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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 451 records · Page 25

Multivalency transforms SARS-CoV-2 antibodies into ultrapotent neutralizers

SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, has caused a global pandemic. Antibodies can be powerful biotherapeutics to fight viral infections. Here, we use the human apoferritin protomer as a modular subunit to drive oligomerization of antibody fragments and transform antibodies targeting SARS-CoV-2 into exceptionally potent neutralizers. Using this platform, half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC 50 ) values as low as 9 × 10 - 14 M are achieved as a result of up to 10,000-fold potency enhancements compared to corresponding IgGs. Combination of three different antibody specificities and the fragment crystallizable (Fc) domain on a single multivalent molecule conferred the ability to overcome viral sequence variability together with outstanding potency and IgG-like bioavailability. The MULTi-specific, multi-Affinity antiBODY (Multabody or MB) platform thus uniquely leverages binding avidity together with multi-specificity to deliver ultrapotent and broad neutralizers against SARS-CoV-2. The modularity of the platform also makes it relevant for rapid evaluation against other infectious diseases of global health importance. Neutralizing antibodies are a promising therapeutic for SARS-CoV-2.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Simultaneous visualization of wall motion, beam propagation, and implosion symmetry on the National Ignition Facility (invited)

Achieving a symmetric implosion in National Ignition Facility indirect drive targets requires understanding and control of dynamic changes to the laser power transport in the hohlraum. We developed a new experimental platform to simultaneously visualize wall-plasma motion and dynamic laser power transport in the hohlraum and are using it to investigate correlations of these measurements with the imploded capsule symmetry. In a series of experiments where we made one single parameter variation, we show the value of this new platform in developing an understanding of laser transport and implosion symmetry. This platform also provides a new way to evaluate dynamic performance of advanced hohlraum designs.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Coupled modeling of wake steering and platform offsets for floating wind arrays

Wake effects are a key challenge in the design and analysis of wind farms. For floating wind farms, the platforms offset under the aerodynamic loading of the turbine and are constrained by mooring systems that can vary significantly in allowable offsets. When considering wake steering, the crosswind offset of the turbine can counteract the lateral deflection of the wake. This work presents a tool to efficiently model the coupled impacts of wake steering and platform offsets for floating wind farms. The tool relies on the frequency-domain wind farm model RAFT and the steady-state wake model FLORIS. A verification with FAST.Farm is presented, then the tool is applied to a simple two-turbine case study. A range of mooring systems with increasing platform offsets and varied yaw misalignment angles are considered while comparing the impact on turbine power. Additional sensitivities to turbine spacing and mooring system orientation are explored. The results show that there is a least-optimal watch circle width for downwind turbine power production that varies with yaw misalignment angle and turbine spacing. Additionally, the turbine offsets under yaw-misaligned conditions vary significantly depending on mooring system orientation relative to the rotor plane, which in turn impacts the optimal misalignment angle. These results highlight the importance of including floating platform offsets and mooring systems in the evaluation of wake steering strategies for floating wind arrays.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

ProgLIMI: Programmable LInk Metric Identification in Software-Defined Networks

In this paper, we propose the Programmable LInk Metric Identification (ProgLIMI) infrastructure for software-defined networking (SDN) networks. ProgLIMI identifies round-trip link metrics (RTLMs) from accumulated end-to-end metrics of selected measurement paths by leveraging the flexible routing control capability of SDN networks. ProgLIMI mainly solves three sub-problems: (1) monitor placement; (2) linearly independent measurement path construction; and (3) flow rule design. To reduce measurement cost, ProgLIMI tries to minimize the number of required monitors and flow rules. In this paper, we address the three sub-problems for both full and hybrid SDN networks. For full SDN networks, ProgLIMI can achieve full RTLM identification using only one monitor and two flow rules in each SDN switch. In contrast, the RTLM identification in hybrid SDN networks is more complicated due to the routing constraint of hybrid SDN networks. We first prove that the monitor placement problem in hybrid SDN networks is NP-hard. We then formulate the monitor placement and measurement path selection problem in hybrid SDN networks and propose a greedy heuristic algorithm to solve the problem efficiently. Our evaluations on both physical testbed and simulation platform reveal that ProgLIMI can accurately identify the RTLMs (delay and loss rate). Besides, ProgLIMI is also resource efficient, i.e., it only requires two flow rules in each SDN switch and a small number of monitors, and the extra probing traffic load incurred by ProgLIMI is also low.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Phylogenetic analyses and reclassification of the oleaginous marine species Nannochloris sp. “desiccata" (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta), formerly Chlorella desiccata , supported by a high-quality genome assembly

Microalgae are diverse, with many gaps remaining in phylogenetic and physiological understanding. Thus, studying new microalgae species increases our broader comprehension of biological diversity, and evaluation of new candidates as algal production platforms can lead to improved productivity under a variety of cultivation conditions. Chlorella is a genus of fast-growing species often isolated from freshwater habitats and cultivated as a source of nutritional supplements. However, the use of freshwater increases competition with other freshwater needs. We identified Chlorella desiccata to be worthy of further investigation as a potential algae production strain, due to its isolation from a marine environment and its promising growth and biochemical composition properties. Long-read genomic sequencing was conducted for C. desiccata UTEX 2526, resulting in a high-quality, near chromosome level, diploid genome with an assembly length of 21.55 Mbp in only 18 contigs. We also report complete circular mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes. Phylogenomic and phylogenetic analyses using nuclear, chloroplast, 18S rRNA, and actin sequences revealed that this species clades within strains currently identified as Nannochloris (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta), leading to its reclassification as Nannochloris sp. “desiccata” UTEX 2526. The mode of cell division for this species is autosporulation, differing from the type species N. bacillaris. As has occurred across multiple microalgae genera, there are repeated examples of Nannochloris species reclassification in the literature. This high-quality genome assembly and phylogenetic analysis of the potential algal production strain Nannochloris sp. “desiccata” UTEX 2526 provides an important reference and useful tool for further studying this region of the phylogenetic tree.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

3D Reality Energy Modeling Software

The team will combine Bentley Systems’ ContextCapture and extend Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s building energy modeling capabilities in order to create digital twins of buildings that allow simulation-informed improvement for energy efficiency and demand response in the design and operation of the built environment. Bentley Systems’ ContextCapture software processes data from 3D laser scanning and photographs (through photogrammetry) to create a photorealistic, 3D mesh with a scale of individual objects to building to city-sized. This capability easily provides city-level visualization models and platforms where sustainable design alternatives are readily evaluated. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) serves the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) as one of three core laboratories developing building energy modeling tools EnergyPlus and OpenStudio. ORNL’s AutoBEM software (bit.ly/AutoBEM) can process imagery (satellite, aerial, and street level), LiDAR, cartographic layers, tax assessor’s data, and other data sources to extract building footprints, height, window-to-wall ratio, building type, vintage, and other building properties. AutoBEM has created 178,368 building energy models that were empirically validated with 15-minute whole-building electrical data from a utility.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

A New Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication System: Visual-Enhanced Cooperative Traffic Operations

The advent of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) has highlighted the necessity for robust communication systems between vehicles and their environment. This study introduces a novel vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication system, termed the Visual-Enhanced Cooperative Traffic Operations (VECTOR) system. The VECTOR system addresses the need for robust communication by converting dynamic data (including velocity and yaw angle data) into binary code, which is displayed on an LED panel mounted on the top of the vehicle. Following vehicles detect this panel and decode the information using a camera, implementing a visual-based communication method. VECTOR system employs a comprehensive five-module process. Initially, polynomial fitting techniques are applied to velocity data over fixed time intervals using third-degree polynomials, with validation via R² and MSE metrics. The second module converts velocity and yaw angle data into binary form, thereby enhancing detection and processing efficiency. The third module focuses on improving detection stability across various environmental conditions to enhance traffic safety. The fourth module decodes the binary data back into trajectory information, ensuring the fidelity of velocity and yaw angles. The final module integrates eco-control through the VECTOR system, employing advanced control algorithms to minimize energy consumption in CAVs. Experimental evaluations conducted using a modified CAV test platform based on the Lincoln MKZ demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the VECTOR system, achieving a 75% R-squared accuracy rate in replicating original velocity data. This methodology not only highlights potential applications but also underscores significant implications for advancing CAV technology.

Ma, Ke↗

Woody Plant Transformation: Current Status, Challenges, and Future Perspectives

Woody plants, comprising forest and fruit tree species, provide essential ecological and economic benefits to society. Their genetic improvement is challenging due to long generation intervals and high heterozygosity. Genetic transformation, which combines targeted DNA delivery with plant regeneration from transformed cells, offers a powerful alternative to accelerating their domestication and improvement. Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Rhizobium rhizogenes, and particle bombardment have been widely used for DNA delivery into a wide variety of explants, including leaves, stems, hypocotyls, roots, and embryos, with regeneration occurring via direct organogenesis, callus-mediated organogenesis, somatic embryogenesis, or hairy root formation. Despite successes, conventional approaches are hampered by low efficiency, genotype dependency, and a reliance on challenging tissue culture. This review provides a critical analysis of the current landscape in woody plant transformation, moving beyond a simple summary of techniques to evaluate the co-evolution of established platforms with disruptive technologies. Key advances among these include the use of developmental regulators to engineer regeneration, the rise in in planta systems to bypass tissue culture, and the imperative for DNA-free genome editing to meet regulatory and public expectations. By examining species-specific breakthroughs in key genera, including Populus, Malus, Citrus, and Pinus, this review highlights a paradigm shift from empirical optimization towards rational, predictable engineering of woody plants for a sustainable future.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens↗

A Generalized approach to the operationalization of Software Quality Models

Comprehensive measures of quality are a research imperative, yet the development of software quality models is a wicked problem. Definitive solutions do not exist and quality is subjective at its most abstract. Definitional measures of quality are contingent on a domain, and even within a domain, the choice of representative characteristics to decompose quality is subjective. Thus, the operationalization of quality models brings even more challenges. A promising approach to quality modeling is the use of hierarchies to represent characteristics, where lower levels of the hierarchy represent concepts closer to real-world observations. Building upon prior hierarchical modeling approaches, we developed the Platform for Investigative software Quality Understanding and Evaluation (PIQUE). PIQUE surmounts several quality modeling challenges because it allows modelers to instantiate abstract hierarchical models in any domain by leveraging organizational tools tailored to their specific contexts. Here, we introduce PIQUE; exemplify its utility with two practical use cases; address challenges associated with parameterizing a PIQUE model; and describe algorithmic techniques that tackle normalization, aggregation, and interpolation of measurements.

Data aggregation↗

High data rate optical transceiver terminal

The objectives of this study were: (1) to design a 400 Mbps optical transceiver terminal to operate from a high-altitude balloon-borne platform in order to permit the quantitative evaluation of a space-qualifiable optical communications system design, (2) to design an atmospheric propagation experiment to operate in conjunction with the terminal to measure the degrading effects of the atmosphere on the links, and (3) to design typical optical communications experiments for space-borne laboratories in the 1980-1990 time frame. As a result of the study, a transceiver package has been configured for demonstration flights during late 1974. The transceiver contains a 400 Mbps transmitter, a 400 Mbps receiver, and acquisition and tracking receivers. The transmitter is a Nd:YAG, 200 Mhz, mode-locked, CW, diode-pumped laser operating at 1.06 um requiring 50 mW for 6 db margin. It will be designed to implement Pulse Quaternary Modulation (PQM). The 400 Mbps receiver utilizes a Dynamic Crossed-Field Photomultiplier (DCFP) detector. The acquisition receiver is a Quadrant Photomultiplier Tube (QPMT) and receives a 400 Mbps signal chopped at 0.1 Mhz.

Clarke, E. S.↗

Photovoltaic power-system options for the manned space construction base

The function of the proposed manned Space Construction Base (SCB) is to provide a permanent manned orbital facility for the construction and operation of a variety of space experiments, ranging from a space-processing development to on-orbit-constructed microwave radiometers and antennas. A typical SCB system might reach initial operational capability in low earth orbit in 1985, have a 10-year mission duration, and have an initial power requirement of 50 kWe. A summary of the requirements imposed by the SCB on the electrical power system (EPS) is presented in a table. Attention is given to EPS options, baseline power platform system operations, an energy storage system evaluation, advanced-technology NiCd batteries and lifetime, and orbital buildup operations.

Mckhann, G. G.↗

A seismic signal processor suitable for use with the NOAA/GOES satellite data collection system

Because of the high data-rate requirements, a practical system capable of collecting seismic information in the field and relaying it, via satellite, to a central collection point is not yet available. A seismic signal processor has been developed and tested for use with the NOAA/GOES satellite data collection system. Performance tests on recorded, as well as real time, short period signals indicate that the event recognition technique used is nearly perfect in its rejection of environmental noise and other non-seismic signals and that, with the use of solid state buffer memories, data can be acquired in many swarm situations. The design of a complete field data collection platform is discussed based on the prototype evaluation.

Webster, W. J., Jr.↗

Design of an expert system for estimating the cost of new knowledge in high energy astrophysics

The High Energy Astrophysics Costing Tool (HEACT) is a combined Expert System/Numerical Simulation to evaluate sensors and experiments proposed for space platforms in order to determine their expected performance and to assess the amount and quality of scientific information likely to be gathered by such experiments. The end product of this tool will be both a cost estimate for the experiment package as deployed and also an estimate of the amount of new scientific knowledge (both new data and reductions in the uncertainties of previous measurements) which would result from the actual deployment and operation of that experiment package. The numerical simulation part of HEACT will contain components to: (1) calculate the high energy signatures of both actual and proposed classes of astrophysical objects, and (2) model the response and resolution of the candidate sensors for observing those objects. The rule based part of the HEACT will be based on knowledge in the areas of experiment design, instrument selection, and system integration developed from experience with existing high energy astrophysics observatories, both orbiting and lofted by rockets or balloons. This paper presents mainly results from the design of the rule-based part of HEACT. It focuses on the structure of the rules and the structures used to represent the knowledge related to the design and integration of such experiments. Methods for integrating the results from numerical simulations into the expert system will also be discussed.

Bosworth, Edward L., Jr.↗

General purpose free floating platform for KC-135 flight experimentation

The Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems (CELSS) program is evaluating higher plants as a means of providing life support functions aboard space craft. These plant systems will be capable of regenerating air and water while meeting some of the food requirements of the crew. In order to grow plants in space, a series of systems are required to provide the necessary plant support functions. Some of the systems required for CELSS experiments are such that is is likely that existing technologies will require refinement, or novel technologies will need to be developed. To evaluate and test these technologies, a series of KC-135 precursor flights are being proposed. A general purpose free floating experiment platform is being developed to allow the KC-135 flights to be used to their fullest. This paper will outline the basic design for the CELSS Free Floating Test Bed (FFTB), and the requirements for the individual subsystems. Several preliminary experiments suitable for the free floater will also be discussed.

Borchers, Bruce A.↗

Measurement of In-Flight Aircraft Emissions

Aircraft engine emission and their chemical and physical evolution can be measured in flight using high resolution infrared spectroscopy. The Airborne Emission Spectrometer (AES), designed for remote measure- ments of atmosphere emissions from an airborne platform, is an ideal tool for the evaluation of aircraft emissions and their evolution. Capabilities of AES will be discussed. Ground data will be given.

Aircraft Emissions Spectrometer AES↗

First International Diagnosis Competition - DXC'09

A framework to compare and evaluate diagnosis algorithms (DAs) has been created jointly by NASA Ames Research Center and PARC. In this paper, we present the first concrete implementation of this framework as a competition called DXC 09. The goal of this competition was to evaluate and compare DAs in a common platform and to determine a winner based on diagnosis results. 12 DAs (model-based and otherwise) competed in this first year of the competition in 3 tracks that included industrial and synthetic systems. Specifically, the participants provided algorithms that communicated with the run-time architecture to receive scenario data and return diagnostic results. These algorithms were run on extended scenario data sets (different from sample set) to compute a set of pre-defined metrics. A ranking scheme based on weighted metrics was used to declare winners. This paper presents the systems used in DXC 09, description of faults and data sets, a listing of participating DAs, the metrics and results computed from running the DAs, and a superficial analysis of the results.

Kurtoglu, tolga↗

XHAB 2012 Final Report Habitat Demonstration Unit Lite

The University of Maryland Space Systems Laboratory (SSL) was awarded a NASA X-Hab 2012 grant for the design and construction of a new Earth analogue habitat for habitability research. This work builds on the past ECLIPSE and X-Hab projects at the SSL, by combining these elements with a new habitat module in order to create a single research platform for habitability studies. The “Crew Habitat Evaluator for Long-duration Orbital, Near-earth, and Interplanetary Applications” (CHELONIA) will deliver a much more flexible architecture than the previously developed mock-ups, allowing facilitating faster modification of the interior layouts and available total volume. This will enable the investigators to evaluate crew assessments and task performance as a function of the interior layout, functional area allocation and total available volume. This paper documents the design of this new infrastructure, and includes the details of the manufacturing of a new habitat mock-up module and modifications to the existing elements. The paper also includes a brief discussion of possible future research goals. Initial layouts are implemented using foam-core volumetric mock-ups for internal equipment and outfitting. These low fidelity mock-ups constitute a “library” that will allow a very rapid evaluation of a multitude of layouts. CHELONIA is also suitable for higher fidelity functional mock-ups, as well as short to medium-duration mission simulations. This new facility will enable the examination of habitat layouts for both partial gravity and microgravity environments. While partial gravity systems will be easily evaluated with the habitat currently in development, microgravity subsystems will be studied by utilizing low fidelity volumetric neutral buoyancy mock-ups in order to determine if commonality in the design for these two environments is appropriate. Finally, this new facility is being integrated into the SSL Moonyard planetary surface simulation center. The Moonyard simulates a planetary surface by means of a large sandbox, and is used primarily for rover field trials and suit systems evaluation. This new facility will be a prime element in future Earth analog simulations at the University of Maryland in support of NASA exploration objectives.

Kevin Davis↗

Machine learning based noise reduction for satellite products: application to solar-induced fluorescence retrievals using simulated and real data

In the past two decades, global satellite measurements of terrestrial chlorophyll solar-induced fluorescence (SIF) have been used widely for a number of different applications related to physiology, phenology, and productivity of plants. However, SIF retrievals are inherently noisy due to the relatively small SIF spectral signature in comparison with observational noise. In this work, we examine how a spectral-based approach that employs principal component analysis along with a relatively shallow artificial neural network can be used to reduce noise and other artifacts in satellite level 2 (L2) products. We first apply the approach in a controlled environment in which radiance spectra are simulated with a full atmospheric and surface radiative transfer model for different scenarios including various SIF values that are known. Various levels of noise can be added to the simulated spectra. Resulting noisy and noise-reduced SIF retrievals are compared with the true values to assess performance. We then apply the noise reduction approach to real SIF derived from instruments flying on meteorological satellites. The results are evaluated by comparing SIF retrievals from different platforms with each other and with other independent data sets, showing enhanced capability to capture seasonal and interannual variability in SIF.

Chlorophyll fluorescence↗