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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 181 records · Page 10

Interferon-β signal may up-regulate PD-L1 expression through IRF9-dependent and independent pathways in lung cancer cells

Highlights: • IFN-β stimuli augmented PD-L1 expression in mouse and human lung cancer cells. • JAK signaling molecules were indispensable for IFN-β-triggered induction of PD-L1. • IRF9 played important, but not indispensable, roles for PD-L1 induction by IFN-β. • PI3-K pathway may have differential effects on PD-L1 and PD-L1 mRNA expression. The programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) (also called B7-H1 and CD274) belonging to the CD28 family of co-stimulatory molecules is ectopically expressed on the surface of various cancer cells. PD-L1 interacts with programmed death-1 (PD-1) on T cells to trigger an inhibitory signal that suppresses anti-tumor T cell responses as an important mechanism of tumor escape from anti-tumor immune response. Recent development of PD-1/PD-L1 blockades has provided novel immunotherapy strategies for cancers including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although the therapy is quite effective for some patients with NSCLC, others are resistant to the treatment, so that regulatory mechanisms of PD-L1 in lung cancer cells need to be understood in detail. Here we analyzed effect of interferon-β (IFN-β) that can be produced in cancer microenvironment on PD-L1 expression in lung tumor cells. An addition of IFN-β elevated PD-L1 expression in mouse and human lung cancer cell lines in culture. This phenomenon was totally dependent on JAK signaling molecules, while IRF9 deficiency in murine lung cancer cells partially attenuated the IFN-β-induced increase in PD-L1. mTOR may not be significantly involved in the regulation of PD-L1, whereas PI3-K pathway played differential roles on PD-L1 mRNA and cell-surface PD-L1 expression, in the cells treated with IFN-β. These results strongly suggest that the type I IFN receptor signal elicits an increase in PD-L1 expression in lung cancer cells through IRF9-dependent and independent pathways.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

H–J–B Equations of Optimal Consumption-Investment and Verification Theorems

We consider a consumption-investment problem on infinite time horizon maximizing discounted expected HARA utility for a general incomplete market model. Based on dynamic programming approach we derive the relevant H–J–B equation and study the existence and uniqueness of the solution to the nonlinear partial differential equation. By using the smooth solution we construct the optimal consumption rate and portfolio strategy and then prove the verification theorems under certain general settings.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Cancer survival in the United States 2007–2016: Results from the National Program of Cancer Registries

Background Cancer survival has improved for the most common cancers. However, less improvement and lower survival has been observed in some groups perhaps due to differential access to cancer care including prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment. Methods To further understand contemporary relative cancer survival (one- and five- year), we used survival data from CDC’s National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) for cancers diagnosed during 2007–2016. We examined overall relative cancer survival by sex, race and ethnicity, age, and county-level metropolitan and non-metropolitan status. Relative cancer survival by metropolitan and non-metropolitan status was further examined by sex, race and ethnicity, age, and cancer type. Results Among persons with cancer diagnosed during 2007–2016 the overall one-year and five-year relative survival was 80.6% and 67.4%, respectively. One-year relative survival for persons living in metropolitan counties was 81.1% and 77.8% among persons living in non-metropolitan counties. We found that persons who lived in non-metropolitan counties had lower survival than those who lived in metropolitan counties, and this difference persisted across sex, race and ethnicity, age, and most cancer types. Conclusion Further examination of the differences in cancer survival by cancer type or other characteristics might be helpful for identifying potential interventions, such as programs that target screening and early detection or strategies to improve access to high quality cancer treatment and follow-up care, that could improve long-term outcomes. Impact This analysis provided a high-level overview of contemporary cancer survival in the United States.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Optimal mitigation and control over power system dynamics for stochastic grid resilience

Optimal mitigation planning for highly disruptive contingencies to a transmission-level power system requires optimization with dynamic power system constraints, due to the key role of dynamics in system stability to major perturbations. We formulate a generalized disjunctive program to determine optimal grid component hardening choices for protecting against major failures, with differential algebraic constraints representing system dynamics (specifically, differential equations representing generator and load behavior and algebraic equations representing instantaneous power balance over the transmission system). We optionally allow stochastic optimal pre-positioning across all considered failure scenarios, and optimal emergency control within each scenario. This novel formulation allows, for the first time, analyzing the resilience interdependencies of mitigation planning, preventive control, and emergency control. Using all three strategies in concert is particularly effective at maintaining robust power system operation under severe contingencies, as we demonstrate on the western system coordinating council 9-bus test system using synthetic multi-device outage scenarios.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗

Sequence of polyhedral relaxations for nonlinear univariate functions

Here, given a nonlinear, univariate, bounded, and differentiable function f(x), this article develops a sequence of Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) and Linear Programming (LP) relaxations that converge to the graph of f(x) and its convex hull, respectively. Theoretical convergence of the sequence of relaxations to the graph of the function and its convex hull is established. For nonlinear non-convex optimization problems, the relaxations presented in this article can be used to construct tight MILP and LP relaxations. These MILP and the LP relaxations can also be used with MILP-based and spatial branch-and-bound based global optimization algorithms, respectively.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Distinct Luminal-Type Mammary Carcinomas Arise from Orthotopic Trp53-Null Mammary Transplantation of Juvenile versus Adult Mice

Age and physiologic status, such as menopause, are risk factors for breast cancer. Less clear is what factors influence the diversity of breast cancer. In this study, we investigated the effect of host age on the distribution of tumor subtypes in mouse mammary chimera consisting of wild-type hosts and Trp53 nullizygous epithelium, which undergoes a high rate of neoplastic transformation. Wild-type mammary glands cleared of endogenous epithelium at 3 weeks of age were subsequently transplanted during puberty (5 weeks) or at maturation (10 weeks) with syngeneic Trp53-null mammary tissue fragments and monitored for one year. Tumors arose sooner from adult hosts (AH) compared with juvenile hosts (JH). However, compared with AH tumors, JH tumors grew several times faster, were more perfused, exhibited a two-fold higher mitotic index, and were more highly positive for insulin-like growth factor receptor phosphorylation. Most tumors in each setting were estrogen receptor (ER)-positive (80% JH vs. 70% AH), but JH tumors were significantly more ER-immunoreactive (P = 0.0001) than AH tumors. A differential expression signature (JvA) of juvenile versus adult tumors revealed a luminal transcriptional program. Centroids of the human homologs of JvA genes showed that JH tumors were more like luminal A tumors and AH tumors were more like luminal B tumors. Hierarchical clustering with the JvA human ortholog gene list segregated luminal A and luminal B breast cancers across datasets. Lastly, these data support the notion that age-associated host physiology greatly influences the intrinsic subtype of breast cancer.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

HIGH BURNUP FUEL-COOLANT INTERACTION ANALYSIS SUPPORTING FUEL SAFETY TESTING AT IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY

In the near future, experiments on HBu fuel under loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) and reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) conditions will be performed within the Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). These experiments will be performed using the Transient Water Irradiation System for TREAT (TWIST) experiment vehicle. To support these experiments, analysis of fuel-coolant interaction (FCI) energetics is underway. This paper discusses FCIs in the context of light water reactor (LWR) safety, differentiating between the severe accident focus of commercial reactors and experimental RIA test programs where FCIs have occurred. However, it is highlighted that as the nuclear industry aims for increased burnup limits, the FCI events observed in RIA test programs may become relevant to commercial LWR safety analysis. The paper then presents developments to the UW-FCI computer program to enable simulation of FCIs initiated by solid fuel particles dispersing into the coolant during RIAs.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

First Differential Measurement of the Single 𝜋 + Production Cross Section in Neutrino Neutral-Current Scattering

Since its first observation in the 1970s, neutrino-induced neutral-current single positive pion production (NC⁢1⁢𝜋 + ) has remained an elusive and poorly understood interaction channel. This process is a significant background in neutrino oscillation experiments and studying it further is critical for the physics program of next-generation accelerator-based neutrino oscillation experiments. In this Letter, we present the first double-differential cross-section measurement of NC⁢1⁢𝜋 + interactions using data from the ND280 detector of the T2K experiment collected in 𝜈-beam mode. The measured flux-averaged integrated cross section is 𝜎 = (6.07 ± 1.22) × 10 −41 cm 2 /nucleon. We compare the results on a hydrocarbon target to the predictions of several neutrino interaction generators and final-state-interaction models. While model predictions agree with the differential results, the data show a weak preference for a cross-section normalization approximately 30% higher than predicted by most models studied in this Letter.

Neutrino detection↗

Application and Certification of Comparative Vacuum Monitoring Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring of 737 Wing Box Fittings

Multi-site fatigue damage, hidden cracks in hard-to-reach locations, disbonded joints, erosion, impact, and corrosion are among the major flaws encountered in today's extensive fleet of aging aircraft and space vehicles. The use of in-situ sensors for real-time health monitoring of aircraft structures are a viable option to overcome inspection impediments stemming from accessibility limitations, complex geometries, and the location and depth of hidden damage. Reliable, structural health monitoring systems can automatically process data, assess structural condition, and signal the need for human intervention. Prevention of unexpected flaw growth and structural failure can be improved if on-board health monitoring systems are used to continuously assess structural integrity. Such systems are able to detect incipient damage before catastrophic failures occurs. Condition-based maintenance practices could be substituted for the current time-based maintenance approach. Other advantages of on-board distributed sensor systems are that they can eliminate costly, and potentially damaging, disassembly, improve sensitivity by producing optimum placement of sensors and decrease maintenance costs by eliminating more time- consuming manual inspections. This report presents a Sandia Labs-aviation industry effort to move SHM into routine use for aircraft maintenance. This program addressed formal SHM technology validation and certification issues so that the full spectrum of concerns, including design, deployment, performance and certification were appropriately considered. The Airworthiness Assurance NDI Validation Center (AANC) at Sandia Labs, in conjunction with Boeing, Delta Air Lines, Structural Monitoring Systems Ltd., Anodyne Electronics Manufacturing Corp. and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) carried out a certification program to formally introduce Comparative Vacuum Monitoring (CVM) as a structural health monitoring solution to a specific aircraft wing box application. Validation tasks were designed to address the SHM equipment, the health monitoring task, the resolution required, the sensor interrogation procedures, the conditions under which the monitoring will occur, the potential inspector population, adoption of CVM into an airline maintenance program and the document revisions necessary to allow for routine use of CVM as an alternate means of performing periodic structural inspects. To carry out the validation process, knowledge of aircraft maintenance practices was coupled with an unbiased, independent evaluation. Sandia Labs designed, implemented, and analyzed the results from a focused and statistically-relevant experimental effort to quantify the reliability of the CVM system applied to the Boeing 737 Wing Box fitting application. All factors that affect SHM sensitivity were included in this program: flaw size, shape, orientation and location relative to the sensors, as well as operational and environmental variables. Statistical methods were applied to performance data to derive Probability of Detection (POD) values for CVM sensors in a manner that agrees with current nondestructive inspection (NDI) validation requirements and also is acceptable to both the aviation industry and regulatory bodies. This report presents the use of several different statistical methods, some of them adapted from NDI performance assessments and some proposed to address the unique nature of damage detection via SHM systems, and discusses how they can converge to produce a confident quantification of SHM performance An important element in developing SHM validation processes is a clear understanding of the regulatory measures needed to adopt SHM solutions along with the knowledge of the structural and maintenance characteristics that may impact the operational performance of an SHM system. This report describes the major elements of an SHM validation approach and differentiates the SHM elements from those found in NDI validation. The activities conducted in this program demonstrated the feasibility of routine SHM usage in general and CVM in particular for the application selected. They also helped establish an optimum OEM-airline-regulator process and determined how to safely adopt SHM solutions. This formal SHM validation will allow aircraft manufacturers and airlines to confidently make informed decisions about the proper utilization of CVM technology. It will also streamline the regulatory actions and formal certification measures needed to assure the safe application of SHM solutions.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Epi-Regularization of Risk Measures

Uncertainty pervades virtually every branch of science and engineering, and in many disciplines, the underlying phenomena can be modeled by partial differential equations (PDEs) with uncertain or random inputs. This work is motivated by risk-averse stochastic programming problems constrained by PDEs. These problems are posed in infinite dimensions, which leads to a significant increase in the scale of the (discretized) problem. In order to handle the inherent nonsmoothness of, for example, coherent risk measures and to exploit existing solution techniques for smooth, PDE-constrained optimization problems, we propose a variational smoothing technique called epigraphical (epi-)regularization. Here, we investigate the effects of epi-regularization on the axioms of coherency and prove differentiability of the smoothed risk measures. In addition, we demonstrate variational convergence of the epi-regularized risk measures and prove the consistency of minimizers and first-order stationary points for the approximate risk-averse optimization problem. We conclude with numerical experiments confirming our theoretical results.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Measurement of differential cross sections via $p(e,e^\prime \pi^+)n$ for studying high-lying resonances at high $Q^2$

An extensive experimental programs has been carried out at Jefferson Laboratory to study the excitation resonances using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS). Pion electroproduction on protons is sensitive to the resonance excitation and allows us to explore its internal structure. The CLAS is well suited for the study of a broad range of kinematics in the invariant mass $W$ and photon virtuality $Q^2$ with nearly complete angular coverage for the hadronic decays. Electron scattering allows us to probe the effective degrees of freedom in excited nucleon states from meson-baryon cloud to dressed quarks in terms of varying distance scale. In this talk, we report the differential cross-sections for exclusive single charged pion electroproduction from proton targets. The kinematic range covers $Q^2$ from $1.7\;\rm{GeV^2}$ to $4.5\;\rm{GeV^2}$ and $W$ from $1.6\;\rm{GeV}$ to $2.0\;\rm{GeV}$. Separated structure functions are also presented and compared with the present calculations and previous measurements. This work, along with an upcoming analysis of same kinematics from exclusive $p\pi^0$ and $p\pi^+\pi^-$ electroproduction will allow the determination of electro-couplings of several high-lying excited proton states, for the first time, at photon virtualities that correspond to transition toward dominance of quark degrees of freedom.

Park, Kijun↗

A mixed-integer PDE-constrained optimization formulation for constructing electromagnetic cloaks with multiple materials

We study the design of an electromagnetic cloak from multiple materials with an additional constraint on the mass of the cloak. Our problem is an example of a topology optimization problem, and we formulate this problem as a mixed-integer partial-differential equation constrained optimization (MIPDECO) problem, where Maxwell’s equation models the propagation of the wave through the cloak and surrounding medium. We use binary variables to model the assignment of the different materials, and their relevant properties (permittivity and density). The mass constraint adds a nontrivial constraint to this problem. We propose a two-phase strategy to solve this problem. In the first phase, we solve a continuous relaxation, and then propose a new variant of the feasibility pump that exploits the structure of the PDE to obtain an initial integral solution candidate. In the second phase, we use a trust-region approach to improve this incumbent. We also consider a continuation or mesh-sequencing approach to find better solutions faster on consecutively finer meshes. We present detailed numerical results to illustrate the effectiveness of our approaches for constructing multi-material cloaks with a mass constraint.

Calculus of Variations and Optimization↗

Tunable phononic bandgap materials designed via topology optimization

Topology optimization is used to design phononic bandgap materials that are tunable by mechanical deformation. A periodic media is considered, which due to the assumption of length scale separation, allows the dispersion relations to be obtained by analyzing a single unit cell subjected to Floquet–Bloch boundary conditions. A finite macroscopic deformation is applied to the unit cell to affect its geometry and hence dispersion. We tune the dispersion–deformation relation to our liking by solving a topology optimization problem using nonlinear programming. The adjoint method is employed to compute the sensitivities, and the non-differentiability of degenerate eigenvalues is avoided using symmetric polynomials. Several tunable phononic crystal designs are presented. Also, a verification analysis is performed, wherein the optimized design is interpreted and analyzed using a conforming finite element mesh.

42 ENGINEERING↗

qsp4pde v1.0

The software program is a collection of Python implementations of quantum circuits for solving linear partial differential equations using quantum signal processing. The circuits are implemented using the qiskit SDK.

Kim, Hyeongjin [Lawrence Berkeley National Laborat↗

Development of Database of SFL2a Signals for Neutron Generator Techniques Proposed for Integration

The Next Generation Safeguards Initiative (NGSI), Office of Nonproliferation and International Security (NIS), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has sponsored a multi-laboratory, university, international partner collaboration to (1) quantify the plutonium (Pu) mass of a spent fuel assembly, (2) detect partial defects in assemblies, and (3) verify the initial enrichment (IE), burnup (BU) and cooling time (CT) of an assembly. A wide variety of nondestructive assay (NDA) techniques were researched to achieve these goals [Ref. 1 and 2]. A subset of 5 NDA techniques involving passive counting and/or a neutron generator were researched for integration potential with the focus on the first of the three goals, quantifying Pu mass.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Dynamics Informed Optimization for Resilient Energy Systems

Optimal mitigation planning for highly disruptive contingencies to a transmission-level power system requires optimization with dynamic power system constraints, due to the key role of dynamics in system stability to major perturbations. We formulate a generalized disjunctive program to determine optimal grid component hardening choices for protecting against major failures, with differential algebraic constraints representing system dynamics (specifically, differential equations representing generator and load behavior and algebraic equations representing instantaneous power balance over the transmission system). We optionally allow stochastic optimal pre-positioning across all considered failure scenarios, and optimal emergency control within each scenario. This novel formulation allows, for the first time, analyzing the resilience interdependencies of mitigation planning, preventive control, and emergency control. Using all three strategies in concert is particularly effective at maintaining robust power system operation under severe contingencies, as we demonstrate on the Western System Coordinating Council (WSCC) 9-bus test system using synthetic multi-device outage scenarios. Towards integrating our modeling framework with real threats and more realistic power systems, we explore applying hybrid dynamics to power systems. Our work is applied to basic RL circuits with the ultimate goal of using the methodology to model protective tripping schemes in the grid. Finally, we survey mitigation techniques for HEMP threats and describe a GIS application developed to create threat scenarios in a grid with geographic detail.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗