, the design and implementation of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) accelerator based on the Convolutional Tsetlin Machine (CTM) is presented. The accelerator performs classification of two pattern classes in 4 × 4 Boolean images with a 2 × 2 convolution window. Specifically, there are two separate TMs, one per class. Each TM comprises 40 propositional logic formulas, denoted as clauses, which are conjunctions of literals. Include/exclude actions from the TAs determine which literals are included in each clause. The accelerator supports full training, including random patch selection during convolution based on parallel reservoir sampling across all clauses. The design is implemented on a Xilinx Zynq XC7Z020 FPGA platform. With an operating clock speed of 40 MHz, the accelerator achieves a classification rate of 4.4 million images per second with an energy per classification of 0.6 μ J. The mean test accuracy is 99.9% when trained on the 2-dimensional Noisy XOR dataset with 40% noise in the training labels. To achieve this performance, which is on par with the original software implementation, Linear Feedback Shift Register (LFSR) random number generators of minimum 16 bits are required. The solution demonstrates the core principles of a CTM and can be scaled to operate on multi-class systems for larger images. • First fully functional Convolutional Tsetlin Machine (CTM) hardware accelerator. • The accelerator is self-contained and supports full training. • Random patch selection, based on parallel reservoir sampling across all clauses, during training. • Test accuracy matches the corresponding software implementation. • Prepared for scaling to support multi-class systems and classification of larger images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Wet grinding could refine waste concrete recycled powder (RP) to submicron particles. • 2~6% submicron RP enhanced the early hydration of plain PC and GBFS/FA-PC systems. • This paper was expected to develop a novel approach for the utilization of RP. Utilization of waste concrete recycled powder (RP) in cementitious materials faced enormous challenge, because of low activity and huge water demand. In this paper, RP was treated by wet grinding to prepare submicron-RP (SRP), and then SRP was used as an accelerator in various cementitious systems, including Portland cement system (PC), PC-granulated blast furnace slag (PC-GBFS), and PC-fly ash (PC-FA) system. The compressive strength, hydration heat, hydration products, and microstructure of these systems were studied. Results showed that SRP with an average diameter of 594 nm was obtained by wet grinding. In PC paste, at the age of 12 h, 6% SRP could augment the compressive strength by 150% and hydration heat by 100%, in comparison with the paste without SRP; in PC-GGBS or PC-FA system, the similar results were also found. The reason was because of the excellent nucleation effect to significantly facilitate the hydration of PC and promote the formation of hydrates; moreover, due to the filling effect of SRP, the microstructure of hardened pastes was refined. The research could provide a novel approach for the utilization of RP in precast engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Using software-managed cache in CUDA programming provides significant potential to improve memory efficiency. Employing this feature requires the programmer to identify data tiles associated with thread blocks and bring them to the cache explicitly. Despite the advantages, the development effort required to exploit this feature can be significant. The goal of this paper is to reduce this effort while maintaining the associated benefits. To this end, we first investigate static precalculability in memory accesses for GPGPU workloads, at the thread block granularity. We show that a significant share of addresses can be precalculated knowing thread block identifiers. We build on this observation and introduce TELEPORT. TELEPORT is a novel hardware/software scheme for delivering performance competitive to software-managed cache programming, but at no extra development effort. On the software side, TELEPORT's static analyzer parses the kernel and finds precalculable memory accesses. We introduce Runtime API calls to pass this information to hardware. On the hardware side, this information is used to fetch the data required for each thread block into shared memory before the thread block starts execution. With this hardware support, TELEPORT outperforms hand-written CUDA code as a result of the associated DRAM row locality improvement. Investigating a wide set of benchmarks, we show that TELEPORT improves performance of hand-written implementations, on average, by 32% while reducing development effort by 2.5X. Our estimations show that the hardware overhead associated with TELEPORT is below 1%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additive construction by extrusion (ACE), also known as construction-scale 3-D printing, is becoming a new paradigm for concrete construction. While significant cost and manpower savings are projected, many issues remain to be solved before ACE can be viewed as a mainstream technology. Among these is the formulation of a robust and sustainable binder that meets the demanding rheological and mechanical performance requirements of an ACE application. This paper investigates the development of such a binder by exploring pastes prepared from binary blends of cement with limestone powder at various proportions, supplemented with the incorporation of a retarder/accelerator admixture combination. Performance is chiefly characterized by applying a Bingham fluid model to characterize the rheological parameters of yield stress and plastic viscosity and by assessing hydration via isothermal calorimetry measurements. Matching the surface area of the limestone powder to that of the cement that it is replacing affords the opportunity to regulate rheology via water content adjustments, while engineering the cement:limestone powder ratio to provide the desired mechanical properties. The utilization of the retarder/accelerator combination produces a paste with a long pot life (stable rheology) that can be quickly stiffened via the injection of the accelerator (and retarded paste) into a static mixer just prior to the printer’s exit nozzle. Thus, these pastes demonstrate the potential to provide a robust and sustainable binder for ACE applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of bio-based benzoxazine in the field of polybenzoxazines is a major breakthrough towards their sustainable development. Cardanol derived benzoxazine offers solvent less synthesis and processing benefits over the petro based resin, however these mandate high curing temperatures. The polymerization temperature can be alleviated through structural modifications or physical blending with curing accelerators; the latter approach being preferred in view of its economic viability. Most of the curing accelerators are moisture sensitive, which adversely affect the end performance of the polymer. In this paper, the potential of eco-friendly stearates based on transition metals as curing accelerators for the polymerization of cardanol based benzoxazine resin has been demonstrated. Metal stearates were formulated with bio-based monomer which leads to significant lowering of the curing profiles, the extent of which was proportional to the amount of accelerator. The hydrophobicity associated with the long alkyl chain in stearate bestows it hydrolytic stability, which allows its use under ambient conditions without special caution. Zinc(II) stearate exhibit highest activity towards acceleration and its inclusion does not alter the viscosity of the formulation offering a processing advantage. Kinetic parameters associated with polymerization of the resin were established using Kissinger Akahira Sunose method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a method whereby output from wearable devices is processed to estimate user motion. Output data contains mixed noise, which can accumulate when calculating distance errors. In the present experimentation, when data increased per time interval, increased error was incurred. To counter this effect, noise was reduced by means of a Wavelet Shrinkage/Kalman Filter fusion method. The input methods, input speed, sampling rate and other parameters were varied for 28 motions with 10 trials, and their effects on noise reduction were observed. The results showed a 2–15 dB improvement in noise reduction relative to the Gaussian White Noise Reduction method. This effect was especially noticeable when there was an increased level of data. When the sampling rate was high and the motion speed slow, both noise reduction and the motion-recognition run time were high. The motion-recognition rate averaged over all 28 motions was determined to be 23%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KAERI is developing a 6 MeV X-band radio frequency (RF) electron linear accelerator for medical purposes. The proposed X-band accelerator consists of an e-gun, an accelerating structure, two solenoid magnets, two steering magnets, a magnetron, a modulator, and an automatic frequency control (AFC) system. The accelerating structure of the component consists of oxygen-free high-conductivity copper (OFHC). Therefore, the ambient temperature changes the volume, and the resonance frequency of the accelerating structure also changes. If the RF frequency of a 9300 MHz magnetron and the resonance frequency of the accelerating structure do not match, it can degrade the performance. That is, it will decrease the output power, lower the beam current, decrease the X-ray dose rate, increase the reflection power, and result in unstable operation of the accelerator. Accelerator operation should be possible at any time during all four seasons. To prevent humans from being exposed to radiation when it is operated, the accelerator should also be operable through remote monitoring and remote control. Therefore, the AFC system is designed to meet these requirements; it is configured based on the concept of a phase-locked loop (PLL) model, which includes an RF section, an intermediate frequency (IF) [1-3] section, and a local oscillator (LO) section. Some resonance frequency controllers use a DC motor, chain, and potentiometer to store the position and tune the frequency [4,5]. Our AFC system uses a step motor to tune the RF frequency of the magnetron. The maximum tuning turn number of our magnetron frequency tuning shaft is ten. Since the RF frequency of our magnetron is 9300±25 MHz, it gives 5 MHz (±25 MHz/10 turns → 50 MHz/10 turns =5 MHz/turn) frequency tuning per turn. The rotation angle of our step motor is 0.72° per step and the total step number per one rotation is 360°/0.72°=500 steps. Therefore, the tuning range per step is 10 kHz/step (=5 MHz per turn/500 steps per turn). The developed system is a more compact new resonance frequency control system. In addition, a frequency measuring part is included and it can measure the real-time resonance frequency from the magnetron. We have succeeded in the stable provisioning of RF power by recording the results of a 0.01% frequency deviation in the AFC during an RF test. Accordingly, in this paper, the detailed design, fabrication, and a high power test of the AFC system for the X-band linac are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the characterization of setting and hardening of accelerated cementitious matrices by ultrasound propagation velocity, correlating these processes with chemical parameters and the phase evolution obtained by in situ XRD. Evolution of temperature and determination of setting times complemented this analysis. The technique employed provided a continuous monitoring of the setting and hardening of the hydrating matrix and was susceptible to changes in accelerator reactivity and phase composition. Results showed that ettringite formed by accelerator reaction improves the solid-phase interconnectivity and increases initial ultrasound velocity. P-wave propagation during the acceleration period is directly proportional to alite and C 3 A degrees of hydration. The influence of AFm phases to increase ultrasound velocity is stronger than ettringite and C-S-H. Based on an extensive statistical analysis, multivariate linear regressions were established between ultrasound velocity and the main chemical properties influencing its evolution, leading to a better comprehension of how these parameters are related. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2018 the world's first Crab Cavity (CC) experiments with protons were successfully performed, aiming to study the CC effect on a proton beam and evaluate the engineering challenges. Before the commencement of these experiments, the impact of the CCs and their multipoles on the long term particle stability of the SPS was studied using dynamic aperture simulations. Furthermore, in order to ensure the long term stability and luminosity performance of the LHC upgrade, the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), the limits of stable motion were also examined in the presence of CC multipole errors, CC voltage errors and additional non-linearities such as the beam–beam effects. This paper presents the comprehensive dynamic aperture results for the SPS and HL-LHC for different CC, accelerator and beam configurations in view of guiding the engineering specifications of the tolerances of the crab cavity multipole errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to recent advances in IoT (Internet of Things) technologies, availability of reliable data and emergence of machine learning, bio-inspired learning and artificial intelligence, has demonstrated its ability to solve the large complex problems which is not possible before. In particular, machine learning and bio-inspired learning algorithms provides the effective solutions in image processing techniques. However, the implementation of the above-mentioned algorithms in the general CPU requires the intensive usage of bandwidth, area and power which makes the CPU unhealthy of usage and implementation. To overcome this problem, ASIC (application specific integrated circuits), GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) &FPGA (Field Programmable gate arrays) have been employed to improve the performance of the hybrid machine learning (ML) classifiers and deep learning algorithms. FPGA has been recently employed for an effective implementation and to achieve the high performance of the learning algorithms. But integrating the complex learning algorithms in FPGA still remains to be real challenge among the researchers. The paper proposes new reconfigurable architectures for bio- inspired classifiers to diagnosis the medical casualties which can be suitable for the tele health care applications. This paper aim is as follows (i) Design and implementation of Parallel Fusion of FSM and Reconfigurable shared Distributed Arithmetic for Bio-Inspired Classifiers (ii) Development of Accelerator Environment to test the performance of proposed architecture (iii) Performance evaluation of proposed architecture in terms of accuracy of detection in compared with MATLAB simulation iv) Implementation of proposed architectures in different ARtix-7 architectures and determination of power, throughput and area. Moreover, the proposed architecture has been tested with the and compared with the other existing architectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sparse matrix–vector multiplication (SpMV) is an important kernel that is widely used in science and engineering applications. The features of SpMV, such as high memory-intensiveness and many different access patterns, cause the performance of SpMV to be bounded by the limited bandwidth between memory and processing units. Processing in memory (PIM) is a novel architecture used to overcome the bandwidth bottleneck by shortening the distance between processing elements (PE) and memory. In this paper, we propose a PIM-structure SpMV accelerator based on high-bandwidth memory (HBM). To make full use of the high bandwidth provided by HBM, we design a highly parallel PE array and implement a high-frequency pipeline inside the PE to hide the latency of reading matrix elements from HBM. For each PE, we integrate an L1 cache to exploit the data locality in the vector. We propose two data layout strategies, namely a row merging algorithm to exploit the inter-row data locality and a row assignment algorithm to achieve workload balance among PEs. Our design is implemented using a field programmable gate array (FPGA) card with 8GB HBM2 memory. Compared to the baseline central processing unit (CPU) SpMV implementation, our accelerator can obtain a 5.24x performance speedup on average. [Display omitted] • We propose a HBM-based PIM structure SpMV accelerator. It has a highly parallel PE array. In each PE, we integrate L1 cache to exploit the data locality. Compared to the basic SpMV implementations on CPUs, our accelerator can obtain a 5.24x performance speedup on average. • We propose two data layout strategies, namely row merging and group assignment, to exploit inter-row locality and improve the workload balance. Compared to the accelerator without any data layout optimization, our design can obtain a 1.9x performance speedup on average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business incubators (BI) are increasingly expected to nurture sustainability-driven start-ups and contribute to the economy's sustainable transformation. However, while previous (qualitative) research suggested a positive relationship between BI support services and sustainable impacts by entrepreneurs, no study has explored this link statistically, leaving sustainability-driven business incubation (SBI) haphazard and strategically ill-informed. Given the absence of a comprehensible assessment approach, this paper develops a coherent theoretical framework for structuring SBI. Moreover, it quantitatively investigates the relationship between entrepreneurs' usage of various BI support services and their self-proclaimed contributions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Building on a sample of 299 German university spin-off start-ups, we provide empirical evidence that BI support services are generally related to the sustainable impacts of entrepreneurs. However, at a more nuanced level, we show that economic and ecological SDGs are associated with only a few BI services. In contrast, social SDGs are attained by a broad support service portfolio. In conclusion, we advise policymakers and BI managers to recognize the diverse support needs of sustainable entrepreneurs and tailor BI programs towards specific sustainability challenges rather than generalized approaches. [Display omitted] • A theoretical framework for sustainability-driven business incubation • Economic SDGs are related to infrastructure and team composition • Social SDGs are related to a broad range of incubator services • Environmental SDGs are related to funding and network support • Specialized incubator strategies may prove more impactful than generalized approaches [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving and controlling the desired strength build-up is important for 3D concrete printing. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of using calcium aluminate cement (CAC) as an accelerator for Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) for 3D extrusion printing. Both ternary and binary cement systems were studied whereby for the former, the third component was a calcium sulfate source (C$). Experiments are conducted on mixes both in presence and absence of retarders. They focus on hydration progress, evolution of rheological properties and microstructural development. It is concluded that CAC-C$ can be effectively used as an accelerator to achieve the desired rates of strength build-up. Additionally, it is shown that strength build-up has is directly related to CAC dosage, irrespective of the presence of retarders. Based on microstructure characterization results, AFt and AH 3 are found to be formed in the first hour after acceleration and responsible for the observed strength build-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In certain applications, accelerators are added to favour a rapid evolution of mechanical properties in mortar and concrete. In order to assure adequate performance, it is necessary to test the compatibility between the accelerator and other components of the mixture. The EN 934-5 establishes that such evaluation of accelerators should be performed according with the procedure established in the EN 196-1. However, this standard does not take into account the inclusion of the accelerators or the particularities of the mortar produced with these admixtures. The objective of this paper is to adapt the EN 196-1 in order to characterize the strength of mortars with accelerator. First, an experimental parametric study to evaluate the influence of the production procedure on the results was conducted. Based on the results obtained, a modified production process was proposed. Then, a wide experimental program including a total of 40 mixes of mortars with different formulations and contents of accelerators was performed. Based on a statistical analysis, a new admissible variation used to calculate the compressive strength was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the discovery of the neutron in 1932 neutron beams have been used in a very broad range of applications, As an aging fleet of nuclear reactor sources is retired the use of compact accelerator-driven neutron sources (CANS) is becoming more prevalent. CANS are playing a significant and expanding role in research and development in science and engineering, as well as in education and training. In the realm of multidisciplinary applications, CANS offer opportunities over a wide range of technical utilization, from interrogation of civil structures to medical therapy to cultural heritage study. This paper aims to provide the first comprehensive overview of the history, current status of operation, and ongoing development of CANS worldwide. The basic physics and engineering regarding neutron production by accelerators, target–moderator systems, and beam line instrumentation are introduced, followed by an extensive discussion of various evolving applications currently exploited at CANS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advanced Research Electron Accelerator Laboratory (AREAL) is a 50 MeV electron linear accelerator project with a laser driven RF gun being constructed at the CANDLE Synchrotron Research Institute. In addition to applications in life and materials sciences, the project aims as a test facility for advanced accelerator and radiation source concepts. In this paper, the AREAL RF photoinjector performance, the facility design considerations and its highlights in the fields of free electron laser, the study of new high frequency accelerating structures, the beam microbunching and wakefield acceleration concepts are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automation control systems are important for the operation of an accelerator. To ensure the reliable, stable and flexible operation of the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL), several control systems are developed. The developed control systems are the SECRAL control system, the LECR3 control system, the LAPECR1 control system and the Electro-Static septum control system. The corresponding control software systems are developed using Visual C++. To ensure the accuracy, stability and flexibility of the control systems, some special control strategies are developed in the control software systems. This paper provides a detailed description of the main control strategies used in the control software systems. The main control strategies are composed of a reliable communication mechanism, a correct data/command transmission mechanism, an efficient data storage mechanism and an interlock protection mechanism. To guarantee a reliable communication between the devices for the commercially purchased devices and the built in-house ones, a modified heartbeat method is developed. To provide flexible reconstitution function for the control systems, the command queue and the state machine are combined. The message mechanism and the multiple windows mechanism are also used for the module mechanism. The relevant control systems are introduced as examples of these control strategies. These systems have been running stably for several years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are abundant hydrocarbon resources in the deepwater region, so the exploration and development of deepwater oil and gas has become an important strategy for the Chinese petroleum industry. However, well cementing in deepwater, especially the cementing of the surface casing, is challenged due to the low temperature, which requires proper cementing accelerators to make the cement have certain strength at the early stage. Aiming to enhance the cementing quality of the surface casing, two kinds of lithium salt accelerators named LSA-1 and LSA-2 were developed in our early works based on the effects of different salts on oil well cement at low temperatures. In this paper, a comprehensive set of experiments was designed to test the effects of LSA-1 and LAS-2 on the Class-G oil well cement, including observations and measurements of the cement hydration products, the hydration heat and the developments of the static gel strength and the compressive strength. Based on these experiments, we discussed the mechanisms and performances of these two lithium salt accelerators at low temperatures. The experiment results indicate that both LSA-1 and LSA-2 can accelerate the hydration rate by advancing the hydration acceleration period and result in the earlier generation of Ca(OH) 2 and AFt. They can also induce the cement hydration products to form regular and compact gel structures, which contributes to the development of the static gel strength and the compressive strength of cement slurry at the early stage. Moreover, the two lithium salt accelerators have the characteristic of low hydration heat. This is helpful to reconcile the contradiction between the development of cement early compressive strength and the hydration heat, which can help to avoid channeling and hydrate decomposition in the strata containing gas hydrate. In general, LSA-2 has a stronger effect on accelerating hydration of oil well cement, while LSA-1 has less impact on cement hydration heat. Therefore, both LSA-1 and LSA-2 are qualified to serve as low-temperature accelerators for deepwater cementing, which are able to meet the diverse requirements of the deepwater low-temperature environment and the field cementing operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent discussions about accelerators in high energy physics identified several challenges for the future, where it is necessary to focus particle beams over a distance of a few cm. In this paper, we investigate the focusing of particles by a new crystal device having such a capability. The trajectories of 180 GeV/ c pions passing through a 500 µm thick focusing crystal were reconstructed using silicon microstrip detectors. It is shown that a parallel beam of particles can be focused in one plane at a distance of 15.5 cm from the crystal, in a narrow line with an rms width of 8 µm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An accelerator-driven neutron source has been developed in Nagoya University for boron neutron capture therapy using a new concept of thick lithium (Li) target in which protons are stopped in a Li layer. A sealed Li target developed consists of a Li sheet placed on a copper (Cu) base plate equipped with water-cooled channels and a titanium (Ti) foil seal to cover Li surface. The proton beam injected into the target is produced through the proton–Dynamitron accelerator (IBA) with a maximum energy of 2.8 MeV and a current of 15 mA. The results of our previous study confirmed that the target was not damaged when irradiated with an acceleration energy of 1.8 MeV and a current of 0.5 mA (heat input of 4.6 MW/m2). To keep the soundness of the target up to 6–7 MW/m2, it is considered to be essential to improve the bonding between the Ti foil and Li interface, which will contribute the heat removal. It was suggested from our previous experiences that the bonding property may be improved by forming a Cu–Li alloy at the Ti–Li interface. In this paper, we evaluate the heat removal performance of a sealed Li target with Cu–Li alloy formation to improve the target durability. The sealed Li target was produced using a "Cu-coated pure Ti foil", in which Cu was deposited on the surface of a Ti foil with a thickness of 0. 2 μ m. The use of Cu-coated pure Ti foil actively forms Cu–Li alloys at the Ti–Li interface. For comparison, sealed Li targets were produced with pure Ti foil, and irradiation tests were conducted on each target. The heat removal performance was evaluated by electron beam irradiation using the active cooling teststand 2 (ACT2), a high heat flux test facility, and proton beam irradiation using the Dynamitron accelerator. We obtain a result that the Cu-coated pure Ti foil-sealed Li target has a heat removal capacity of 11 MW/m2, about five times higher than that of the pure Ti foil-sealed Li target. This confirmed that the Cu–Li alloy contributed to the improvement of the heat removal performance. For the proton beam irradiation test, a Cu-coated pure Ti foil target was produced and irradiated for 26 h at an acceleration energy of 1.8 MeV and an average current of 3.5 mA, where no neutrons were generated. The tests confirmed that the Cu-coated pure Ti foil target could withstand 26 h of irradiation at a heat input of 9.0 MW/m2. About anticipated degradation of the heat removal performance due to stopping the protons in the Li layer, no change was observed during this long irradiation test, in which 2.15 × 1024 protons were injected into the Li layer. Although further long-time irradiation test will be needed in the future, at present we have confirmed that there is no problem with stopping protons in the Li layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Na 2 CO 3 significantly shortens the induction period of lead–zinc tailing cement pastes. • Na 2 CO 3 promotes the alkali activation of SiO 2 in tailing under autoclave curing. • No apparent coating of zinc containing compounds can be seen on C 3 S surface. • Accelerators inhibit the retardation by promoting the dissolution of cement particles. Reutilization of lead–zinc tailing in autoclaved concrete greatly reduces the land pollution by the wastes and CO 2 emission by the cement production. Given the retardation of lead and zinc on the cement hydration, three kinds of accelerators, Na 2 CO 3 , Li 2 CO 3 and triethanolamine (TEA) were employed. In this paper, the effect of accelerators on the autoclaved lead–zinc tailing blended cement mortars was investigated from aspects of compressive strength, hydration heat, phase assemblages and leachability of cement mortar. Results show that when the dosage of lead–zinc tailing exceeds 20 %, the demolding strength and the autoclaved strength of cement mortar decrease with increasing tailing dosage. Compared with Li 2 CO 3 and TEA, Na 2 CO 3 shows a more effective accelerating impact on the cement hydration. Incorporating 0.5 % Na 2 CO 3 can shorten the induction period of the lead–zinc tailing cement pastes by 20 h. Additionally, the SiO 2 in lead–zinc tailing can react with cement under autoclave curing, and the reaction is obviously promoted by the incorporation of Na 2 CO 3. It lies in that Na 2 CO 3 and Li 2 CO 3 inhibit the retardation of lead–zinc tailing by promoting the dissolution of cement and nucleation of hydrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nagoya University is developing a Sealed lithium (Li) target based on a new concept for an accelerator-driven neutron source for Boron neutron capture therapy. The Sealed Li target is a thick Li target with the new concept of sealing Li with Ti foil and stopping protons within Li. The incident proton beam on the target is generated by the Proton-dynamitron (IBA) accelerator and has a maximum energy of 2.8 MeV and a current of 15 mA (heat input of 6.6 MW/m2). In this paper, a test sample made with a small amount of Li was prepared to evaluate the performance of the Sealed Li target. We called the test target. When irradiated with a heat input of 4.6 MW/m2, the Ti foil on the surface of the test target was not damaged, although some Li melted and a dent with the same shape as the beam diameter was formed. Furthermore, the heat removal performance of the test target was evaluated using simulation software and the finite element method. The maximum temperature of the target surface was 144.4 °C when a heat input of 5.0 MW/m2 was calculated. Assuming that the bondability between Ti foil and Li is poor, the calculation was carried out by simulating the presence of cavities at the Ti foil–Li​ interface. As a result, we suggested that the presence of than 2 mm diameter cavity at the interface between Ti foil and Li would melt the Ti foil and damage the target. In order to obtain the ideal result, it was necessary to further improve the adhesion between Ti foil and Li, but we were able to confirm the performance of the sealed Li target with a new concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews a variety of works devoted to applications of accelerated electrons as possible alternative energy carriers in energy-intensive technologies. It considers a number of radiochemical and radiothermal technologies, both proven and promising ones, including leaching of non-ferrous metal ores, decomposition of carbonates, intensification of ore preparation and mineral processing, destruction of rocks, modification of concrete, cracking of petroleum products, paraffins, and lignin, processing of natural gas into motor fuel, gas-phase synthesis, purification of waste gas from metallurgical production and thermal coal-fired power plants, radiation treatment of wastewater for disinfection, long-distance energy transmission and weather correction with a collimated beam of high-energy electrons. The review assesses the technological state of work in each area and discusses the possibilities of technical and economical implementation of promising projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a summary of the RAMI (Reliability Availability Maintainability Inspectability) analyses done for the IFMIF (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility) Accelerator facility in the Engineering Design Phase. The methodology followed, the analyses performed, the results obtained and the conclusions drawn are described. Moreover, the consequences of the incorporation of the RAMI studies in the IFMIF design are presented and the main outcomes of these analyses are shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OpenCL and OpenACC are generic frameworks for heterogeneous programming using CPU and accelerator devices such as GPUs. They have contrasting features: the former explicitly controls devices through API functions, while the latter generates such procedures along a guide of the directives inserted by a programmer. In this paper, we apply these two frameworks to a general-purpose code set for numerical simulations of lattice QCD, which is a computational physics of elementary particles based on the Monte Carlo method. The fermion matrix inversion, which is usually the most time-consuming part of the lattice QCD simulations, is offloaded to the accelerator devices. From a viewpoint of constructing reusable components based on the object-oriented programming and also tuning the code to achieve high performance, we discuss feasibility of these frameworks through the practical implementations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ion optics is very important for an accelerator. The tetrode accelerator with slot apertures was employed on the neutral beam injector (NBI) for the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). The ion optics of ion source accelerator was simulated using the IGUN code. The results have shown that the accelerator with diamond cross section plasma grid can get lower divergence angle comparing with the one with circular cross section plasma girds. In this paper, the voltage applied on the gradient grid (80%, 83% and 86% of plasma grid voltage) and the gap between plasma grid and gradient gird, gradient grid and suppression grid were also changed to estimate the ion extraction efficiency and ion beam trajectory. The results are helpful for the development and optimization of EAST-NBI ion source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the announcement of the U.K. new nuclear build and the requirement to decommission old facilities, researchers require bespoke facilities to undertake experiments to inform decision making. This paper describes development of The University of Manchester’s Dalton Cumbrian Facility, a custom built research environment which incorporates a 5 MV tandem ion accelerator as well as a self-shielded 60 Co irradiator. The ion accelerator allows the investigation into the radiolytic consequences of various charged particles, including protons, alpha particles and a variety of heavier (metal and nonmetal) ions, while the 60 Co irradiator allows the effects of gamma radiation to be studied. Some examples of work carried out at the facility are presented to demonstrate how this equipment can improve our mechanistic understanding of various aspects of the deleterious effects of radiation in the nuclear industry. These examples include applications in waste storage and reprocessing as well as geological storage and novel surveying techniques. The outlook for future research is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]