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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 361 records · Page 20

Leveraging Solar Thermal Energy for Net-Zero Brewing

Firestone Walker Brewing Company (FWBC), Paso Robles, California, owns a 1-million-barrel (BBL) brewery that requires up to 5 MW of process heat in form of saturated steam. Firestone Walker Brewery has set a goal of reducing carbon emissions by 50% for our 1 million BBL brewery.

Palacio, Juan [Firestone Walker Inc., Paso Robles,↗

Leveraging Gaussian Mixture Models for Detecting Anomalies in Time-Series Data

Test systems must be capable of classifying measured data as expected or anomalous in real time. Anomalous results may portend system failure, and, if undetected, may result in damage to the unit, test equipment, or potential harm to personnel. This report investigates the use of Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs) as a clustering tool in classifying time-series data.

Wilke, Rudeger H.T. [Sandia National Laboratories ↗

Leveraging gradient weighted class activation mapping to improve classification effectiveness: Case study in transportation infrastructure characterization

Roadway “corners†are common for pedestrian use, whether designated with markings or not. Different types of markings have been deployed, ranging from simple parallel lines to more complex designs. Understanding the impact of different types of crosswalks is important for public safety. In this work we explore methods to improve the logging of marked crosswalk types. We used the Roadway Information Database from the Second Strategic Highway Research Project and used active learning methods with transfer learning to identify the crosswalk types (marked or unmarked). Upon completion we found our classifiers were unable to perform above roughly 94% correct classifications. To improve their efficacy, we separated the crosswalks into their “fine grained†types and used Gradient-Weighted Class Activation Mapping to isolate and study the features that classified the crosswalks. We compared this with sampled manually marked crosswalks and present findings. We believe this use case can represent a process to improve the active learning method for some visual machine learning applications.

Karnowski, Thomas↗

MassIVE MSV000085948 - Utilization of syringyl lignin-derived compounds and production of 2-pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylic acid by Pseudomonas putida KT2440: Lignin is an abundant aromatic polymer formed in plants by coupling reactions of p-coumaryl, coniferyl, and sinapyl alcohols. Pseudomonas putida KT2440 (P. putida KT2440), a robust soil bacterium, naturally catabolizes many aromatic compounds derived from lignin as carbon and energy sources and has been extensively engineered to valorize guaiacyl (G) and p-hydroxyphenyl (H) lignin-derived aromatic species to valuable chemicals. However, only a few studies report the capacity of Pseudomonads to grow on syringyl (S) lignin-derived compounds. In this work, we demonstrate that P. putida KT2440 catabolizes syringate in the presence of an auxiliary energy source. Overexpression of vanAB, encoding a native Rieske non-heme iron monooxygenase, enabled catabolism of syringate and syringaldehyde without an additional carbon and energy source. In vitro biochemical characterization of VanAB confirmed that this enzyme O-demethylates syringate to 3-O-methylgallate and, subsequently, 3-O-methylgallate to gallate, albeit 4- and 55-fold less efficiently than vanillate, respectively. Transcriptomics and proteomics experiments demonstrate that the galADBC transcripts and enzymes required for gallate catabolism are induced when vanAB is overexpressed during cultivation in syringate. Further, we show that that the endogenous protocatechuate-3,4-dioxygenase PcaHG ring-opens gallate to produce 2-pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylic acid (PDC), a promising bio-based chemical. Constitutive overexpression of vanAB and pcaHG along with galA deletion enabled PDC production from SA at a 70% (mol/mol) yield. Furthermore, leveraging the LigAB dioxygenase from Sphingobium sp. SYK-6 and VanAB O-demethylase from Pseudomonas sp. HR199 enabled simultaneous conversion of monomers with S-, G-, and H-type functionality to PDC at 82% (mol/mol) yield. Overall, this study elucidates a native pathway for catabolism of syringyl lignin-derived compounds in P. putida KT2440 and demonstrates the potential of this robust host for biological funneling of substrates derived from all three canonical monolignols.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Beckham, Gregg↗

Leveraging hyperspectral imaging to identify drought tolerant Populus species and genotypes within species

The aim of this study was to identity variation in drought tolerance across genotypes of Populus deltoides, Populus trichocarpa, and hybrids of the two species. A panel of 102 Populus genotypes, comprising 37 genotypes of P. trichocarpa, 37 of P. deltoides and 28 unique hybrid genotypes (P. trichocarpa x P. deltoides and P. deltoides x P. trichocarpa) were evaluated in the greenhouse under two treatments, well-watered (WW) and drought (DS). Plant physiological data were collected throughout the experiment once the drought treatment began. Throughout the experiment, we tracked soil volumetric water content, pot weight, stomatal conductance, quantum yield of photosystem II, and electron transport rate. In addition to those measurements, upon completion of the experiment, we assessed above and belowground plant biomass, plant height and stem diameter, leaf number, specific leaf area, relative water content, total protein, and total chlorophyll. We obtained hyperspectral signatures of one leaf from each plant at the end of the experiment. Columns BC – LL are hyperspectral averages for one leaf from each plant at each wavelength as described in the column header.

Hyper-spectral imaging, Populus, plant stress tole↗

DICOMs, Missiles, and Metadata: The U.S. Nuclear Weapons Program Leverages a Medical Standard

Digital Imagine and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) images, although most commonly used in medical settings, have been widely adopted by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) for capturing images of the internal components in a nuclear weapon. DICOMs, a lesser-known file format that combine nested metadata structures with complex image data-including multiple planes, frames, and high resolution-require the creation of access copies to support usability within the DOE. Used primarily for ensuring the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)’s DICOM images and corresponding image metadata must be accessible to scientists and researchers via our institutional centralized databases. This paper describes the author's creation of a Python script that converts DICOM images into accessible, archive-friendly TIFF files while preserving key image data and metadata.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗

Leveraging CRISPR Cas9 RNPs and Cre- loxP in Picochlorum celeri for generation of field deployable strains and selection marker recycling

As new highly productive strains of algae are discovered and developed to meet the energy, chemical, and food requirements of the future, genetic engineering of those strains in a manner that yields deployable transformants is paramount. This study introduces the novel CRoxP ($\underline{\textrm{C}}$$\textrm{as9}$ $\underline{\textrm{R}}$$\textrm{NPs}$ coupled with an inducible $\underline{\textrm{CR}}$$\textrm{e}$-$\textrm{l}\underline{\textrm{oxP}}$) system for rapid generation of marker- and transgene-free strains of Picochlorum celeri. The CRoxP system allows reuse of selection markers without Cas9 expression in vivo, eliminating many of the bottlenecks associated with conventional CRISPR Cas9 use for precise genome editing. In P. celeri, transformants were generated with a turnaround time as short as 21 days between transformation and being ready for another round of transformation with the same selection marker by using the CRoxP system. As a use-case for CRoxP, depigmented strains of P. celeri were generated by multiplexed Cas9 disruption of major LHCII genes followed by either a second round of LHCII targeting, or knockout of an LHCI gene. One transformant tested in flask culture (R6) exhibited similar biomass production to the wild type with 46% less Chl a + b on a biomass basis. In photobioreactors and under diel light simulating a solar day, a transformant (LhcBM31) exhibited 34 g AFDW m –2 d –1 with 54% less Chl a + b on a biomass basis vs. wild type.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Improved chemical and isotopic labeling of biomembranes in Bacillus subtilis by leveraging CRISPRi inhibition of beta-ketoacyl-ACP synthase (fabF)

Assessing the structure of living microbial cell membranes is a challenging analytical goal. The cell membrane is defined by its transverse structure, an approximately 5 nm-thick selectively permeable bilayer that serves many important cellular functions. Compositionally complex, dynamic, and organized in both the transverse and lateral dimensions, understanding the cell membrane structure—and the role that structure plays in cellular function, communication, and environmental sensing is an active scientific effort. Previously, we have devised a novel isotopic labeling approach for membrane lipids to enable direct in vivo structural studies of the cell membrane in the Gram-positive bacterium, Bacillus subtilis , using small-angle neutron scattering. This was accomplished through a genetic inhibition of fatty acid (FA) degradation (Δ fadN ) and a chemical inhibition of FA biosynthesis using cerulenin, an irreversible inhibitor of type II fatty acid synthases. Here, we improve upon the previous system by introducing a dCas9/sgRNA- fabF complex that blocks transcription of the essential fabF gene when under xylose induction. This leads to greater sensitivity to cerulenin in the mutant strain (JEBS102) and more robust cell growth when supplementary FAs are introduced to the culture medium. A subtle change in FA uptake is noted when compared to the prior labeling strategy. This is seen in the gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) data as a higher ratio of n 16:0 to a 15:0, and manifests in an apparent increase in the membrane thickness determined via neutron scattering. This represents an improved method of isotopic labeling for the cell membrane of Bacillus subtilis; enabling improved investigations of cellular uptake and utilization of FAs, cell membrane structure and organization as a phenotypic response to metabolic and environmental changes.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗