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At least 397 records · Page 22

Improved chemistry restraints for crystallographic refinement by integrating the Amber force field into Phenix

The refinement of biomolecular crystallographic models relies on geometric restraints to help to address the paucity of experimental data typical in these experiments. Limitations in these restraints can degrade the quality of the resulting atomic models. Here, an integration of the full all-atom Amber molecular-dynamics force field into Phenix crystallographic refinement is presented, which enables more complete modeling of biomolecular chemistry. The advantages of the force field include a carefully derived set of torsion-angle potentials, an extensive and flexible set of atom types, Lennard–Jones treatment of nonbonded interactions and a full treatment of crystalline electrostatics. The new combined method was tested against conventional geometry restraints for over 22 000 protein structures. Structures refined with the new method show substantially improved model quality. On average, Ramachandran and rotamer scores are somewhat better, clashscores and MolProbity scores are significantly improved, and the modeling of electrostatics leads to structures that exhibit more, and more correct, hydrogen bonds than those refined using traditional geometry restraints. In general it is found that model improvements are greatest at lower resolutions, prompting plans to add the Amber target function to real-space refinement for use in electron cryo-microscopy. This work opens the door to the future development of more advanced applications such as Amber -based ensemble refinement, quantum-mechanical representation of active sites and improved geometric restraints for simulated annealing.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Near Real Time Air Quality Forecasts Using the NASA GEOS Model

This presentation provides an overview of NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) high-resolution global forecast and reanalysis products for weather, aerosols, and air quality. The NASA Global Earth Observing System (GEOS) model radiatively coupled to GOCART aerosol module assimilates 2-dimensional column-integrated aerosol optical depth (AOD) at one wavelength (550 nm) in order to constrain the model's background AOD in order to have the best historical estimate and forecasts of AOD and particulate matter. Furthermore, the GEOS model has been expanded to provide global near-real-time 5-day forecasts of atmospheric composition at unprecedented horizontal resolution of 0.25 degrees (~25 km). This composition forecast system (GEOS-CF) combines the operational GEOS weather forecasting model with the state-of-the-science GEOS-Chem chemistry module (version 12) to provide detailed analysis of a wide range of air pollutants such as ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and fine particulate matter (PM2.5).

K Emma Knowland↗

Near Real Time Air Quality Forecasts Using the NASA GEOS Model

This presentation provides an overview of NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) high-resolution global forecast and reanalysis products for weather, aerosols, and air quality. The NASA Global Earth Observing System (GEOS) model radiatively coupled to GOCART aerosol module assimilates 2-dimensional column-integrated aerosol optical depth (AOD) at one wavelength (550 nm) in order to constrain the model's background AOD in order to have the best historical estimate and forecasts of AOD and particulate matter. Furthermore, the GEOS model has been expanded to provide global near-real-time 5-day forecasts of atmospheric composition at unprecedented horizontal resolution of 0.25 degrees (~25 km). This composition forecast system (GEOS-CF) combines the operational GEOS weather forecasting model with the state-of-the-science GEOS-Chem chemistry module (version 12) to provide detailed analysis of a wide range of air pollutants such as ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and fine particulate matter (PM2.5).

K Emma Knowland↗

3D Air Quality and the Clean Air Interstate Rule: Lagrangian Sampling of CMAQ Model Results to Aid Regional Accountability Metrics

The Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) is expected to reduce transport of air pollutants (e.g. fine sulfate particles) in nonattainment areas in the Eastern United States. CAIR highlights the need for an integrated air quality observational and modeling system to understand sulfate as it moves in multiple dimensions, both spatially and temporally. Here, we demonstrate how results from an air quality model can be combined with a 3d monitoring network to provide decision makers with a tool to help quantify the impact of CAIR reductions in SO2 emissions on regional transport contributions to sulfate concentrations at surface monitors in the Baltimore, MD area, and help improve decision making for strategic implementation plans (SIPs). We sample results from the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model using ensemble back trajectories computed with the NASA Langley Research Center trajectory model to provide Lagrangian time series and vertical profile information, that can be compared with NASA satellite (MODIS), EPA surface, and lidar measurements. Results are used to assess the regional transport contribution to surface SO4 measurements in the Baltimore MSA, and to characterize the dominant source regions for low, medium, and high SO4 episodes.

Fairlie, T. D.↗

Strong Lensing by Galaxies

Strong gravitational lensing at the galaxy scale is a valuable tool for various applications in astrophysics and cosmology. Some of the primary uses of galaxy-scale lensing are to study elliptical galaxies’ mass structure and evolution, constrain the stellar initial mass function, and measure cosmological parameters. Since the discovery of the first galaxy-scale lens in the 1980s, this field has made significant advancements in data quality and modeling techniques. In this review, we describe the most common methods for modeling lensing observables, especially imaging data, as they are the most accessible and informative source of lensing observables. We then summarize the primary findings from the literature on the astrophysical and cosmological applications of galaxy-scale lenses. We also discuss the current limitations of the data and methodologies and provide an outlook on the expected improvements in both areas in the near future.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Impact of wildfires on regional ozone and PM 2.5 : Considering the light absorption of Brown carbon

The influence of wildfire brown carbon (BrC) in moderating the formation of O 3 and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) due to its absorption of ultraviolet (UV) radiation is, for the first time, investigated using a modified community multiscale air quality (CMAQ) model. The wavelength-dependent imaginary refractive index of the organic carbon from wildfires, which are needed by the CMAQ model for its inline photolysis rate calculation, are generated experimentally from wood burning aerosols from a combustion chamber. On high emission days of the Bastrop County Complex fire in Texas in early September 2011, BrC UV absorption reduces the daytime average NO 2 photolysis rate by up to 38% in the core region of the wildfire plume compared to the base scenario that does not consider BrC absorption. Consequently, O 3 production in the smoke plume is suppressed compared to the base scenario due to reduced HO x radical concentrations. Further, in the core region, the predicted O 3 increase due to wildfire reaches as high as 47–123 ppb without considering BrC absorption, the predicted increase of O 3 is 5–15% lower when BrC absorption is considered. Similarly, considering the BrC UV absorption leads to approximately 1% (or ~2–3 µgm -3 ) lower estimation of the wildfire emissions’ impact on total PM 2.5 . This change is small because secondary aerosols, which are the components affected by BrC absorption, only account for a small fraction of the total PM 2.5 in wildfire impacted regions in this study. In addition, our study shows that assumptions about aerosol mixing state (core-shell vs. homogeneous) in the inline photolysis rate calculation would not significantly affect out assessment of the impact of wildfire BrC light absorption on O 3 and PM 2.5 .

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Persistent high PM 2.5 pollution driven by unfavorable meteorological conditions during the COVID-19 lockdown period in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China

Lockdown measures to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic in China halted most nonessential activities on January 23, 2020. Despite significant reductions in anthropogenic emissions, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region still experienced high air pollution concentrations. In this work, employing two emissions reduction scenarios, the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model was used to investigate the PM 2.5 concentrations change in this region. The model using the scenario (C3) with greater traffic reductions performed better compared to the observed PM 2.5 . Compared with the no reductions base-case (scenario C1), PM 2.5 reductions with scenario C3 were 2.70, 2.53, 2.90, 2.98, 3.30, 2.81, 2.82, 2.98, 2.68, and 2.83 µg/m 3 in Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Cangzhou, Chengde, Handan, Hengshui, Tangshan, and Xingtai, respectively. During high-pollution days in scenario C3, the percentage reductions in PM 2.5 concentrations in Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Cangzhou, Chengde, Handan, Hengshui, Tangshan, and Xingtai were 3.76, 3.54, 3.28, 3.22, 3.57, 3.56, 3.47, 6.10, 3.61, and 3.67%, respectively. However, significant increases caused by unfavorable meteorological conditions counteracted the emissions reduction effects resulting in high air pollution in BTH region during the lockdown period. This study shows that effective air pollution control strategies incorporating these results are urgently required in BTH to avoid severe pollution.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Ab initio study of the structure and properties of amorphous silicon hydride from accelerated molecular dynamics simulations

This paper presents a large-scale ab initio simulation study of amorphous silicon hydride (a-Si 1-x H x ) with an emphasis on the structure and properties of the material across a range of hydrogen concentration by combining accelerated molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with first-principles density-functional calculations. The accelerated MD scheme relied on classical metadynamics, which enabled the development of 2500+ high-quality structural models of a-Si 1-x H x , with system sizes ranging from 150 to 6000 atoms and hydrogen concentrations vary from 6 to 20 at. %. The resulting amorphous networks were found to be completely free from any coordination defects and that they all exhibited a pristine band-gap in their electronic spectrum. The microstructural properties of hydrogen distributions were examined with an emphasis on the presence of isolated and clustered environments of hydrogen atoms. The results were compared with experimental data obtained from X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance studies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Recent advances and applications of deep learning methods in materials science

Deep learning (DL) is one of the fastest-growing topics in materials data science, with rapidly emerging applications spanning atomistic, image-based, spectral, and textual data modalities. DL allows analysis of unstructured data and automated identification of features. The recent development of large materials databases has fueled the application of DL methods in atomistic prediction in particular. In contrast, advances in image and spectral data have largely leveraged synthetic data enabled by high-quality forward models as well as by generative unsupervised DL methods. In this article, we present a high-level overview of deep learning methods followed by a detailed discussion of recent developments of deep learning in atomistic simulation, materials imaging, spectral analysis, and natural language processing. For each modality we discuss applications involving both theoretical and experimental data, typical modeling approaches with their strengths and limitations, and relevant publicly available software and datasets. We conclude the review with a discussion of recent cross-cutting work related to uncertainty quantification in this field and a brief perspective on limitations, challenges, and potential growth areas for DL methods in materials science.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Geometrically frustrated interactions drive structural complexity in amorphous calcium carbonate

Amorphous calcium carbonate is an important precursor for biomineralization in marine organisms. Key outstanding problems include understanding the structure of amorphous calcium carbonate and rationalizing its metastability as an amorphous phase. Here we report high-quality atomistic models of amorphous calcium carbonate generated using state-of-the-art interatomic potentials to help guide fits to X-ray total scattering data. Exploiting a recently developed inversion approach, we extract from these models the effective Ca∙∙∙Ca interaction potential governing the structure. This potential contains minima at two competing distances, corresponding to the two different ways that carbonate ions bridge Ca 2+ -ion pairs. We reveal an unexpected mapping to the Lennard-Jones–Gauss model normally studied in the context of computational soft matter. The empirical model parameters for amorphous calcium carbonate take values known to promote structural complexity. We thus show that both the complex structure and its resilience to crystallization are actually encoded in the geometrically frustrated effective interactions between Ca 2+ ions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Overview of the OECD-NEA Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Cooperation (WPEC)

The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Working Party on International Nuclear Data Evaluation Cooperation (WPEC) was established in 1989 to facilitate collaboration in nuclear data activities. Over its thirty year history, different Subgroups have been created to address topics in nearly every aspect of nuclear data, including: experimental measurements, evaluation, validation, model development, quality assurance of databases and the development of software tools. WPEC has recently completed activities on fission yield evaluation, the general nuclear database structure (GNDS) to replace the ENDF-6 format, methods to provide feedback to evaluation, studies of specific capture cross sections, new methods in thermal scattering kernel evaluation and the Collaborative International Evaluated Library Organisation (CIELO) Pilot Project. Ongoing activities in GNDS application programming interface (API) development, methods for covariance evaluation and quality assurance in nuclear data validation using the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) database are complemented by the work of two Expert Groups that oversee the High-Priority Request List (HPRL) for Nuclear Data and the continuous development of the GNDS. New activities on the use of integral experiments for nuclear data validation and adjustment, as well as the use of the Shielding Integral Benchmark Archive and Database (SINBAD) for validation have begun and will be coordinated alongside future Subgroups. After three decades we will review the status of WPEC, how it integrates other collections and activities organised by the NEA and how it dovetails with the initiatives of the IAEA and other bodies to effectively coordinate international activities in nuclear data.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

merlin , an improved framework for the reconstruction of high-quality genome-scale metabolic models

Abstract Genome-scale metabolic models have been recognised as useful tools for better understanding living organisms’ metabolism. merlin (https://www.merlin-sysbio.org/) is an open-source and user-friendly resource that hastens the models’ reconstruction process, conjugating manual and automatic procedures, while leveraging the user's expertise with a curation-oriented graphical interface. An updated and redesigned version of merlin is herein presented. Since 2015, several features have been implemented in merlin, along with deep changes in the software architecture, operational flow, and graphical interface. The current version (4.0) includes the implementation of novel algorithms and third-party tools for genome functional annotation, draft assembly, model refinement, and curation. Such updates increased the user base, resulting in multiple published works, including genome metabolic (re-)annotations and model reconstructions of multiple (lower and higher) eukaryotes and prokaryotes. merlin version 4.0 is the only tool able to perform template based and de novo draft reconstructions, while achieving competitive performance compared to state-of-the art tools both for well and less-studied organisms.

Capela, João (ORCID:0000000212352922)↗

Study on Intelligent Compaction-Equipment Logistics Scheduling and Propagation Characteristics of Vibration Wave in Nonlinear Systems with Multistability Based on Field Test

The equipment scheduling and propagation characteristics of vibration wave from vibratory roller ⟶ filling material nonlinear systems with multistability are the core problems of subgrade intelligent construction technology, and the logistics scheduling of the equipment is directly related to the construction efficiency. Aiming at the shortages, one typical subgrade located at the Gu’an station of Beijing-Xiong’an city railway is selected to research and finish the field tests; some findings are shown as follows: first, some valuable suggestions about the logistics scheduling of intelligent equipment are proposed, which can break the barriers between the organizations and improve construction efficiency; second, when the vibration wave propagates from the vibratory roller ⟶ surface of filling material ⟶ different buried depths of filling material, the peak acceleration of vibration wave gradually decreases and is hyperbolic distribution approximately. At the same time, the sensitive of attenuation is shown as follows: Z R 2 >0.9), and the concrete functional relationship among different amplitudes of harmonics can be summarized as y = Ae −BX ; fourth, the vibration energy is mainly concentrated near 10–30 Hz in the vibratory roller, but when the vibration wave propagates from vibratory roller⟶filling material, the vibration energy gradually decreases with the increase in depth, and the marginal spectrum gradually changes from one peak to two peaks, that is, 30–50 Hz and 50–100 Hz; fifth, the vibration energy in the vibrational wheel is distributed averagely in the compaction process, and the effective compaction time is two seconds, which will be helpful for revealing the propagation characteristics of vibration wave, optimizing the compaction quality control models and providing some support for the development of intelligent compaction theory of railway subgrade.

Han, Yixuan↗

Benched: Upgrading and Updating the Los Alamos Benchmark Suite for the 21st Century [Slides]

The presentation begins by stating that most organizations make choices to handle specific things when preparing input files for validation, such as which elemental abundance data to use, how to decompose specific elements, and setting calculation precision. It also discusses the consequences, which include differing calculation results between different organizations for the same case, even when using the same code. This is illustrated by the intercomparison exercise and input files that are prepared by one organization and are not necessarily correct for another. The presentation explains that the Los Alamos Benchmark Suite is a centralized repository of high-quality benchmark models currently under development at LANL. The objectives of the new repository are to remain up to date with the latest ICSBEP revision, to have a formal review and revision process, to (eventually) be an open-source repository, and to provide new tools for improved input and output file generation and review.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Consortium for Production of Affordable Carbon Fibers in the United States (Final Report)

Various feedstocks from coal, petroleum and bio-based acrylonitrile were investigated for their ability to produce carbon fiber within DOE strength (250 ksi), modulus (25 Msi), elongation (>1%) and cost (≤$5/lb) goals for wider utilization in light-weight vehicles for the automotive industry. The overarching approach was to chemically identify and map the various feedstocks, understand the molecular transformation to produce carbon fiber precursors (mesophase for pitch materials of polyacrylonitrile polymer) and how these impact carbon fiber quality. Predictive models were built to relate the feedstocks and precursors to carbon fiber properties using atomistic and micro-scale modeling within ±15%. Using tow-level carbon fiber epoxy composites, carbon fibers tow-level predictions of elastic components of the carbon fibers were also successfully modeled within ±15%, using finite element analysis to confirm single filament carbon fiber properties. These models were validated with tow-level epoxy composite experiments from carbon fibers produced in this study.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Ab initio study of the structure and properties of amorphous silicon hydride from accelerated molecular dynamics simulations

This paper presents a large-scale ab initio simulation study of amorphous silicon hydride (a-Si 1-x H x ) with an emphasis on the structure and properties of the material across a range of hydrogen concentration by combining accelerated molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with first-principles density-functional calculations. The accelerated MD scheme relied on classical metadynamics, which enabled the development of 2600+ high-quality structural models of a-Si 1-x H x , with system sizes ranging from 150 to 6,000 atoms and hydrogen concentrations vary from 6 to 20 at. %. The resulting amorphous networks were found to be completely free from any coordination defects and that they all exhibited a pristine band-gap in their electronic spectrum. The microstructural properties of hydrogen distributions were examined with great emphasis on the presence of isolated and clustered environments of hydrogen atoms. The results were compared with a suite of experimental data obtained from x-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry and nuclear magnetic resonance studies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Wildfire Smoke Particle Properties and Evolution, from Space-Based Multi-Angle Imaging

Emitted smoke composition is determined by properties of the biomass burning source and ambient ecosystem. However, conditions that mediate the partitioning of black carbon (BC) and brown carbon (BrC) formation, as well as the spatial and temporal factors that drive particle evolution, are not understood adequately for many climate and air-quality related modeling applications. In situ observations provide considerable detail about aerosol microphysical and chemical properties, although sampling is extremely limited. Satellites offer the frequent global coverage that would allow for statistical characterization of emitted and evolved smoke, but generally lack microphysical detail. However, once properly validated, data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Observing System’s Multi-Angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) instrument can create at least a partial picture of smoke particle properties and plume evolution. We use in situ data from the Department of Energy’s Biomass Burning Observation Project (BBOP) field campaign to assess the strengths and limitations of smoke particle retrieval results from the MISR Research Aerosol (RA) retrieval algorithm. We then use MISR to characterize wildfire smoke particle properties and to identify the relevant aging factors in several cases, to the extent possible. The RA successfully maps qualitative changes in effective particle size, light absorption, and its spectral dependence, when compared to in situ observations. By observing the entire plume uniformly, the satellite data can be interpreted in terms of smoke plume evolution, including size-selective deposition, new-particle formation, and locations within the plume where BC or BrC dominates.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗