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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 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Proactive and Reactive Thermal Comfort Behaviors

The expansion of renewable electricity generation, growing demands due to electrification, greater prevalence of working from home, and increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, will place new demands on the electric supply and distribution grid. Broader adoption of demand response programs (DRPs) for the residential sector may help meet these challenges; however, experience shows that occupant overrides in DRPs compromises their effectiveness. There is a lack of formal understanding of how discomfort, routines, and other motivations affect DRP overrides and other related human building interactions (HBI). This paper reports preliminary findings from a study of 20 households in Colorado and Massachusetts, US over three months. Participants responded to ecological momentary assessments (EMA) triggered by thermostat interactions and at random times throughout the day. EMAs included Likert-scale questions of thermal preference, preference intensity, and changes to 7 different activity types that could affect thermal comfort, and an opened ended question about motivations of such actions. Twelve tags were developed to categorize motivation responses and analyzed statistically to identify associations between motivations, preferences, and HBI actions. Reactions to changes in the thermal environment were the most frequently observed motivation (118 of 220 responses). On the other hand, almost half (47%) responses were at least partially motivated by non-thermal factors, suggesting limited utility for occupant behavior models founded solely on thermal comfort. Changes in activity level and clothing were less likely to be reported when EMAs were triggered by thermostat interactions, while fan interactions were more likely. Windows, shades, and portable heater interactions had no significant dependence on how the EMA was triggered. These results suggest that better understanding of motivations for HBI may improve effectiveness of demand response programs.

Pathak, Maharshi↗
DOE OSTI2015

MO-FG-213-04: Managing the Relationship

Academic-industrial collaborations are playing an increasingly prominent role in medical physics research. Successful partnerships have enabled truly translational, benchtop-to-bedside research that has significantly and positively impacted our field. Given the current flat or depleting trends in federal funding, and the increasing emphasis in the medical physics community on demonstrating translatability, efficacy, and safety prior to widespread clinical use, it is anticipated that such partnerships will become ever more important in advancing our field. In the future, it is likely that neither academia alone, nor industry alone, will be able to bring significant innovation to successfully impact patient care in radiotherapy. Such innovation will require partnership and symbiosis through the lifetime of the project. This symposium is aimed at professionals from academia and the industry who are interested in either initiating new collaborations or maintaining and improving existing partnerships. We will hear from four thought leaders from industry and academia on critical aspects of building and maintaining successful academic-industrial research partnerships. The following topics will be addressed: 1. Motivations: The industry perspective [Kevin Brown, Elekta] What goes into the development of a company’s R&D roadmap What are the motivations and expectations of the industry from academic partners How can academics make a successful pitch by identifying projects aligned with a company’s roadmap Why are some relationships successful and some not Milestones and progress reports - Why do we need them 2. Motivations: The academic perspective [T. Rock Mackie, Univ. of Madison, WI; Tomotherapy] What are the motivations and expectations of academic partners from the industry What are the cultural differences in academia vs industry on sharing information, exchanging ideas Partnership or entrepreneurship? When does each option make sense 3. Industrial Grants and Research Contracts – a Primer [Norbert Pelc; Stanford University] What topics are suited to industrial grants vs. academic grants How do resources (personnel effort, tuition) get allocated and charged in academia What are reasonable resource and timeline requests for small and big projects; from small and big companies “Fair market value” considerations Sections of a research agreement (IP including software confidential information, publications, data, exclusivity, support) 4. Managing the relationship [John Wong, Johns Hopkins University] How to effectively collaborate with each other How to adapt to changes in the relationship How to renew funding with the industry Moderated Panel Discussion [All speakers + moderators] Learning Objectives: 1. Understand the motivations of each partner 2. Elements that contribute to a successful partnership 3. Avoiding pitfalls - Challenges on either side that may derail a project 4. How to frame a research grant and agreement 5. How to sustain the collaborative relationship Amit Sawant: Funding from: NIH. Varian, Elekta and VisionRT; Michelle Svatos: Employee and shareholder: Varian, Board Member, TopasMC; Kevin Brown: Employee, Elekta; T. Rock Mackie: Consultant, Accuray; Norbert Pelc: Research support: Philips Healthcare, GE Healthcare; John Wong: Funding from NIH, Xstrahl and Elekta. Co-founder and advisor for JPLC Associates, LLC.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
NASA NTRS2003

Exercise load index and changes in body weight during long-duration confinement in an isolated environment

PURPOSE: The objectives of this project were to investigate exercise load and body weight related to long-duration confinement in a closed environment simulating ISS flight conditions, and to evaluate subjects' motivation to continue the experiment and their adaptation to isolation. METHODS: Four Russian male subjects participated in a 240-d experiment (Group I), and four subjects (three male subjects and one female subject) from Austria, Canada, Japan, and Russia participated in a 110-d experiment (Group II). Exercise load was estimated during confinement using a modified Rating of Perceived Exertion scale. Free reports were used to determine subjects' motivation. Body weight was measured before, during, and after confinement. RESULTS: Group I achieved their lowest exercise loads during their first month of isolation; problems with adaptation to the isolation environment were also reported during this first month. Group II exercise load was significantly lower in the second month due to crewmember problems; loss of motivation could be noted from their free reports. The subject with the lowest exercise load retired from the isolation experiment earlier than scheduled. Exercise load was not correlated with prior exercise habits. Significant differences in body weight was observed between group I and II and between Russian and non-Russian subjects. One subject in Group I experienced a significant increase in his body weight. CONCLUSION: Exercise load may be a good indicator for adaptation problems and motivation changes in closed environments. Immobility, lack of space, and smoking cessation in general did not induce significant body weight changes.

Exercise/physiology↗
DOE OSTI2020

On‐site surrogates for large‐scale calibration

Abstract Motivated by a computer model calibration problem from the oil and gas industry, involving the design of a honeycomb seal, we develop a new Bayesian methodology to cope with limitations in the canonical apparatus stemming from several factors. We propose a new strategy of on‐site design and surrogate modeling for a computer simulator acting on a high‐dimensional input space that, although relatively speedy, is prone to numerical instabilities, missing data, and nonstationary dynamics. Our aim is to strike a balance between data‐faithful modeling and computational tractability in a calibration framework—tailoring the computer model to a limited field experiment. Situating our on‐site surrogates within the canonical calibration apparatus requires updates to that framework. We describe a novel yet intuitive Bayesian setup that carefully decomposes otherwise prohibitively large matrices by exploiting the sparse blockwise structure. Empirical illustrations demonstrate that this approach performs well on toy data and our motivating honeycomb example.

Huang, Jiangeng↗
DOE OSTI2015

Terahertz magneto-optical spectroscopy of a two-dimensional hole gas

Two-dimensional hole gases (2DHGs) have attracted recent attention for their unique quantum physics and potential applications in areas including spintronics and quantum computing. However, their properties remain relatively unexplored, motivating the use of different techniques to study them. We then used terahertz magneto-optical spectroscopy to investigate the cyclotron resonance frequency in a high mobility 2DHG, revealing a nonlinear dependence on the applied magnetic field. This is shown to be due to the complex non-parabolic valence band structure of the 2DHG, as verified by multiband Landau level calculations. We also found that impurity scattering dominates cyclotron resonance decay in the 2DHG, in contrast with the dominance of superradiant damping in two-dimensional electron gases. Our results shed light on the properties of 2DHGs, motivating further studies of these unique 2D nanosystems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Constraints on cosmological birefringence energy dependence from CMB polarization data

We study the possibility of constraining the energy dependence of cosmological birefringence by using CMB polarization data. We consider four possible behaviors, characteristic of different theoretical scenarios: energy-independent birefringence motivated by Chern-Simons interactions of the electromagnetic field, linear energy dependence motivated by a 'Weyl' interaction of the electromagnetic field, quadratic energy dependence, motivated by quantum gravity modifications of low-energy electrodynamics, and inverse quadratic dependence, motivated by Faraday rotation generated by primordial magnetic fields. We constrain the parameters associated to each kind of dependence and use our results to give constraints on the models mentioned. We forecast the sensitivity that Planck data will be able to achieve in this respect.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Making the most of the relic density for dark matter searches at the LHC 14 TeV Run

As the LHC continues to search for new weakly interacting particles, it is important to remember that the search is strongly motivated by the existence of dark matter. In view of a possible positive signal, it is essential to ask whether the newly discovered weakly interacting particle can be be assigned the label “dark matter”. Within a given set of simplified models and modest working assumptions, we reinterpret the relic abundance bound as a relic abundance range, and compare the parameter space yielding the correct relic abundance with projections of the Run II exclusion regions. Assuming that dark matter is within the reach of the LHC, we also make the comparison with the potential 5σ discovery regions. Reversing the logic, relic density calculations can be used to optimize dark matter searches by motivating choices of parameters where the LHC can probe most deeply into the dark matter parameter space. In the event that DM is seen outside of the region giving the correct relic abundance, we will learn that either thermal relic DM is ruled out in that model, or the DM-quark coupling is suppressed relative to the DM coupling strength to other SM particles.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Productive interactions: heavy particles and non-Gaussianity

We analyze the shape and amplitude of oscillatory features in the primordial power spectrum and non-Gaussianity induced by periodic production of heavy degrees of freedom coupled to the inflaton Φ. We find that non-adiabatic production of particles can contribute effects which are detectable or constrainable using cosmological data even if their time-dependent masses are always heavier than the scale Φ 1/2 , much larger than the Hubble scale. This provides a new role for UV completion, consistent with the criteria from effective field theory for when heavy fields cannot be integrated out. This analysis is motivated in part by the structure of axion monodromy, and leads to an additional oscillatory signature in a subset of its parameter space. At the level of a quantum field theory model that we analyze in detail, the effect arises consistently with radiative stability for an interesting window of couplings up to of order ≲ 1. The amplitude of the bispectrum and higher-point functions can be larger than that for Resonant Non-Gaussianity, and its signal/noise may be comparable to that of the corresponding oscillations in the power spectrum (and even somewhat larger within a controlled regime of parameters). Its shape is distinct from previously analyzed templates, but was partly motivated by the oscillatory equilateral searches performed recently by the Planck collaboration. As a result, we also make some general comments about the challenges involved in making a systematic study of primordial non-Gaussianity.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Rare earth elements: Mendeleev’s bane, modern marvels

The rare earths (REs) are a family of 17 elements that exhibit pronounced chemical similarities as a group, while individually expressing distinctive and varied electronic properties. These atomistic electronic properties are extraordinarily useful and motivate the application of REs in many technologies and devices. From their discovery to the present day, a major challenge faced by chemists has been the separation of RE elements, which has evolved from tedious crystallization to highly engineered solvent extraction schemes. The increasing incorporation and dependence of REs in technology have raised concerns about their sustainability and motivated recent studies for improved separations to achieve a circular RE economy.

charge transport↗
NASA NTRS2005

MEMS CLOSED CHAMBER HEAT ENGINE AND ELECTRIC GENERATOR

A heat engine, preferably combined with an electric generator, and advantageously implemented using micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) technologies as an array of one or more individual heat engine/generators. The heat engine is based on a closed chamber containing a motive medium, preferably a gas; means for alternately enabling and disabling transfer of thermal energy from a heat source to the motive medium; and at least one movable side of the chamber that moves in response to thermally-induced expansion and contraction of the motive medium, thereby converting thermal energy to oscillating movement. The electrical generator is combined with the heat engine to utilize movement of the movable side to convert mechanical work to electrical energy, preferably using electrostatic interaction in a generator capacitor. Preferably at least one heat transfer side of the chamber is placed alternately into and out of contact with the heat source by a motion capacitor, thereby alternately enabling and disabling conductive transfer of heat to the motive medium.

Landis, Geoffrey A.↗
DOE OSTI2013

Early Market TRL/MRL Analysis

he focus of this report is TRL/MRL analysis of hydrogen storage; it documents the methodology and results of an effort to identify hydrogen storage technologies’ technical and manufacturing readiness for early market motive and non-motive applications and to provide a path forward toward commercialization. Motive applications include materials handling equipment (MHE) and ground support equipment (GSE), such as forklifts, tow tractors, and specialty vehicles such as golf carts, lawn mowers and wheel chairs. Non-motive applications are portable, stationary or auxiliary power units (APUs) and include portable laptops, backup power, remote sensor power, and auxiliary power for recreational vehicles, hotels, hospitals, etc. Hydrogen storage technologies assessed include metal hydrides, chemical hydrides, sorbents, gaseous storage, and liquid storage. The assessments are based on a combination of Technology Readiness Level (TRL) and Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) designations that enable evaluation of hydrogen storage technologies at varying levels of development. The manufacturing status could be established from eight risk elements: Technical Maturity, Design, Materials, Cost & Funding, Process Capability, Personnel, Facilities and Manufacturing Planning. This approach provides a logical methodology and roadmap to enable the identification of hydrogen storage technologies, their advantages/disadvantages, gaps and R&D needs on an unbiased and transparent scale that is easily communicated to interagency partners. This technology readiness assessment (TRA) report documents the process used to conduct the TRA/MRA (technology and manufacturing readiness assessment), reports the TRL and MRL for each assessed technology and provides recommendations based on the findings. To investigate the state of the art and needs to mature the technologies, PNNL prepared a questionnaire to assign TRL and MRL for each hydrogen storage technology. The questionnaire was sent to identified hydrogen storage technology developers and manufacturers who were asked to perform a self-assessment. We included both domestic and international organizations including U.S. national laboratories, U.S. companies, European companies and Japanese companies. PNNL collected the data and performed an analysis to deduce the level of maturity and to provide program recommendations.

early market↗
DOE OSTI2017

Analysis of the Needs for Long Term Memory and Knowledge Preservation Relating to Radioactive Waste Disposal Facilities - 17213

Proposals for a set of provisions for long-term memory and knowledge to be defined for a radioactive waste disposal facility, near surface or deep underground, address two primary motives, related to two ethical principles. The first motive is to prevent future generations from interfering involuntarily with the repository. This requires maintaining awareness of the repository, and addresses the ethical principle of protection of man and environment. The second motive is to provide future generations all the available relevant information which might help them make informed decisions about intentional actions, and assess the consequences. This requires transmitting detailed knowledge of the repository, and addresses the ethical principle of preservation of freedom of action. The set of provisions to be implemented with respect to each of these motives may not be the same. In order to define and assess the set of provisions, it is also useful to identify the various components of the process of transmission of a given message, or set of messages, to future generations. Three sub-processes have been identified: (i) 'memorization', at the producer stage, where a full set of information to be transmitted is identified, organized and expressed; (ii) 'preservation', where the potential durability of records is extended, the preservation conditions are controlled and where the records may be restored, if their status is degraded; (iii) 'access', at the receiver stage, where the receiver has to be notified of the existence of the information, to find it and to interpret it properly. As a failure of transmission to future generations would result from the failure of any of the subprocesses, a minimal set of provisions may be defined from this decomposition. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2024

Experiments and Project-Based Enhancements for STEM Learning: Preprint

Motivating k-12 students to pick a career in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an effort that requires consistent attention. At different points in time, STEM educators need to pivot themselves and update educational materials to consistently motivate the next generation of k-12 students to enter into STEM careers. Once they enter undergraduate education, universities need to motivate their undergraduates students to consider graduate studies to ensure qualified human resources can be developed for research, and teaching. We present in this paper, our work on developing STEM materials for k-12 students targeting grid integration of hydrogen assets. This paper also presents our work on leveraging open source distribution system model, digital real time simulation tool to create projects for undergraduate students and motivate their interest in research topics, and enter into graduate level education.

electro-magnetic transients↗
NASA NTRS1997

Psychosocial value of space simulation for extended spaceflight

There have been over 60 studies of Earth-bound activities that can be viewed as simulations of manned spaceflight. These analogs have involved Antarctic and Arctic expeditions, submarines and submersible simulators, land-based simulators, and hypodynamia environments. None of these analogs has accounted for all the variables related to extended spaceflight (e.g., microgravity, long-duration, heterogeneous crews), and some of the stimulation conditions have been found to be more representative of space conditions than others. A number of psychosocial factors have emerged from the simulation literature that correspond to important issues that have been reported from space. Psychological factors include sleep disorders, alterations in time sense, transcendent experiences, demographic issues, career motivation, homesickness, and increased perceptual sensitivities. Psychiatric factors include anxiety, depression, psychosis, psychosomatic symptoms, emotional reactions related to mission stage, asthenia, and postflight personality, and marital problems. Finally, interpersonal factors include tension resulting from crew heterogeneity, decreased cohesion over time, need for privacy, and issues involving leadership roles and lines of authority. Since future space missions will usually involve heterogeneous crews working on complicated objectives over long periods of time, these features require further study. Socio-cultural factors affecting confined crews (e.g., language and dialect, cultural differences, gender biases) should be explored in order to minimize tension and sustain performance. Career motivation also needs to be examined for the purpose of improving crew cohesion and preventing subgrouping, scapegoating, and territorial behavior. Periods of monotony and reduced activity should be addressed in order to maintain morale, provide meaningful use of leisure time, and prevent negative consequences of low stimulation, such as asthenia and crew member withdrawal. Leadership roles and lines of authority need to be studied further to understand the factors leading to status leveling, leadership competition, and role confusion. Finally, the relationship between crews and ground personnel should be characterized in order to minimize the displacement of anger and tension to the outside, to counter the effects of inter-group miscommunications, and to develop support strategies that can help to counter in-group/out-group conflicts. Ground-based space simulations still have a role to play in terms of understanding the impact of these factors and ways of dealing with them. In particular, issues involving language, cultural differences, gender biases, career motivation, monotonous conditions, use of free time, leadership, lines of authority, and the relationship between crews and outside monitoring personnel need to be further characterized and examined under controlled conditions. Until such time as these factors can be studied directly in space, simulations provide an opportunity to learn more about these psychosocial issues and to plan ways of minimizing their negative consequences during actual space missions.

NASA Discipline Number 00-00↗
DOE OSTI2015

Energetics Applications for the Oil and Gas Industry

Here, early motivation and use of energetic materials in the Western World by Alfred Nobel was intended to facilitate mining, construction, and demolition activities. The motivation for the work was the recognized need for a safer energetic material as an alternate to unstabilized nitroglycerine. The invention of dynamite by Nobel was widely adopted in the civilian world and brought a fortune to Nobel, resulting in the formation of the annual Nobel Prize awards, recognizing significant achievements across many fields of endeavour. Nonetheless, further development of energetics was primarily motivated by and funded for military purposes, rather than civilian usage. And indeed much investment has been given to the development and characterization of military energetics and their application. An example application is the precision shaped charge, primarily developed as a means of focusing energy in a narrow metallic jet for deep penetration of heavy armor. However, the largest costumer today and for many years for shaped charges is not the military, but rather the oil and gas industry, which has adapted the military technology for perforation of oil and gas wells. While there are similar aspects to desired penetration capabilities in both applications, there are enough differences to warrant energetics R & D focused on oil and gas industry needs.

02 PETROLEUM↗
DOE OSTI2018

Industrial IoT cross-layer forensic investigation

Cross-layer forensic investigation is addressed for Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) device attacks in Critical Infrastructure (CI) applications. The operational motivation for cross-layer investigation is provided by the desire to directly correlate bit-level network anomaly detection with physical layer (PHY) device connectivity and/or status (normal, defective, attacked, etc.) at the time of attack. The technical motivation for developing cross-layer techniques is motivated by (a) having considerable capability in place for Higher-Layer Digital Forensic Information exploitation—real-time network cyberattack and postattack analysis, (b) having considerably less capability in place for Lowest-Layer PHY Forensic Information exploitation—the PHY domain remains largely under exploited, and (c) considering cyber-physical integration as a means to jointly exploit higher-layer digital and lowest-layer PHY forensic information to maximize investigative benefit in IIoT cyber forensics. A delineation of higher-layer digital and lowest-layer PHY elements is provided for the standard network Open Systems Interconnection model and the specific Perdue Enterprise Reference Architecture commonly used in IIoT Industrial Control System/Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition applications. Finally, a forensics work summary is provided for each delineated area based on selected representative publications and provides the basis for presenting the envisioned cross-layer forensic investigation.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2016

Interval-Valued Rank in Finite Ordered Sets

We consider the concept of rank as a measure of the vertical levels and positions of elements of partially ordered sets (posets). We are motivated by the need for algorithmic measures on large, real-world hierarchically-structured data objects like the semantic hierarchies of ontolog- ical databases. These rarely satisfy the strong property of gradedness, which is required for traditional rank functions to exist. Representing such semantic hierarchies as finite, bounded posets, we recognize the duality of ordered structures to motivate rank functions which respect verticality both from the bottom and from the top. Our rank functions are thus interval-valued, and always exist, even for non-graded posets, providing order homomorphisms to an interval order on the interval-valued ranks. The concept of rank width arises naturally, allowing us to identify the poset region with point-valued width as its longest graded portion (which we call the “spindle”). A standard interval rank function is naturally motivated both in terms of its extremality and on pragmatic grounds. Its properties are examined, including the relation- ship to traditional grading and rank functions, and methods to assess comparisons of standard interval-valued ranks.

Joslyn, Cliff↗
DOE OSTI2018

Opportunities for consumer-driven load shifting in commercial and industrial buildings

Commercial and industrial buildings are typically billed for both electricity consumption and peak 15-minute demand. While this rate structure does not motivate consumers to lower the grid peak demand, it does provide strong motivation for shifting load away from the site peak. However, the economic viability of site peak reduction depends greatly on typical building operations and will vary widely from one building to the next. This paper quantifies the potential that various building types have for site peak reduction using a database of 15-minute demand for buildings in Texas. The primary contribution of this paper is the identification of building types that stand to gain the most by exploiting 15-minute peak demand charges. The influence that site peak demand reduction has on the overall grid is also analyzed. This analysis of site peak reduction in buildings leads to several interesting conclusions. For example, site peak reduction is generally most difficult at industrial and healthcare buildings. On the other hand, grade schools (K-12) and hotels may reduce the site peak with relatively little effort. However, even widespread site peak reduction will only have a minimal effect on the overall grid peak. While buildings may obtain cost savings by reducing these transmission and distribution costs, utilities should consider modifying the retail rate structure in order to provide a direct motivation for consumers to reduce wholesale electricity prices.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗