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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 325 records · Page 18

NASA GeneLab Multi-study Visualization Portal

NASA GeneLab has helped advance the field of Space Biology by providing a public repository where researchers can store, share, analyze and visualize the results of space flight related omics experiments. The GeneLab data visualization portal allows any user, regardless of bioinformatics knowledge or access to computational resources, to interact with the experimental data, draw their own conclusions, and gain insights about the effects of space on living systems. These tools help democratize scientific research and foster the NASA Open Science initiative. The new multi-study feature of the GeneLab visualization platform allows users to mine study metadata from RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) experiments to identify samples of interest by filtering datasets based on organism, tissue, assay technology type, and/or factor. Once samples are selected from multiple datasets, users can combine and normalize the sample data, then utilize the visualization displays, including Principal Component Analysis (PCA) plots, to assess sample distributions. Finally, users can perform differential gene expression analysis on the combined data and visualize the results through PCA plots, Volcano plots, Pair plots, Heatmap, Ideogram and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis. All user-generated results and visualizations will be available for download. Here, we present a biological study using samples from multiple GeneLab RNA-seq datasets and analyzed using the multi-study visualization platform to demonstrate inter- and intra-study variability, as well as commonly differentially expressed genes between spaceflight and ground control conditions across datasets. This new feature opens a wide range of possibilities and opportunities for further development including combining other assay technology types and integration with batch effect correction techniques and machine learning applications. Overall, this tool allows users to increase the statistical power of individual experiments, validate hypothesis, identify patterns, and opens the door to new and exciting research.

space biology↗

Human Factors Challenges in Modernizing Nuclear Power Plant Control Rooms

Jeffrey Joe has been invited to give a presentation entitled, “Human Factors Challenges in Modernizing Nuclear Power Plant Control Rooms,” at the 2024 Human Systems Symposium. Experts conducting human factors and human systems research will gather and share research at this conference. This conference is a good opportunity to develop new business for INL via research collaborations, as attendees exchange knowledge and explore the latest trends, advancements, and challenges in the field of human systems research across the DOE national laboratories.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 64: Culture and Workplace Communications: A Comparison of the Technical Communications Practices of Japanese and US Aerospace Engineers and Scientists

The advent of global markets elevates the role and importance of culture as a mitigating factor in the diffusion of knowledge and technology and in product and process innovation. This is especially true in the large commercial aircraft (LCA) sector where the production and market aspects are becoming increasingly international. As firms expand beyond their national borders, using such methods as risk-sharing partnerships, joint ventures, outsourcing, and alliances, they have to contend with national and corporate cultures. Our focus is on Japan, a program participant in the production of the Boeing Company's 777. The aspects of Japanese culture and workplace communications will be examined: 1.) the influence of Japanese culture on the diffusion of knowledge and technology in aerospace at the national and international levels; 2.) those cultural determinants-the propensity to work together, a willingness to subsume individual interests to a greater good, and an emphasis on consensual decision making-that have a direct bearing on the ability of Japanese firms to form alliances and compete in international markets; 3.) and those cultural determinants thought to influence the information-seeking behaviors and workplace communication practices of Japanese aerospace engineers and scientists. In this article, we report selective results from a survey of Japanese and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists that focused on workplace communications. Data are presented for the following topics: importance of and time spent communicating information, collaborative writing, need for an undergraduate course in technical communication, use of libraries, use and importance of electronic (computer) networks, and the use and importance of foreign and domestically produced technical reports.

Pinelli, Thomas E.↗

Culture and Workplace Communications: A Comparison of the Technical Communications Practices of Japanese and U.S. Aerospace Engineers and Scientists

The advent of global markets elevates the role and importance of culture as a mitigating factor in the diffusion of knowledge and technology and in product and process innovation. This is especially true in the large commercial aircraft (LCA) sector where the production and market aspects are becoming increasingly international. As firms expand beyond their national borders, using such methods as risk-sharing partnerships, joint ventures, outsourcing, and alliances, they have to contend with national and corporate cultures. Our focus is on Japan, a program participant in the production of the Boeing Company's 777. The aspects of Japanese culture and workplace communications will be examined: (1) the influence of Japanese culture on the diffusion of knowledge and technology in aerospace at the national and international levels; (2) those cultural determinants-the propensity to work together, a willingness to subsume individual interests to a greater good, and an emphasis on consensual decision making-that have a direct bearing on the ability of Japanese firms to form alliances and compete in international markets; (3) and those cultural determinants thought to influence the information-seeking behaviors and workplace communication practices of Japanese aerospace engineers and scientists. In this article, we report selective results from a survey of Japanese and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists that focused on workplace communications. Data are presented for the following topics: importance of and time spent communicating information, collaborative writing, need for an undergraduate course in technical communication, use of libraries, use and importance of electronic (computer) networks, and the use and importance of foreign and domestically produced technical reports.

Pinelli, Thomas E.↗

InvestigationOrganizer: The Development and Testing of a Web-based Tool to Support Mishap Investigations

InvestigationOrganizer (IO) is a collaborative web-based system designed to support the conduct of mishap investigations. IO provides a common repository for a wide range of mishap related information, and allows investigators to make explicit, shared, and meaningful links between evidence, causal models, findings and recommendations. It integrates the functionality of a database, a common document repository, a semantic knowledge network, a rule-based inference engine, and causal modeling and visualization. Thus far, IO has been used to support four mishap investigations within NASA, ranging from a small property damage case to the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia. This paper describes how the functionality of IO supports mishap investigations and the lessons learned from the experience of supporting two of the NASA mishap investigations: the Columbia Accident Investigation and the CONTOUR Loss Investigation.

Carvalho, Robert F.↗

The Global Water Monitor: Lake, Wetland, and River Reach Monitoring for Resource Management and Hazard Observation

The Global Water Monitor is a monitoring program offering surface water-related products for lakes, reservoirs, river reaches, and wetlands, https://blueice.gsfc.nasa.gov/gwm. These products are derived from multiple satellite-based altimetry and multispectral imaging platforms. The primary measurements are water level, slope, and extent, derived from a series of NASA and other agency instruments (Sentinel-3,-6, ICESat-2, SWOT, MODIS). The system serves stakeholders, the US Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service and the US Geological Survey, as well as various international, national, state, and intelligence agencies, engineers, ecologists, and hydrological researchers. Considering the sensitivity of ground-based data and the remote accessibility of many basins, the satellites offer global coverage, accuracy, and continuity of measurements. Observation of storage fluctuations in lakes and reservoirs provides users with knowledge of short and long-term drought conditions that can affect both water and energy resources. Emphasis is on changing climatic conditions, water sharing between nations, and regional stability. Measurements across a wetland complex can assist with efforts to assess hydrological dynamics with a focus on conservation efforts that aid both natural ecology and the sharing of precious water resources – the latter potentially being required in a basin across the municipal, crop irrigation, aquaculture, livestock, and power station spectrum. Observations of river reaches assists in the collection of basic hydraulic information, particularly in gauge-poor regions, for modelling efforts and the estimation of discharge, and at high-latitudes satellite-based river observations serve projects that warn of spring melts and flood hazards. We look at how recent improvements in instrument technology and mission operations are assisting with acquiring true global coverage and cross-validation efforts, and how stakeholders interact with the project in terms of setting requirements, product format, and accessibility methods. Examples show the application of the products across a range of programs, and in addition to meeting operational requirements, how the multi-decadal surface water levels are creating a high-quality timeline of Earth Data Records.

Lakes↗

Agentic Diagrammatica: Towards Autonomous Symbolic Computation in High Energy Physics

We present Diagrammatica, a symbolic computation extension to the HEPTAPOD agentic framework, which enables LLM agents to plan and execute multi-step theoretical calculations. Symbolic computation poses a distinctive reliability challenge for LLM agents, as correctness is governed by implicit mathematical conventions that are not encoded in a form that can be easily checked in the computational backend. We identify two complementary remedies, tool-constrained computation and targeted knowledge grounding, and pursue the first as the primary architecture. Concretely, we concentrate the agent's action distribution onto tool calls with convention-fixing semantics, in which the agent specifies a compact, human-auditable diagram specification and a trusted backend performs the symbolic or numerical manipulations exactly. The toolkit provides two complementary calculation paths consuming a shared diagram specification: Naive Dimensional Analysis (NDA) for order-of-magnitude rate estimates and Exact Diagrammatic Analysis (EDA) for tree-level symbolic calculations via automatic FeynCalc code generation, both supplemented by automatic Feynman diagram enumeration and a navigable theory knowledge base. The architecture is validated on two benchmarks: (1) an exhaustive catalog of all tree-level, single-vertex $1\to 2$ partial decay widths across scalar, fermion, and vector parents, with complete massless and threshold limits and Standard Model validation; and (2) an NDA sensitivity study of the muon decay multiplicity $μ^+ \to ν_μ\barν_e + n(e^+e^-) + e^-$, determining the maximum observable $n$ at current and planned muon experiments.

Menzo, Tony [Alabama U.; Fermilab] (ORCID:00000002↗

Summary of the virtual Space Radiation “2022 Biospecimen and Tissue Sharing Summit.”

The Space Radiation Element (SRE) of the Human Research Program (HRP) aims to establish a robust biospecimen and tissue sharing collection (BTSC) to improve sample collection, tracking, access, distribution, and usability to maximize scientific return with intention. Leveraging biospecimens and tissues from prior experiments helps HRP achieve its scientific goals to characterize and mitigate the human health impacts of spaceflight by maximizing resources. The project intends to expand on the National Aeronautics and Space Agency’s (NASA) current resources and institutional knowledge to provide ongoing modernization to improve the usability and access to the current biospecimen archive. SRE organized and held a three-day virtual workshop September 13-15, 2022, to engage with the research community with the following goals: - Share information about: - Space Radiation’s current Biospecimen and Tissue Sharing Project; - Software implementation to track biospecimens; - NASA’s current tissue sharing capabilities and projects; and - Collect community feedback on how to develop, streamline, and optimize accessible and usable processes. The first two days featured speakers internal and external to NASA who presented on current resources, best practices, lessons learned, and researcher perspectives. On the third day, a set of key questions were presented, and participants were invited to discuss and provide input.

Shelita Hall Augustus↗

FAIRness and Usability for Open-access Omics Data Systems

Omics data sharing is crucial to the biological research community, and the last decade or two has seen a huge rise in collaborative analysis systems, databases, and knowledge bases for omics and other systems biology data. We assessed the "FAIRness" of NASA's GeneLab Data Systems (GLDS) along with four similar kinds of systems in the research omics data domain, using 14 FAIRness metrics. The range of overall FAIRness scores was 6-12 (out of 14), average 10.1, and standard deviation 2.4. The range of Pass ratings for the metrics was 29-79%, Partial Pass 0-21%, and Fail 7-50%. The systems we evaluated performed the best in the areas of data findability and accessibility, and worst in the area of data interoperability. Reusability of metadata, in particular, was frequently not well supported. We relate our experiences implementing semantic integration of omics data from some of the assessed systems for federated querying and retrieval functions, given their shortcomings in data interoperability. Finally, we propose two new principles that Big Data system developers, in particular, should consider for maximizing data accessibility.

Berrios, Daniel C.↗

FAIRness and Usability for Open-access Omics Data Systems

Omics data sharing is crucial to the biological research community, and the last decade or two has seen a huge rise in collaborative analysis systems, databases, and knowledge bases for omics and other systems biology data. We assessed the “FAIRness” of NASA’s GeneLab Data Systems (GLDS) along with four similar kinds of systems in the research omics data domain, using 14 FAIRness metrics. The range of overall FAIRness scores was 6-12 (out of 14), average 10.1, and standard deviation 2.4. The range of Pass ratings for the metrics was 29-79%, Partial Pass 0-21%, and Fail 7-50%. The systems we evaluated performed the best in the areas of data findability and accessibility, and worst in the area of data interoperability. Reusability of metadata, in particular, was frequently not well supported. We relate our experiences implementing semantic integration of omics data from some of the assessed systems for federated querying and retrieval functions, given their shortcomings in data interoperability. Finally, we propose two new principles that Big Data system developers, in particular, should consider for maximizing data accessibility.

Berrios, Daniel C.↗

New developments in space radiation research at NASA: Annotating data using a novel radiation biology ontology

Like many interdisciplinary sciences, data producers and consumers in the field of radiation biology often use a wide variety of terminology to describe their experiments and data. Furthermore, space systems and technologies are rapidly evolving, and a shared understanding and common terminology for these is also lacking. The efficiency of research organizations can be enhanced by standardizing metadata through the use of knowledge resources like ontologies. Employing a sophisticated model such as a formal ontology to standardize metadata enables automated data acquisition processes and supports more complete, accurate meta-analysis through more efficient and complete data discovery and retrieval, particularly when using multiple data sources. Thus, we developed the Radiation Biology Ontology (RBO) in order to improved radiation biology metadata uniformity and transparency. We used open-source software (the Ontology Development Kit, Protégé and WebProtégé) and worked within the OBO Foundry framework, which includes a set of ontology development principles and practices for ontology consistency, uniformity, and accountability. The RBO has now been incorporated into two radiation research data repositories, NASA’s GeneLab omics database (https://genelab.nasa.gov), and the European Commission STORE database (https://www.storedb.org/). Continuous build integration tools allowed our international RBO collaboration to be more efficient and focus its efforts on semantic model design. Currently, the RBO contains over 300 annotated classes and individuals specific to the study of radiation on biological systems, as well as imports of many additional classes from other OBO Foundry ontologies that relate to and/or provide context for these RBO entities. We publish the RBO through the OBO Foundry, so that it is available for browsing, download, and querying through NCBI Bioportal web site and application programming interface. The NASA Ames Life Science Data Archive (ALSDA) is also in the process of adopting use of the RBO, taking NASA one step closer to a knowledge-based system for space biology data. It is our hope that the global communities of radiation research Investigators, data curators and data analysts can similarly leverage the RBO and will contribute to its further development.

radiation↗

The Importance of Contamination Knowledge in Curation - Insights into Mars Sample Return

The Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), in Houston, TX (henceforth Curation Office) manages the curation of extraterrestrial samples returned by NASA missions and shared collections from international partners, preserving their integrity for future scientific study while providing the samples to the international community in a fair and unbiased way. The Curation Office also curates flight and non-flight reference materials and other materials from spacecraft assembly (e.g., lubricants, paints and gases) of sample return missions that would have the potential to cross-contaminate a present or future NASA astromaterials collection.

Harrington, A. D.↗

Federated learning for 2D synchrotron x-ray diffractometry: a cross-institutional approach for phase quantification of Ti–6Al–4V alloy

High-energy Two dimensional (2D) synchrotron x-ray diffractometry provides important insights into the atomistic structure and phase evolution of materials, yet traditional analysis methods remain complex, knowledge-intensive, and computationally demanding. Deep-learning models offer a powerful alternative for automating their analysis. Institutions that hold these datasets may be unwilling to share their data due to privacy and security policies, as well as the challenges associated with large-scale data transfer. As a result, models trained on local datasets often perform well only on their own data but exhibit bias and poor generalization across different instruments or facilities. To overcome these limitations, we explore federated learning (FL) for 2D synchrotron diffractograms, enabling collaborative model training without exchanging raw data. In this study, 2D synchrotron diffractograms of Ti–6Al–4V alloy collected from two independent facilities are used to train convolutional neural networks for predicting the β-phase volume fraction. Experimental results show that federated global models significantly outperform locally trained models in terms of generalization and achieve accuracy comparable to centralized trained models. These findings demonstrate the potential of FL to enable secure, cross-institutional collaboration and enhance the scalability of deep-learning-based materials characterization.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

The Spacecraft Materials Selector: An Artificial Intelligence System for Preliminary Design Trade Studies, Materials Assessments, and Estimates of Environments Present

Institutions need ways to retain valuable information even as experienced individuals leave an organization. Modern electronic systems have enough capacity to retain large quantities of information that can mitigate the loss of experience. Performance information for long-term space applications is relatively scarce and specific information (typically held by a few individuals within a single project) is often rather narrowly distributed. Spacecraft operate under severe conditions and the consequences of hardware and/or system failures, in terms of cost, loss of information, and time required to replace the loss, are extreme. These risk factors place a premium on appropriate choice of materials and components for space applications. An expert system is a very cost-effective method for sharing valuable and scarce information about spacecraft performance. Boeing has an artificial intelligence software package, called the Boeing Expert System Tool (BEST), to construct and operate knowledge bases to selectively recall and distribute information about specific subjects. A specific knowledge base to evaluate the on-orbit performance of selected materials on spacecraft has been developed under contract to the NASA SEE program. The performance capabilities of the Spacecraft Materials Selector (SMS) knowledge base are described. The knowledge base is a backward-chaining, rule-based system. The user answers a sequence of questions, and the expert system provides estimates of optical and mechanical performance of selected materials under specific environmental conditions. The initial operating capability of the system will include data for Kapton, silverized Teflon, selected paints, silicone-based materials, and certain metals. For situations where a mission profile (launch date, orbital parameters, mission duration, spacecraft orientation) is not precisely defined, the knowledge base still attempts to provide qualitative observations about materials performance and likely exposures. Prior to the NASA contract, a knowledge base, the Spacecraft Environments Assistant (SEA,) was initially developed by Boeing to estimate the environmental factors important for a specific spacecraft mission profile. The NASA SEE program has funded specific enhancements to the capability of this knowledge base. The SEA qualitatively identifies over 25 environmental factors that may influence the performance of a spacecraft during its operational lifetime. For cases where sufficiently detailed answers are provided to questions asked by the knowledge base, atomic oxygen fluence levels, proton and/or electron fluence and dose levels, and solar exposure hours are calculated. The SMS knowledge base incorporates the previously developed SEA knowledge base. A case history for previous flight experiment will be shown as an example, and capabilities and limitations of the system will be discussed.

Pippin, H. G.↗

FAIRness and Usability for Open-Access Omics Data Systems

Omics data sharing is especially crucial to the biological research community, and the last decade or two has seen a huge rise in collaborative analysis systems, databases, and knowledge bases for omics and other systems biology data. We assessed the "FAIRness" of NASA's GeneLab Data Systems (GLDS) along with four similar kinds of systems in the research omics data domain, using 14 FAIRness metrics. 14 metrics. The range of Pass ratings was 29-79% of the 14 metrics, Partial Pass 0-21%, and Fail 7-50%. The range of overall FAIRness scores was 5-12 (out of 14). The systems we evaluated performed the best in the areas of data findability and accessibility, and worst in the area of data interoperability. We propose two new principles that Big Data systems, in particular, should consider for increasing data accessibility. We relate our experiences implementing semantic integration of omics data from several systems for the federated querying and retrieval functions of the GLDS, given the shortcomings in data interoperability of these systems.

Berrios, Daniel C.↗

Gusev Crater Paleolake: Two-Billion Years of Martian Geologic, (and Biologic?) History

Ancient Martian lakes are sites where the climatological, chemical, and possibly biological history of the planet has been recorded. Their potential to keep this global information in their sedimentary deposits, potential only shared with the polar layered-deposits, designates them as the most promising targets for the ongoing exploration of Mars in terms of science return and global knowledge about Mars evolution. Many of the science priority objectives of the Surveyor Program can be met by exploring ancient Martian lake beds. Among martian paleolakes, lakes in impact craters represent probably the most favorable sites to explore. Though highly destructive events when they occur, impacts may have provided in time a significant energy source for life, by generating heat, and at the contact of water and/or ice, deep hydrothermal systems, which are considered as favorable environments for life. In addition, impact crater lakes are changing environments, from thermally driven systems at the very first stage of their formation, to cold ice-protected potential oases in the more recent Martian geological times. Thus, they are plausible sites to study the progression of diverse microbiologic communities.

Cabrol, N. A.↗

Interpolating Fields of Carbon Monoxide Data Using a Hybrid Statistical-Physical Model

Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide (CO) is a pollutant gas of which the US congress has mandated regular monitoring, and satellite sensors can be used to retrieve regional concentrations of CO over several vertical layers. However, CO at cloudy locations cannot be observed and have to be estimated from the observed data set, resulting in an interpolation problem. The current state-of-the-art solution is to combine prior information, computed by a deterministic physical model, with observations. However, the deterministic model may introduce uncertainties that do not derive from the data. While sharing certain features with the physical model, this paper presents a Bayesian hierarchical model for interpolating CO on a 3-dimensional spatial grid, across time. To our knowledge such a model has not been considered before. The model is applied to a hypothetical air-quality monitoring scenario, and is compared to existing interpolation methods. The results provide motivation for the use of the statistical model for regional to local applications.

Arellano, A. A.↗

Software Helps Retrieve Information Relevant to the User

The Adaptive Indexing and Retrieval Agent (ARNIE) is a code library, designed to be used by an application program, that assists human users in retrieving desired information in a hypertext setting. Using ARNIE, the program implements a computational model for interactively learning what information each human user considers relevant in context. The model, called a "relevance network," incrementally adapts retrieved information to users individual profiles on the basis of feedback from the users regarding specific queries. The model also generalizes such knowledge for subsequent derivation of relevant references for similar queries and profiles, thereby, assisting users in filtering information by relevance. ARNIE thus enables users to categorize and share information of interest in various contexts. ARNIE encodes the relevance and structure of information in a neural network dynamically configured with a genetic algorithm. ARNIE maintains an internal database, wherein it saves associations, and from which it returns associated items in response to a query. A C++ compiler for a platform on which ARNIE will be utilized is necessary for creating the ARNIE library but is not necessary for the execution of the software.

Mathe, Natalie↗