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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 379 records · Page 21
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

PAVC: The foundation for a Pan-Arctic Vegetation Cover database

Field-measured Arctic vegetation cover data is essential for creating accurate, high-quality vegetation structure and composition maps. Extrapolating field data into high-resolution cover maps provides detailed, function-specific information for use in Earth System Models, vegetation classifications, and monitoring vegetation change over time and space. However, field campaigns that collect plant cover vary substantially in scope, method, and purpose, which makes them difficult to unify across data stores, and they are often not designed to meet remote sensing needs. In this work, we synthesized and harmonized field-based fractional cover data from various data stores to create a high-quality, consistent repository schema for remote sensing-based vegetation cover mapping applications. We developed a reproducible workflow for synthesizing visual estimate and point-intercept fractional cover data. The resultant Pan-Arctic Vegetation Cover (PAVC) database contains synthesized fractional cover at both the species and plant functional type levels. The latter includes absolute foliar cover for deciduous shrubs and trees, evergreen shrubs and trees, forbs, graminoids, lichen, bryophytes, and “other” vegetation, as well as absolute cover for litter and top cover for water and bare ground.

Steckler, Morgan R. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory↗
DOE OSTI2018

Foundations and strategies of the construction of hybrid catalysts for optimized performances

Catalysts are generally classified into three categories: homogeneous, heterogeneous and enzyme, each evolved as an independent field. Efforts to bridge these fields are scarce but desirable. In this paper, we first describe how numerous classes of reactions can be achieved by all three categories of catalysts. Examples are given based on a selective survey of the literature. Next, a selection of important approaches, the benefits and challenges of constructing heterogeneous–homogeneous, heterogeneous–enzyme and homogeneous–enzyme hybrid catalysts are discussed based on published researches. Hybrid catalysts not only increase the performance, including activity, selectivity, lifetime and recyclability compared to one of the components, but also offer extra functions such as a microenvironment for different reaction pathways, and cascade catalysis for products that are challenging to produce. Finally, we expect future tailor-made hybrid catalysts will combine the advantages of the components and be optimized for industrial applications.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Theoretical foundations of waste factor and waste figure with applications to fixed wireless access and relay systems

The growing energy demands of next-generation wireless systems call for unified, system-level metrics to evaluate and optimize energy efficiency. This paper advances the concept of the Waste Factor (W), or Waste Figure (WF) in decibel scale, as a general framework for modeling power loss across cascaded communication components. By integrating W into the Consumption Factor (CF)–the ratio of data rate to consumed power–we reveal how component inefficiencies influence the minimum achievable energy per bit. Closed-form expressions are derived for energy-per-bit consumption in both direct and relay-assisted links, along with a decision rule for selecting the more energy-efficient path. While not explicitly modeled, Reflective Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) are shown to fit naturally within this framework. The analysis is further applied to a Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) scenario, where asymmetries in traffic direction and hardware inefficiencies are jointly considered, demonstrating the utility of the Waste Factor in guiding energy-aware system design.

Sevim, Nurullah [Texas A&M University, College Sta↗
DOE OSTI2014

Foundation of Hydrodynamics of Strongly Interacting Systems

Hydrodynamics and quantum mechanics have many elements in common, as the density field and velocity fields are common variables that can be constructed in both descriptions. Starting with the Schroedinger equation and the Klein-Gordon for a single particle in hydrodynamical form, we examine the basic assumptions under which a quantum system of particles interacting through their mean fields can be described by hydrodynamics.

Wong, Cheuk-Yin↗
DOE OSTI2011

Foundations of Quantum Mechanics: recent developments at INRIM

This paper's purpose is to show some experiments performed in the 'Carlo Novero' labs of the Optics Division of the National Institute of Metrological Research (INRIM, Torino, Italy) in the last years, aiming to discriminate between Standard Quantum Mechanics and some specific, restricted class of Hidden Variable Theories (HVTs).The first experiment, realized in two different configurations, will perform the Alicki - Van Ryn non-classicality test on single particles, in our specific case heralded single photons. The second experiment instead will be on the testing of two restricted Local Realistic Theories (LRTs), properly built to describe polarization entangled photons experiments, whose inequalities are not affected by the detection loophole.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Universal scaling of potential energy functions describing intermolecular interactions. I. Foundations and scalable forms of new generalized Mie, Lennard-Jones, Morse, and Buckingham exponential-6 potentials

Based on the formulation of the analytical expression of the potential V(r) describing intermolecular interactions in terms of the dimensionless variables r*=r/rm and !*=V/!, where rm is the separation at the minimum and ! the well depth, we propose more generalized scalable forms for the commonly used Lennard-Jones, Mie, Morse and Buckingham exponential-6 potential energy functions (PEFs). These new generalized forms have an additional parameter from and revert to the original ones for some choice of that parameter. In this respect, the original forms can be considered as special cases of the more general forms that are introduced. We also propose a scalable, but nonrevertible to the original one, 4-parameter extended Morse potential.

Xantheas, Sotiris S.↗
DOE OSTI2018

The physical foundation of the reconnection electric field

Magnetic reconnection is a key charged particle transport and energy conversion process in environments ranging from astrophysical systems to laboratory plasmas [Yamada et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 603–664 (2010)]. Magnetic reconnection facilitates plasma transport by establishing new connections of magnetic flux tubes, and it converts, often explosively, energy stored in the magnetic field to kinetic energy of charged particles [J. L. Burch and J. F. Drake, Am. Sci. 97, 392–299 (2009)]. The intensity of the magnetic reconnection process is measured by the reconnection electric field, which regulates the rate of flux tube connectivity changes. The change of magnetic connectivity occurs in the current layer of the diffusion zone, where the plasma transport is decoupled from the transport of magnetic flux. Here we report on computer simulations and analytic theory to provide a self-consistent understanding of the role of the reconnection electric field, which extends substantially beyond the simple change of magnetic connections. Rather, we find that the reconnection electric field is essential to maintain the current density in the diffusion region, which would otherwise be dissipated by a set of processes. Natural candidates for current dissipation are the average convection of current carriers away from the reconnection region by the outflow of accelerated particles, or the average rotation of the current density by the magnetic field reversal in the vicinity. Instead, we show here that the current dissipation is the result of thermal effects, underlying the statistical interaction of current-carrying particles with the adjacent magnetic field. We find that this interaction serves to redirect the directed acceleration of the reconnection electric field to thermal motion. This thermalization manifests itself in form of quasi-viscous terms in the thermal energy balance of the current layer. This collisionless viscosity, found in the pressure evolution equation, dominates near the x-line. These quasi-viscous terms act to increase the average thermal energy. Our predictions regarding current and thermal energy balance are readily amenable to exploration in the laboratory or by satellite missions, in particular, by NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale mission.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Metriplectic foundations of gyrokinetic Vlasov–Maxwell–Landau theory

Here, this Letter reports on a metriplectic formulation of a collisional, nonlinear full-f electromagnetic gyrokinetic theory compliant with energy conservation and monotonic entropy production. In an axisymmetric background magnetic field, the toroidal angular momentum is also conserved. Notably, a new collisional current, contributing to the gyrokinetic Maxwell–Ampère equation and the gyrokinetic charge conservation law, is discovered.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Foundations of magnetohydrodynamics

In this tutorial, a derivation of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) valid beyond the usual ideal gas approximation is presented. Non-equilibrium thermodynamics is used to obtain conservation equations and linear constitutive relations. When coupled with Maxwell's equations, this provides closed fluid equations in terms of material properties of the plasma, described by the equation of state and transport coefficients. These properties are connected to microscopic dynamics using the Irving–Kirkwood procedure and Green–Kubo relations. Symmetry arguments and the Onsager–Casimir relations allow one to vastly simplify the number of independent coefficients. Importantly, expressions for current density, heat flux, and stress (conventionally Ohm's law, Fourier's law, and Newton's law) take different forms in systems with a non-ideal equation of state. The traditional form of the MHD equations, which is usually obtained from a Chapman–Enskog solution of the Boltzmann equation, corresponds to the ideal gas limit of the general equations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Nutrient availability and senescence spatially structure the dynamics of a foundation species

Significance Landscapes are spatially heterogeneous, and the measurement of spatial pattern is dependent upon observation scale. Understanding plant populations requires assessing their extrinsic interactions with the environment as well as intrinsic biological processes and has been difficult because of the inability to track both plant abundance and health on appropriate scales. We introduce remote sensing observations that assess the abundance and health of giant kelp, an important ecosystem-structuring species, over regional and local scales. We find that both extrinsic nutrient availability and intrinsic senescence processes regulate population dynamics but on regional and local scales, respectively. This suggests that future satellite missions will be able to assess plant abundance and health and their interactions with the environment on local to global scales.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗