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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

Does the Blazar Gamma-ray Spectrum Harden with Increasing Flux? - Analysis of Nine Years of EGRET Data

The Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO) discovered gamma-ray emission from more than 67 blazars during its nine-year lifetime. We conducted an exhaustive search of the EGRET archives and selected all the blazars that were observed multiple times and were bright enough to enable a spectral analysis using standard powerlaw models. The sample consists of 18 flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), 6 low-frequency-peaked BL Lacs (LBLs) and 2 high-frequency-peaked BL Lacs (HBLs). We do not detect any clear pattern in'the variation of spectral index with flux. Some of the blazars do not show any statistical evidence for spectral variability. The spectrum hardens with increasing flux in a few cases. There is also evidence for a flux-hardness anticorrelation at lo\v fluxes in five blazars. The well observed blazars (3C 279,3C 273, PKS 0528-i-134, PKS 1622-297, PKS 0208- 512) do not show any overall trend in the long-term spectral dependence on flux, but the sample shows a mixture of hard and soft states. We observed spectral hysteresis at weekly timescales in all the three FSRQs for which data from flares lasting for 3 approx. 4 weeks were available. All three sources show a counterclockwise rotation despite the widely different flux profiles. Hysteresis in the spectral index vs. flux space has never been observed in FSRQs in gamma-rays at weekly timescales. itre analyze the observed spectral behavior in the context of various inverse-Compton mechanisms believed to be responsible for emission in the EGRET energy range. Our analysis uses the EGRET skymaps that were regenerated to include the changes in performance during the mission.

Nandikotkur, Giridhar↗

Central America Disasters: Using Earth Observations to Map Flooding for Disaster Monitoring, Inform Potential Risk, and Prepare for Possible Response

In November 2020, Hurricanes Eta and Iota hit Central America within weeks of each other, causing severe flooding, landslides, and widespread damage. NASA DEVELOP partnered with Comité Regional de Recursos Hidráulicos (CRRH), Centro de Coordinación para la Prevención de los Desastres en América Central y República Dominicana (CEPREDENAC), and Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana (SICA) to better understand how flooding throughout Central America has impacted and will continue to affect communities, focusing on sites in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Belize, Nicaragua, western Panama, and eastern Costa Rica from January 2015 to October 2021. The team utilized surface reflectance data from Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI), Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), and Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). This project also utilized backscatter data from Sentinel-1 C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (C-SAR) and elevation data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). Incorporating these Earth observations in NASA SERVIR’s Hydrologic Remote Sensing Analysis for Floods (HYDRAFloods) tool run on Google Earth Engine (GEE), the team produced historical surface water maps, a case study analysis of the two hurricanes, and a code tutorial. These results indicated that surface water increased in priority sites from 2015 to 2021, optical and SAR imagery detected similar flood patterns and extent after the hurricanes, and rainfall was concentrated on the east coast of the region. These products allow partners to make informed decisions around flooding preparation and disaster mitigation.

Caroline Williams↗

Rapid Glacier Retreat Rates Observed in West Antarctica

The Pope, Smith, and Kohler glaciers, in the Amundsen Sea Embayment of West Antarctica, have experienced enhanced ocean-induced ice-shelf melt, glacier acceleration, ice thinning, and grounding line retreat in the past thirty years. Here we present observations of the grounding line retreat of these glaciers since 2014 using a constellation of interferometric radar satellites combined with precision surface elevation data. We find that the grounding lines develop spatially-variable, kilometre-scale, tidally-induced migration zones. After correction for tidal effects, we detect a sustained pattern of retreat coincident with high melt rates of un-grounded ice, marked by episodes of more rapid retreat. In 2017, Pope Glacier retreated 3.5 km in 3.6 months, or 11.7 km/yr. In 2016-2018, Smith West retreated at 2 km/yr and Kohler at 1.3 km/yr. While the retreat slowed down in 2018-2020, these retreat rates are faster than anticipated by numerical models on yearly time scales. We hypothesize that the rapid retreat is caused by un-represented, vigorous ice-ocean interactions acting within newly-formed cavities at the ice-ocean boundary.

Climate change↗

Real-time detection and classification of anomalous events in streaming data

A system is described for receiving a stream of events and scoring the events based on anomalousness and maliciousness (or other classification). The events can be displayed to a user in user-defined groupings in an animated fashion. The system can include a plurality of anomaly detectors that together implement an algorithm to identify low probability events and detect atypical traffic patterns. The atypical traffic patterns can then be classified as being of interest or not. In one particular example, in a network environment, the classification can be whether the network traffic is malicious or not.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Detection of anomalous events

A system is described for receiving a stream of events and scoring the events based on anomalousness and maliciousness (or other classification). The system can include a plurality of anomaly detectors that together implement an algorithm to identify low-probability events and detect atypical traffic patterns. The anomaly detector provides for comparability of disparate sources of data (e.g., network flow data and firewall logs.) Additionally, the anomaly detector allows for regulatability, meaning that the algorithm can be user configurable to adjust a number of false alerts. The anomaly detector can be used for a variety of probability density functions, including normal Gaussian distributions, irregular distributions, as well as functions associated with continuous or discrete variables.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Storage of sparse files using parallel log-structured file system

A sparse file is stored without holes by storing a data portion of the sparse file using a parallel log-structured file system; and generating an index entry for the data portion, the index entry comprising a logical offset, physical offset and length of the data portion. The holes can be restored to the sparse file upon a reading of the sparse file. The data portion can be stored at a logical end of the sparse file. Additional storage efficiency can optionally be achieved by (i) detecting a write pattern for a plurality of the data portions and generating a single patterned index entry for the plurality of the patterned data portions; and/or (ii) storing the patterned index entries for a plurality of the sparse files in a single directory, wherein each entry in the single directory comprises an identifier of a corresponding sparse file.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Multi-Channel Entity Alignment via Name Uniqueness Estimation

When searching for adversarial activity within multiple networks, one of the greatest challenges is how to accurately align entities across different channels of information. This task becomes increasingly difficult when minimal additional information is known about each individual besides a name. Within this study, we analyze name rarity and how it can be used to align people on three distinct data channels: Venmo financial transactions, Reddit online discussions, and a bibliographic data source of academic writings. We explore how the uniqueness of a name can be used to decide if a person is likely the same as another across networks, in the absence of any additional ground truth. While 100 percent confidence cannot be gained, we can use this information to clarify when a possible alignment is more or less likely to be the same individual, increasing our confidence of accurately detecting adversarial behavioral patterns. From the data collected, we found that 0.1% of people had the same name across data sets, and 22.5% of those names are considered rare by our threshold. In our study, we also examine the accuracy of our method and show how real names can be extracted from account usernames, and compared in a similar manner.

Orren, Miquette J.↗

Explainable AI for Multivariate Time Series Pattern Exploration: Latent Space Visual Analytics With Temporal Fusion Transformer and Variational Autoencoders in Power Grid Event Diagnosis

Detecting and analyzing complex patterns in multivariate time-series data is crucial for decision-making in urban and environmental system operations. However, challenges arise from the high dimensionality, intricate complexity, and interconnected nature of complex patterns, which hinder the understanding of their underlying physical processes. Existing AI methods often face limitations in interpretability, computational efficiency, and scalability, reducing their applicability in real-world scenarios. This paper proposes a novel visual analytics framework that integrates two generative AI models, Temporal Fusion Transformer (TFT) and Variational Autoencoders (VAEs), to reduce complex patterns into lower-dimensional latent spaces and visualize them in 2D using dimensionality reduction techniques such as PCA, t-SNE, and UMAP with DBSCAN. These visualizations, presented through coordinated and interactive views and tailored glyphs, enable intuitive exploration of complex multivariate temporal patterns, identifying patterns’ similarities and uncover their potential correlations for a better interpretability of the AI outputs. The framework is demonstrated through a case study on power grid signal data, where it identifies multi-label grid event signatures, including faults and anomalies with diverse root causes. Additionally, novel metrics and visualizations are introduced to validate the models and assess the performance, efficiency, and consistency of latent maps generated by VAE, which have been utilized in prior studies for latent space cartography and used as a benchmark in this study, and the emerging TFT architecture under various configurations. These analyses provide actionable insights for model parameter tuning and reliability improvements. Comparative results highlight that TFT achieves shorter run times and superior scalability to diverse time-series data shapes compared to VAE. This work advances fault diagnosis in multivariate time series, fostering explainable AI to support critical system operations.

Explainable AI↗

Immunity-Based Aircraft Fault Detection System

In the study reported in this paper, we have developed and applied an Artificial Immune System (AIS) algorithm for aircraft fault detection, as an extension to a previous work on intelligent flight control (IFC). Though the prior studies had established the benefits of IFC, one area of weakness that needed to be strengthened was the control dead band induced by commanding a failed surface. Since the IFC approach uses fault accommodation with no detection, the dead band, although it reduces over time due to learning, is present and causes degradation in handling qualities. If the failure can be identified, this dead band can be further A ed to ensure rapid fault accommodation and better handling qualities. The paper describes the application of an immunity-based approach that can detect a broad spectrum of known and unforeseen failures. The approach incorporates the knowledge of the normal operational behavior of the aircraft from sensory data, and probabilistically generates a set of pattern detectors that can detect any abnormalities (including faults) in the behavior pattern indicating unsafe in-flight operation. We developed a tool called MILD (Multi-level Immune Learning Detection) based on a real-valued negative selection algorithm that can generate a small number of specialized detectors (as signatures of known failure conditions) and a larger set of generalized detectors for unknown (or possible) fault conditions. Once the fault is detected and identified, an adaptive control system would use this detection information to stabilize the aircraft by utilizing available resources (control surfaces). We experimented with data sets collected under normal and various simulated failure conditions using a piloted motion-base simulation facility. The reported results are from a collection of test cases that reflect the performance of the proposed immunity-based fault detection algorithm.

Dasgupta, D.↗

Performance Bounds on Two Concatenated, Interleaved Codes

A method has been developed of computing bounds on the performance of a code comprised of two linear binary codes generated by two encoders serially concatenated through an interleaver. Originally intended for use in evaluating the performances of some codes proposed for deep-space communication links, the method can also be used in evaluating the performances of short-block-length codes in other applications. The method applies, more specifically, to a communication system in which following processes take place: At the transmitter, the original binary information that one seeks to transmit is first processed by an encoder into an outer code (Co) characterized by, among other things, a pair of numbers (n,k), where n (n > k)is the total number of code bits associated with k information bits and n k bits are used for correcting or at least detecting errors. Next, the outer code is processed through either a block or a convolutional interleaver. In the block interleaver, the words of the outer code are processed in blocks of I words. In the convolutional interleaver, the interleaving operation is performed bit-wise in N rows with delays that are multiples of B bits. The output of the interleaver is processed through a second encoder to obtain an inner code (Ci) characterized by (ni,ki). The output of the inner code is transmitted over an additive-white-Gaussian- noise channel characterized by a symbol signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) Es/No and a bit SNR Eb/No. At the receiver, an inner decoder generates estimates of bits. Depending on whether a block or a convolutional interleaver is used at the transmitter, the sequence of estimated bits is processed through a block or a convolutional de-interleaver, respectively, to obtain estimates of code words. Then the estimates of the code words are processed through an outer decoder, which generates estimates of the original information along with flags indicating which estimates are presumed to be correct and which are found to be erroneous. From the perspective of the present method, the topic of major interest is the performance of the communication system as quantified in the word-error rate and the undetected-error rate as functions of the SNRs and the total latency of the interleaver and inner code. The method is embodied in equations that describe bounds on these functions. Throughout the derivation of the equations that embody the method, it is assumed that the decoder for the outer code corrects any error pattern of t or fewer errors, detects any error pattern of s or fewer errors, may detect some error patterns of more than s errors, and does not correct any patterns of more than t errors. Because a mathematically complete description of the equations that embody the method and of the derivation of the equations would greatly exceed the space available for this article, it must suffice to summarize by reporting that the derivation includes consideration of several complex issues, including relationships between latency and memory requirements for block and convolutional codes, burst error statistics, enumeration of error-event intersections, and effects of different interleaving depths. In a demonstration, the method was used to calculate bounds on the performances of several communication systems, each based on serial concatenation of a (63,56) expurgated Hamming code with a convolutional inner code through a convolutional interleaver. The bounds calculated by use of the method were compared with results of numerical simulations of performances of the systems to show the regions where the bounds are tight (see figure).

Moision, Bruce↗

GrammarViz 3.0: Interactive Discovery of Variable-Length Time Series Patterns

The problems of recurrent and anomalous pattern discovery in time series, e.g., motifs and discords, respectively, have received a lot of attention from researchers in the past decade. However, since the pattern search space is usually intractable, most existing detection algorithms require that the patterns have discriminative characteristics and have its length known in advance and provided as input, which is an unreasonable requirement for many real-world problems. In addition, patterns of similar structure, but of different lengths may co-exist in a time series. In order to address these issues, we have developed algorithms for variable-length time series pattern discovery that are based on symbolic discretization and grammar inference—two techniques whose combination enables the structured reduction of the search space and discovery of the candidate patterns in linear time. In this work, we present GrammarViz 3.0—a software package that provides implementations of proposed algorithms and graphical user interface for interactive variable-length time series pattern discovery. The current version of the software provides an alternative grammar inference algorithm that improves the time series motif discovery workflow, and introduces an experimental procedure for automated discretization parameter selection that builds upon the minimum cardinality maximum cover principle and aids the time series recurrent and anomalous pattern discovery.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Machine Learning for Anomaly Detection in Neural Network Security and SRF Cavities

This dissertation explores the development and deployment of machine learning approaches to address critical challenges in anomaly detection across two distinct domains: neural network security in federated learning settings and cavity behavior analysis in particle accelerator operations at Jefferson Lab in Newport News, Virginia. Anomaly detection identifies deviations from expected patterns, safeguarding systems in cybersecurity, industry, and research against malicious activities and failures. This dissertation demonstrates how our machine learning approaches enhance detection accuracy and efficiency in both neural network security and industrial applications. First, we investigate vulnerabilities in deep neural networks deployed in federated learning. Although federated learning preserves user privacy by training models locally, it remains vulnerable to backdoor attacks, in which malicious participants embed hidden triggers that induce targeted misbehavior. We propose a self-supervised contrastive learning framework to detect and mitigate such backdoor attacks. In our experiments, this method achieves higher detection accuracy and lower false positive rates than existing defenses, while operating without access to local model updates or original training data and thus preserving the privacy guarantees of the federated setting. Second, we address the operational reliability of superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities at the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF). Our research leverages an unsupervised learning approach, combined with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and k-means clustering, to identify anomalous behaviors in SRF cavities. Our method detects subtle anomalous behavior by analyzing SRF signal data. This knowledge allows for the early detection and resolution of potential faults, significantly improving the efficiency and reliability of operations. Third, we extend these insights to time-series anomaly detection more broadly. We design a contrastive-learning based model tailored to increasingly dynamic environments and academic research. This model improves detection accuracy in settings that require real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance. Our research underscores the broader applicability and impact of advanced machine learning techniques in anomaly detection. By extracting meaningful patterns from complex data, machine learning can significantly enhance security in distributed neural networks and improve the efficiency of particle accelerator operations. This dissertation serves as a stepping stone for future investigations into the vast possibilities of anomaly detection, inspiring further exploration and development of machine learning techniques in this field.

Ferguson, Hal [Old Dominion University]↗

Pattern Recognition Algorithm for High-Sensitivity Odorant Detection in Unknown Environments

In a realistic odorant detection application environment, the collected sensory data is a mix of unknown chemicals with unknown concentrations and noise. The identification of the odorants among these mixtures is a challenge in data recognition. In addition, deriving their individual concentrations in the mix is also a challenge. A deterministic analytical model was developed to accurately identify odorants and calculate their concentrations in a mixture with noisy data.

Duong, Tuan A.↗

Stellar Obliquity and Magnetic Activity of Planet-hosting Stars and Eclipsing Binaries Based on Transit Chord Correlation

The light curve of an eclipsing system shows anomalies whenever the eclipsing body passes in front of active regions on the eclipsed star. In some cases, the pattern of anomalies can be used to determine the obliquity Ψ of the eclipsed star. Here we present a method for detecting and analyzing these patterns, based on a statistical test for correlations between the anomalies observed in a sequence of eclipses. Compared to previous methods, ours makes fewer assumptions and is easier to automate. We apply it to a sample of 64 stars with transiting planets and 24 eclipsing binaries for which precise space-based data are available, and for which there was either some indication of flux anomalies or a previously reported obliquity measurement. We were able to determine obliquities for 10 stars with hot Jupiters. In particular we found Ψ ≲ 10° for Kepler-45, which is only the second M dwarf with a measured obliquity. The other eight cases are G and K stars with low obliquities. Among the eclipsing binaries, we were able to determine obliquities in eight cases, all of which are consistent with zero. Our results also reveal some common patterns of stellar activity for magnetically active G and K stars, including persistently active longitudes.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Transducer model produces facilitation from opposite-sign flanks

Small spots, lines and Gabor patterns can be easier to detect when they are superimposed upon similar spots, lines and Gabor patterns. Traditionally, such facilitation has been understood to be a consequence of nonlinear contrast transduction. Facilitation has also been reported to arise from non-overlapping patterns with opposite sign. We point out that this result does not preclude the traditional explanation for superimposed targets. Moreover, we find that facilitation from opposite-sign flanks is weaker than facilitation from same-sign flanks. Simulations with a transducer model produce opposite-sign facilitation.

NASA Discipline Space Human Factors↗

Optimization of Training Sets For Neural-Net Processing of Characteristic Patterns From Vibrating Solids

An artificial neural network is disclosed that processes holography generated characteristic pattern of vibrating structures along with finite-element models. The present invention provides for a folding operation for conditioning training sets for optimally training forward-neural networks to process characteristic fringe pattern. The folding pattern increases the sensitivity of the feed-forward network for detecting changes in the characteristic pattern The folding routine manipulates input pixels so as to be scaled according to the location in an intensity range rather than the position in the characteristic pattern.

Decker, Arthur J.↗

Discovery of a metal-poor field giant with a globular cluster second-generation abundance pattern

We report on the detection, from observations obtained with the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment spectroscopic survey, of a metal-poor ([Fe/H] = −1.3 dex) field giant star with an extreme Mg–Al abundance ratio ([Mg/Fe] = −0.31 dex; [Al/Fe] = 1.49 dex). Such low Mg/Al ratios are seen only among the second-generation population of globular clusters (GCs) and are not present among Galactic disk field stars. The light-element abundances of this star, 2M16011638-1201525, suggest that it could have been born in a GC. We explore several origin scenarios, studying the orbit of the star in particular to check the probability of its being kinematically related to known GCs. We performed simple orbital integrations assuming the estimated distance of 2M16011638-1201525 and the available six-dimensional phase-space coordinates of 63 GCs, looking for close encounters in the past with a minimum distance approach within the tidal radius of each cluster. We found a very low probability that 2M16011638-1201525 was ejected from most GCs; however, we note that the best progenitor candidate to host this star is GC ω Centauri (NGC 5139). Our dynamical investigation demonstrates that 2M16011638-1201525 reaches a distance |Z{sub max}|<3 kpc from the Galactic plane and minimum and maximum approaches to the Galactic center of R {sub min} < 0.62 kpc and R {sub max} < 7.26 kpc in an eccentric (e ∼ 0.53) and retrograde orbit. Since the extreme chemical anomaly of 2M16011638-1201525 has also been observed in halo field stars, this object could also be considered a halo contaminant, likely to have been ejected into the Milky Way disk from the halo. We conclude that 2M16011638-20152 is also kinematically consistent with the disk but chemically consistent with halo field stars.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Vibration detection using lasers

Interference displacement patterns produced when light from a laser illuminates diffusely reflecting, vibrating surface are observed and photographed. Standing wave modes on model surface can be interpreted in order to yield amplitude and frequency of vibrations. Flat, white surfaces yield best interference patterns, even over considerable surface curvature.

Massey, G. A.↗