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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 469 records · Page 26
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Community size-spectra applied to recreational freshwater fisheries in Puerto Rican reservoirs

We developed a management framework based on community size-spectra (CSS) to establish targets to maximize desirable gamefish. We evaluated the influence of relative abundance of fish functional groups and watershed characteristics on the slope of the CSS or ecological efficiency. Both ecological efficiency and capacity were strongly influenced by relative abundance of fish functional groups and the degree of water level variation. Steeper slopes indicated overfished gamefish populations, whereas flatter slopes indicated systems dominated by undesirable invasive large-bodied low trophic position fish. We hypothesize that a desirable fishery would have a target range of CSS slopes that provides a deterministic community-based framework of predictable responses to environmental and food web changes that can be used to evaluate outcomes of management actions and a means to assess annual progress toward desirable conditions.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Structure-based decoupling of the pro- and anti-inflammatory functions of interleukin-10

Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is an immunoregulatory cytokine with both anti-inflammatory and immunostimulatory properties and is frequently dysregulated in disease. We used a structure-based approach to deconvolute IL-10 pleiotropy by determining the structure of the IL-10 receptor (IL-10R) complex by cryo–electron microscopy at a resolution of 3.5 angstroms. The hexameric structure shows how IL-10 and IL-10Rα form a composite surface to engage the shared signaling receptor IL-10Rβ, enabling the design of partial agonists. IL-10 variants with a range of IL-10Rβ binding strengths uncovered substantial differences in response thresholds across immune cell populations, providing a means of manipulating IL-10 cell type selectivity. Some variants displayed myeloid-biased activity by suppressing macrophage activation without stimulating inflammatory CD8 + T cells, thereby uncoupling the major opposing functions of IL-10. These results provide a mechanistic blueprint for tuning the pleiotropic actions of IL-10.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Mechanisms of Action of Dorsal Root Ganglion Stimulation

The dorsal root ganglion (DRG) serves as a pivotal site for managing chronic pain through dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRG-S). In recent years, the DRG-S has emerged as an attractive modality in the armamentarium of neuromodulation therapy due to its accessibility and efficacy in alleviating chronic pain refractory to conventional treatments. Despite its therapeutic advantages, the precise mechanisms underlying DRG-S-induced analgesia remain elusive, attributed in part to the diverse sensory neuron population within the DRG and its modulation of both peripheral and central sensory processing pathways. Emerging evidence suggests that DRG-S may alleviate pain by several mechanisms, including the reduction of nociceptive signals at the T-junction of sensory neurons, modulation of pain gating pathways within the dorsal horn, and regulation of neuronal excitability within the DRG itself. However, elucidating the full extent of DRG-S mechanisms necessitates further exploration, particularly regarding its supraspinal effects and its interactions with cognitive and affective networks. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial for optimizing neurostimulation technologies and improving clinical outcomes of DRG-S for chronic pain management. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the DRG anatomy, mechanisms of action of the DRG-S, and its significance in neuromodulation therapy for chronic pain.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Leak Detection and Sensor Importance Within a Solvent Extraction Process Abstract

In anticipation of the Special Nuclear Material test bed (Beartooth), Idaho National Laboratory has developed a smaller, multi-sensor system for analyzing the solvent extraction process. These systems will allow for research into nuclear fuel processing operations. The multi-sensor system consists of a row of centrifugal contactors and allows for measurement sources that are not traditionally used in the solvent extraction process to be explored including temperature, vibration, acoustics, pH, color, flow, and motor current. Currently, the solvent extraction process is very labor intensive and requires vigilant operators to identify the occurrence of leaks, which can be common during startup or after any change to the system. This study aims to locate leaks using non-traditional measurement sources then to identify which signals were of greatest importance in making this classification using Local Interpretable Model-agnostic Explanations. These results can be used to help solvent extraction process operators detect leaks and to inform future test beds designers to which sensors contain relevant, actionable information in this scenario.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Functional anatomy of zinc finger antiviral protein complexes

Abstract ZAP is an antiviral protein that binds to and depletes viral RNA, which is often distinguished from vertebrate host RNA by its elevated CpG content. Two ZAP cofactors, TRIM25 and KHNYN, have activities that are poorly understood. Here, we show that functional interactions between ZAP, TRIM25 and KHNYN involve multiple domains of each protein, and that the ability of TRIM25 to multimerize via its RING domain augments ZAP activity and specificity. We show that KHNYN is an active nuclease that acts in a partly redundant manner with its homolog N4BP1. The ZAP N-terminal RNA binding domain constitutes a minimal core that is essential for antiviral complex activity, and we present a crystal structure of this domain that reveals contacts with the functionally required KHNYN C-terminal domain. These contacts are remote from the ZAP CpG binding site and would not interfere with RNA binding. Based on our dissection of ZAP, TRIM25 and KHNYN functional anatomy, we could design artificial chimeric antiviral proteins that reconstitute the antiviral function of the intact authentic proteins, but in the absence of protein domains that are otherwise required for activity. Together, these results suggest a model for the RNA recognition and action of ZAP-containing antiviral protein complexes.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
DOE OSTI2026

Sparsomycin inhibits translation through a conserved mechanism across all domains of life

Abstract Sparsomycin (SPA) is a broad-spectrum inhibitor of protein synthesis with activity across all three domains of life. Although SPA has long been known to target the ribosomal peptidyl transferase center (PTC), previous structural studies suggested that SPA binds differently to bacterial ribosomes compared to their archaeal and eukaryotic counterparts—an unexpected conclusion given the high evolutionary conservation of the ribosomal catalytic center. Here, we show that SPA inhibits a majority of elongation-competent bacterial ribosomal complexes and present X-ray crystal structures of Thermus thermophilus 70S ribosomes stalled by SPA at the initiation and early elongation stages of translation. These structures reveal that SPA binds to the bacterial ribosome in a manner essentially identical to that observed in archaeal and eukaryotic ribosomes, establishing a unified structural mechanism of SPA action across all domains of life. In this conserved binding mode, SPA occupies the A-site cleft of the PTC and forms an extensive network of interactions with universally conserved ribosomal RNA nucleotides and the CCA-end of the P-site transfer RNA (tRNA), thereby stabilizing the peptidyl-tRNA substrate while sterically blocking accommodation of an incoming aminoacyl-tRNA. By clarifying the mode of action of SPA on the bacterial ribosome, our work provides a structural framework for the rational design of SPA derivatives with improved potency and bacterial specificity.

Paranjpe, Madhura N [Department of Biological Scie↗
DOE OSTI2020

Integrated Initiative for Plutonium and Actinide Missions

Recognizing the dynamic environment and challenges facing the plutonium and actinide missions at Los Alamos National Laboratory over the next decade, Laboratory leadership established Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Laboratory Agenda Item 2.6. This agenda item calls for the development and implementation of an integrated initiative for plutonium and actinide missions at Los Alamos. Over the next decade, Los Alamos has been asked to significantly ramp up pit production to help address nuclear stockpile and nuclear deterrence needs, heat source production to support expansion in space exploration, evaluation of stockpile returns, processing operations in support of nonproliferation, and the actinide science to support all of these efforts. All of this must be accomplished while significantly increasing the size of our plutonium and actinide missions workforce and modernizing and updating critical infrastructure. Only through enhanced integration of science, technology, and engineering (ST&E), manufacturing, and mission operations will we enable achievement of these critical missions. An overall summary of the plutonium and actinide missions is included in Figure 1 on Page 3 and Figure 2 on Page 4 summarizes our goals, objectives, FY 2021 recommended actions and internal strategic priorities that are key elements of our integrated initiative.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2023

Decarbonization Roadmap: Los Alamos National Laboratory [Slides]

The Net-Zero (NZ) Decarbonization Roadmap builds upon LANL’s storied & innovative energy-related history. It also builds upon existing LANL planning frameworks. The Net Zero Roadmap Framework defines a ‘whole of LANL’ approach for meeting overarching, builds upon existing planning efforts, identifies and prioritizes critical path actions LANL can adapt to meet net & real-time clean electricity targets, and identifies key technological challenges in achieving targets.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Solutions for Enhanced Legacy Probabilistic Risk Assessment Tools and Methodologies: Improving Efficiency of Model Development and Processing via Innovative Human Reliability Dependency Analysis

Probabilistic risk assessments (PRAs) are integral to nuclear power plant (NPP) operations, having tremendously benefitted the safety of the U.S. reactor fleet for decades. Insights obtained from the models have provided perspectives on a variety of applications, both at the plant and for the regulator. While these models are very useful, they are now being asked to represent and analyze aspects of the plant that were never envisioned by the initial PRA practitioners. Furthermore, heightened demands on the PRA models have led to increased computing power requirements. Additionally, as the complexity of the PRA models increased, the difficulty experienced by non-PRA experts in trying to understand these models, grasp the insights they provide, and effectively use that information has become problematic. The need for research to address key issues regarding PRA tools and methods has never been greater. Although the nuclear power industry has largely been well-served by these tools and methods, the underlying science is dated, remaining mostly unchanged for over two decades. Three areas were identified as most beneficial to address to maintain and improve the usefulness of the current practice legacy PRA tools: improved quantification speed, increased ability to efficiently model multi-hazard models, and improved modeling human action dependency in PRA. This report is focused on the third critical area, improvements in dependency analysis of human actions conducted as part of a typical human reliability assessment.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
NASA NTRS2017

Science in a Team Environment (AKA, How to Play Nicely with Others)

So you want to do NASA funded research in a spaceflight analog? There are several things about participating in an HRP managed analog that may be different from the way you normally do work in your laboratory. The purpose of this presentation is to highlight those differences and explain some of the unique aspects of doing this research. Participation in an HRP funded analog study complement, even if initially selected for funding, is not automatic and involves numerous actions from ISSMP, HRP, and the PI. There are steps that have to be taken and processes to follow before approval and ISSMP-FA integration. After the proposal and acceptance process the Investigator works closely with the Flight Analog team to ensure full integration of their study requirements into a compliment. A complement is comprised of a group of studies requiring a common platform and/or scenario that are able to be integrated on a non-interference basis for implementation. Full integration into the analog platform can be broken down into three phases: integration, preparation, and implementation. These phases occur in order with some overlap in the integration and preparation phase. The ISSMP-FA team integrates, plans and implements analog study complements. Properly defining your research requirements and getting them documented is one of the most critical components to ensure successful integration and implementation of your study, but is also one of the most likely to be neglected by PIs. Requirements that are not documented, or that are documented poorly are unlikely to get done, no matter how much you push. The process to document requirements is two-fold, consisting of an initial individual requirements integration and then a compliment requirements integration. Understanding the requirements in detail and early ensures that the science is not compromised by outside influences. This step is vital to the integration, preparation, and implementation phases. The individual requirements integration is the first step in ensuring that the research fits into an available analog platform or allows for the Flight Analog team to provide information on structural study changes for participation in the analog. At this early point investigators need to understand exactly what their requirements are to produce relevant data and convey their must have needs to the Flight Analog team. The fluid nature of analog platforms allow for minor alterations to the operational structure. Participation in analog research requires flexibility from the investigator to ensure implementation of their research into a flight like analog platform. The compliment integration requires plasticity; investigators are asked to work closely with one another and the Flight Analog team to combine research studies into a single study plan. This study plan's ultimate goal is to facilitate multiple study participation with minimal scientific impact to each individual study. The Flight Analogs team works to find the best compromise for all parties while protecting the flight like atmosphere of a particular analog. Additional restrictions, limitations and constraints may be required by the analog in order to make all of the science work. Many studies need to be combined into each complement and there are a limited number of hours available for data collection. Through data/sample sharing, we can reduce the burden on the test subject, while usually avoiding significant science impacts. Restrictions on food, exercise, medications and sleep cycle are important to consider for your research.

Platts, S. H.↗
DOE OSTI2026

RC-SFA Data Management Templates and Guidance for Standardized, Reusable AI-Ready Data Packages

This data package provides templates and supporting documentation developed by the River Corridor Science Focus Area (RC-SFA; https://www.pnnl.gov/projects/river-corridor) to communicate its approach to managing and publishing AI-ready data. The package is intended to help data users and data producers understand the structures, metadata practices, and quality-control approaches that support consistent, reusable, and machine-actionable data products across RC-SFA studies. Rather than focusing on a single experimental dataset, this package documents the data management framework used to make RC-SFA data easier to find, ingest, navigate, and interpret. The materials in this package reflect RC-SFA practices for standardized data package organization, including the use of a human- and machine-readable README, file-level metadata, data dictionaries, descriptive file naming, method identifiers, and automated and review-based quality assurance procedures. Together, these components illustrate how RC-SFA extends FAIR data principles toward AI-readiness by prioritizing deep metadata, consistency across data packages, and support for informed downstream reuse by both humans and computational tools. This dataset is comprised of (1) readme; (2) presentation slides with an overview of RC-SFA approach and guidance; (3) document of RC-SFA best practices; (4) data dictionary (dd); (5) file level metadata (flmd); and a subfolder containing templates for dd and flmd. All files are .csv and .pdf. For details on how to navigate data packages generated by this project, see https://data.ess-dive.lbl.gov/portals/PNNLRiverCorridorSFA/About.

AI-readiness↗
NASA NTRS1994

Increases in efficiency and enhancements to the Mars Observer non-stored commanding process

The Mars Observer team was, until the untimely loss of the spacecraft on August 21, 1993, performing flight operations with greater efficiency and speed than any previous JPL mission of its size. This level of through-put was made possible by a mission operations system which was composed of skilled personnel using sophisticated sequencing and commanding tools. During cruise flight operations, however, it was realized by the project that this commanding level was not going to be sufficient to support the activities planned for mapping operations. The project had committed to providing the science instrument principle investigators with a much higher level of commanding during mapping. Thus, the project began taking steps to enhance the capabilities of the flight team. One mechanism used by project management was a tool available from total quality management (TQM). This tool is known as a process action team (PAT). The Mars Observer PAT was tasked to increase the capacity of the flight team's nonstored commanding process by fifty percent with no increase in staffing and a minimal increase in risk. The outcome of this effort was, in fact, to increase the capacity by a factor of 2.5 rather than the desired fifty percent and actually reduce risk. The majority of these improvements came from the automation of the existing command process. These results required very few changes to the existing mission operations system. Rather, the PAT was able to take advantage of automation capabilities inherent in the existing system and make changes to the existing flight team procedures.

Brooks, Robert N., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Increases in Efficiency and Enhancements to the Mars Observer Non-stored Commanding Process

The Mars Observer team was, until the untimely loss of the spacecraft on August 21, 1993, performing flight operations with greater efficiency and speed than any previous JPL mission of its size. This level of through-put was made possible by a Mission Operations System which was composed of skilled personnel using sophisticated sequencing and commanding tools. During cruise flight operations, however, it was realized by the project that this commanding level was not going to be sufficient to support the activities planned for the mapping operations. The project had committed to providing the science instrument principle investigators with a much higher level of commanding during mapping. Thus, the project began taking steps to enhance the capabilities of the flight team. One mechanism used by project management was a tool available from Total Quality Management (TQM). This tool is known as a Process Action Team (PAT). The Mars Observer PAT was tasked to increase the capacity of the flight team's non-stored commanding process by fifty percent with no increase in staffing and a minimal increase in risk. The outcome of this effort was to, in fact, increase the capacity by a factor of 2.5 rather than the desired fifty percent and actually reduce risk. The majority of these improvements came from the automation of the existing command process. The results required very few changes to the existing mission operations system. Rather, the PAT was able to take advantage of automation capabilities inherent in the existing system and make changes to the existing flight team procedures. This paper will describe in detail the enhancements recommended by the PAT for the non-stored command generation process on Mars Observer. This will be contrasted with the process used by the flight team prior to implementation of these improvements. Finally, there will be a discussion of the applicability of the techniques devised by the PAT for enhancement of the non-stored command process to present and future projects.

Process↗
DOE OSTI2020

Paradox of sustainability in tobacco control in Thailand: A comprehensive assessment of three-decade experiences

Background: Over the past three decades of tobacco control, Thailand has gained international recognition as a middle-income country with sustained achievement of declining smoking prevalence. However, the number of key FCTC measures implementation is still far away from the highest-level implementation. As a result, we aim to explore explanatory factors for the paradoxical phenomenon of sustainability in tobacco control in Thailand, to understand what the paradox means, why it happens, and how to take further steps in minimizing the paradox. Methods: We used a mixed-method approach comprising qualitative (review of literature and documents plus Program Sustainability Assessment Tool (PSAT) guided key informant interviews) and semi-quantitative methods (PSAT scoring, Theory of change (TOC), and causal-loop diagram (CLD)) to synthesize all the findings from the qualitative data. Results: Across all eight domains, sustainability scores at the local level are lower than the national level. The highest total score was in three domains: political support, partnership, and organizational capacity. The lowest total score was for the strategic planning domain. We propose a set of key strategic elements and drivers for future strategic planning. Discussion: Using CLD, we capture a high-level view of tobacco control with dynamic interactions between contexts, mechanisms, interventions, and outcomes. Finally, we believe the deep understanding of tobacco control and the proposed strategy to counteract transnational tobacco companies in Thailand will guide future sustainable actions to reduce the prevalence of smoking, especially in the strategic planning domain that has the lowest PSAT score.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Lifelike behavior of chemically oscillating mobile capsules

Inspired by the self-organization of unicellular species into multicellular organisms, we use theory and simulation to design a system of mobile, active microcapsules that produce chemicals according to a catalytic reaction network (CRN). In solution, the catalytic reactions generate a force that drives the flow of the surrounding fluid. The convective flow, in turn, transports the capsules to new chemical surroundings with each successive translation. Consequently, the chemical signal produced by a cluster of capsules is critically dependent on the proximity and spatial configuration of the neighboring capsules. If all of the capsules and chemical products involved in the CRN lie within sufficient proximity, then the system develops oscillatory behavior that drives the dynamic self-assembly of capsules into larger clusters that are capable of collective action. Finally, these simulations indicate potential chemo-mechanic mechanisms that enable single cellular units, such as ameba, to organize into multicellular life forms.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Analysis of the ASME Code Rules for Subsection III-5-HHB (Composite Materials) for Current HTR Design Requirements

This document includes the critical analysis review of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Section III Division 5 Subsection HH Subpart B (HHB), including Mandatory Appendices, that was published in 2023. In the context of this document, reference to “the code” is specific to this subsection unless otherwise specified. A specific composites task group within the ASME Nonmetallic Design and Materials Working Group, with the support of external experts, was established to perform a gap analysis review. The significant findings are summarized here. The committee response with suggested action items are detailed in the body of the report.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Enhancement of Industry Legacy Probabilistic Risk Assessment Methods and Tools

Probabilistic risk assessments (PRAs) are integral to nuclear power plant (NPP) operations, having tremendously benefitted the safety of the U.S. reactor fleet for decades. Insights obtained from the models have provided perspectives on a variety of applications, both at the plant and for the regulator. While these models are very useful, they are now being asked to represent and analyze aspects of the plant that were never envisioned by the initial PRA practitioners. Furthermore, heightened demands on the PRA models have led to increased computing power requirements. Additionally, as the complexity of the PRA models increased, the difficulty experienced by non-PRA experts in trying to understand these models, grasp the insights they provide, and effectively use that information has become problematic. The need for research to address key issues regarding PRA tools and methods has never been greater. Although the nuclear power industry has largely been well-served by these tools and methods, the underlying science is dated, remaining mostly unchanged for over two decades. Three areas were identified as most beneficial to address to maintain and improve the usefulness of the current practice legacy PRA tools: improvement in quantification speed, increased ability to efficiently model multi-hazard models, and improvement in modeling human action dependency in PRA. This report provides the outcomes from the FY2021 research into these three areas, identifying potential technical gaps and solutions, and charting the next steps forward to address current PRA challenges.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2019

Exploring Energy-Efficient and Sustainable Urban Mobility Strategies: An Initial Framework to Curate Data/Models, Measure Performance, and Diffuse Innovation: Preprint

Many cities across the United States seek to understand the maturity of data and models that are available to help manage challenges, opportunities, and uncertainties associated with the shifts in technologies, human behaviors and sustainable urban mobility strategies. One key question identified for smart city action planning includes how to best shape continuous improvements for urban populations at the intersection of mobility, energy, and quality of life? With the emerging megatrends of urbanization (more than 70% of world population in cities by 2050), on-demand shared mobility, vehicle electrification, and automated vehicles, initial 'urban science' studies to date have demonstrated the potential and need for maturing the related data and model ecosystems and on-going performance measurement across multiple urban system goals: e.g., from more mobility, clean and efficient energy use, accessibility and safety to less air pollution, traffic, and resource-intensive urban sprawl. To build on emerging literature and understand city responses to disruptive change, this initial study engages researchers and practitioners across four smart city finalists (Columbus, Denver, Austin and Portland) that competed in the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Smart City Challenge. The initial results emphasize the need for a suite of datasets and diverse analytical approaches that support U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) relevant research with cities. Considering desirable energy and mobility outcomes as a first step to advancing smart city solutions strategies, we systematically review approaches of and shortcomings in four U.S. cities, and suggest improvements in three areas: measurement, modeling effectiveness of new mobility technologies, and data-driven governance.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗