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At least 469 records · Page 26

Computation of the radiation characteristics of a generalized phased array

With the advent of monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology, the phased array has become a key component in the design of advanced antenna systems. Array-fed antennas are used extensively in today's multiple beam satellite antennas. A computer program based on a very efficient numerical technique for calculating the radiated power (Romberg integration), directivity, and radiation pattern of a phased array is described. The formulation developed is very general, and takes into account arbitrary element polarization, E- and H-plane element pattern, element location, and complex element excitation. For comparison purposes sample cases have been presented. Excellent agreement has been obtained for all cases. Also included are a user guide and a copy of the computer program.

Acosta, R. J.↗

Evaluation of Machine Learning and Deep Learning Algorithms for Fire Prediction in Southeast Asia

Vegetation fires are prevalent in South/Southeast Asian countries, making fire prediction crucial due to their potential environmental, economic, and social impacts. Accurate predictions of fires facilitate timely interventions, helping to mitigate uncontrolled fires that can lead to biodiversity loss and air quality issues. In this study, we utilize VIIRS satellite-derived fire data alongside six machine learning and deep learning models—Simple Persistence, Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), CNN-LSTM, and ConvLSTM—to determine the most effective fire prediction model, using Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) as the metric. Our results indicate that the CNN model is the most reliable in regions with spatial dependencies, such as Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Timor-Leste, and Thailand. Conversely, the ConvLSTM model excels in countries with complex spatiotemporal dynamics like Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. The CNN-LSTM hybrid model also performed well in Cambodia, suggesting a need for a balanced approach in areas requiring both spatial and temporal feature extraction. Furthermore, simpler models like Persistence and MLP showed limitations in capturing dynamic patterns and temporal dependencies. Our findings highlight the importance of evaluating models before implementing any decision support systems (DSS) in fire management. By tailoring models to specific regional fire data, we can enhance prediction accuracy and responsiveness, ultimately improving fire risk management in Southeast Asia and beyond.

Deep learning↗

A machine learning photon detection algorithm for coherent x-ray ultrafast fluctuation analysis

X-ray free electron laser experiments have brought unique capabilities and opened new directions in research, such as creating new states of matter or directly measuring atomic motion. One such area is the ability to use finely spaced sets of coherent x-ray pulses to be compared after scattering from a dynamic system at different times. This enables the study of fluctuations in many-body quantum systems at the level of the ultrafast pulse durations, but this method has been limited to a select number of examples and required complex and advanced analytical tools. By applying a new methodology to this problem, we have made qualitative advances in three separate areas that will likely also find application to new fields. As compared to the “droplet-type” models, which typically are used to estimate the photon distributions on pixelated detectors to obtain the coherent x-ray speckle patterns, our algorithm achieves an order of magnitude speedup on CPU hardware and two orders of magnitude improvement on GPU hardware. We also find that it retains accuracy in low-contrast conditions, which is the typical regime for many experiments in structural dynamics. Finally, it can predict photon distributions in high average-intensity applications, a regime which up until now has not been accessible. Our artificial intelligence-assisted algorithm will enable a wider adoption of x-ray coherence spectroscopies, by both automating previously challenging analyses and enabling new experiments that were not otherwise feasible without the developments described in this work.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

TOF-SIMS analysis of decoherence sources in superconducting qubits

Superconducting qubits have emerged as a potentially foundational platform technology for addressing complex computational problems deemed intractable with classical computing. Despite recent advances enabling multiqubit designs that exhibit coherence lifetimes on the order of hundreds of μs, material quality and interfacial structures continue to curb device performance. Two-level system defects in the thin superconducting film and adjacent dielectric regions introduce stochastic noise and dissipate electromagnetic energy at the cryogenic operating temperatures. In this study, we utilize time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry to understand the role specific fabrication procedures play in introducing such dissipation mechanisms in these complex systems. We interrogated Nb thin films and transmon qubit structures fabricated through slight modifications in the processing and vacuum conditions. We find that when the Nb film is sputtered onto the Si substrate, oxide and silicide regions are generated at various interfaces. We also observe that impurity species, such as niobium hydrides and carbides, are incorporated within the niobium layer during the subsequent lithographic patterning steps. The formation of these resistive compounds likely impacts the superconducting properties of the Nb thin film. Additionally, we observe the presence of halogen species distributed throughout the patterned thin films. We conclude by hypothesizing the source of such impurities in these structures in an effort to intelligently fabricate superconducting qubits and extend coherence times moving forward.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

ADVERT: An Asynchronous Runtime for Fine-Grained Network Systems

The Data Vortex Network, a novel fine-grained high-radix interconnect, provides the performance and injection rates required by the fine-grained, unpredictable communication patterns of irregular applications. This paper presents ADVERT, an asynchronous runtime system that provides performance and productivity for the fine-grained Data Vortex Network. ADVERT integrates a lightweight memory manager (DVMem) for the user accessible SRAM integrated in the network interface, and a communication library (DVComm) that implements active messaging primitives (remote execution, and, based on this, get and put routines). ADVERT hides the complexity of controlling all the network hardware features through the low-level Data Vortex programming interface, while providing comparable performance. We discuss ADVERT's design and present an analysis of three exemplar irregular kernels (Triangle Count, Page Rank, and GUPS). ADVERT can provide the communication substrate required to build emerging higher level asynchronous many tasking runtimes and partitioned global address space libraries on top of the Data Vortex Network.

Friese, Ryan D.↗

Changing Trends in Drought Patterns over the Northeastern United States Using Multiple Large Ensemble Datasets

Since the infamous extreme drought of the 1960s, the climate of the northeastern United States (NEUS) has generally trended toward warmer and wetter conditions. Nonetheless, there is mounting evidence that short-term droughts will continue to pose a significant risk for this region. To better explore the processes governing events such as these, climate models have adopted more complex representations of the fully coupled atmosphere–land–ocean–sea ice system; however, large uncertainties in future projections still persist, with internal variability necessitating large ensembles to understand trends in both rare and high-impact extreme events such as rapidly developing droughts (a term here that includes flash droughts developing on monthly scales). In this study, seven large ensemble (LE) models are employed to answer the outstanding question: How are the frequency and character of drought in the NEUS changing under a warming climate? We find that most LE models indicate the NEUS will experience a long-term wetting trend with more “extremely wet” months, but also more frequent short-term extreme droughts. These changes are associated with increasing precipitation, atmospheric water demand, and climate variability. We also conclude that discrepant trends in precipitation and evapotranspiration variability will lead to increasing anticorrelation of these variables, which is relevant to the intensification of rapidly developing drought, particularly in the spring season. These changes are associated with an increase in evapotranspiration from plants, brought by an earlier emergence of the growing season and denser vegetation.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Heat Transport Hysteresis Generated Through Frequency Switching of a Time-Dependent Temperature Gradient

A stochastic energetics framework is applied to examine how periodically shifting the frequency of a time-dependent oscillating temperature gradient affects heat transport in a nanoscale molecular model. We specifically examine the effects that frequency switching, i.e., instantaneously changing the oscillation frequency of the temperature gradient, has on the shape of the heat transport hysteresis curves generated by a particle connected to two thermal baths, each with a temperature that is oscillating in time. Analytical expressions are derived for the energy fluxes in/out of the system and the baths, with excellent agreement observed between the analytical expressions and the results from nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. We find that the shape of the heat transport hysteresis curves can be significantly altered by shifting the frequency between fast and slow oscillation regimes. We also observe the emergence of features in the hysteresis curves such as pinched loops and complex multi-loop patterns due to the frequency shifting. The presented results have implications in the design of thermal neuromorphic devices such as thermal memristors and thermal memcapacitors.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Remote sounding of tropospheric minor constituents

The etalon interferometer, or Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI), with its high throughput and high spectral resolution was widely used in the remote-sensing measurements of the earth's atmospheric composition, winds, and temperatures. The most recent satellite instruments include the Fabry-Perot interferometer flown on the Dynamics Explorer-2 (DE-2) and the High Resolution Doppler Imager (HRDI) to be flown on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS). These instruments measure the Doppler line profiles of the emission and absorption of certain atmospheric species (such as atomic oxygen) in the visible spectral region. The successful space flight of DE-FPI and the test and delivery of UARS-HRDI demonstrated the extremely high spectral resolution and ruggedness of the etalon system for the remote sensing of earth and planetary atmospheres. Recently, an innovative FPI focal plane detection technique called the Circle-to-Line Interferometer Optical (CLIO) system was invented at the Space Physics Research Laboratory (SPRL). The CLIO simplifies the FPI focal plane detection process by converting the circular rings or fringes into a linear pattern similar to that produced by a conventional spectrometer, while retaining the throughput advantage of the etalon interferometer. CLIO makes the use of linear array detectors more practical and efficient with FPI, the combination of FPI and CLIO represents a very promising new technique for the remote sensing of the lower atmospheres of Earth, Mars, Venus, Neptune, and other planets. The Multiorder Etalon Spectrometer (MOES), as a combination of the rugged etalon and the CLIO, compares very favorably to other spaceborne optical instruments in terms of performance versus complexity. The feasibility of an advanced etalon spectrometer for the remote sensing of tropospheric trace species, particularly carbon monoxide (CO), nitrous oxide (N2O), and methane (CH4) was discussed. The etalon atmospheric spectroscopy techniques are described, instrument design and related technical issues are discussed. The primary objective is to establish the concept of atmospheric spectroscopy with the CLIO and etalon system and its applications for the measurements of tropospheric trace species analyze system requirements and performance, determine the feasibility of components and subsystem implementation with available technology, and develop inversion algorithm for retrieval simulation and data analysis.

Drayson, S. Roland↗

Nitrate Controls on the Extent and Type of Metal Retention in Fine-Grained Sediments of a Simulated Aquifer

Aquifer groundwater quality is largely controlled by sediment composition and physical heterogeneity, which commonly sustain a unique redox gradient pattern. Attenuation of heavy metals within these heterogeneous aquifers is reliant on multiple factors, including redox conditions, and redox-active species that can further influence biogeochemical cycling. Here, we simulated an alluvial aquifer system using columns filled with natural coarse-grained sediments and two domains of fine-grained sediment lenses. Our goal was to examine heavy metal (Ni and Zn) attenuation within a complex aquifer network and further explore nitrate-rich groundwater conditions. The fine-grained sediment lenses sustained reducing conditions and served as a sink for Ni sequestration – in the form of Ni-silicates, Ni-organic matter, and a dominant Ni-sulfide phase. Further, the silicate clay and sulfide pools were also important retention mechanisms for Zn; however, Ni was associated more extensively with organic matter compared to Zn that formed layered double hydroxides. Nitrate-rich conditions promoted denitrification within the lenses that was coupled to the oxidation of Fe(II) and the concomitant precipitation of an Fe(III) phase with higher structural distortion. A decreased metal sulfide pool also resulted, where nitrate-rich conditions generated in an average 20% decrease in solid phase Ni, Zn, and Fe. Ultimately, nitrate plays a significant role in the aquifer’s biogeochemical cycling and capacity to retain heavy metals.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Understanding plasma turbulence through exact coherent structures

Plasma turbulence is a key challenge in understanding transport phenomena in magnetically confined plasmas. This work presents a generalized framework to analyze plasma turbulence that utilizes periodic orbit theory. In periodic orbit theory, doubly periodic solutions (coherent structures) of the governing equation(s) serve as building blocks of the considered turbulent dynamics. To illustrate the concept and method, the particularly simple Kuramoto–Sivashinsky (referred to here as LMRT for the original authors: LaQuey, Mahajan, Rutherford, and Tang) trapped-ion mode toy model is used. By applying numerical optimization techniques to the LMRT equation, we extract coherent spacetime patterns that represent the library of allowable fundamental structures of the equation. These structures provide a framework to systematically describe turbulence as a composition of recurrent solutions, revealing an underlying order within chaotic plasma motion. Although illustrated here using the simplified LMRT model for clarity, this framework provides a general strategy that can be extended to more complex and realistic models of plasma turbulence, including gyrokinetic systems. This offers a new method for predicting and potentially controlling transport processes in fusion plasmas by providing a bridge between nonlinear dynamical systems theory and plasma physics in the form of a generalized framework with which to analyze and understand spatially extended nonlinear partial differential equations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Wind Supply Chain Security: Hardware Enumeration and Analysis

This project, undertaken by Idaho National Laboratory (INL) for the Department of Energy (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO), focused on the enumeration and analysis of six key devices important to wind technologies. The devices analyzed included Beckhoff Bus Terminal Controllers (BK1120 and BC9000), a Beckhoff Economy Built-in Panel PC (CP6231), an N-Tron Managed Industrial Ethernet Switch (711FX3), a Bachmann M1 Gateway, and a Bachmann Smart Power Plant Controller. Device selection was driven by availability and budget constraints, with several components sourced from existing wind farms and others procured through a co-agreement with another WETO-funded project. The project's primary objective was to create a hardware bill of materials (HBOM) for each device, identifying and documenting all components to assess potential security and supply chain risks. A detailed analysis revealed over 750 unique components across the six devices, with 80% successfully identified and accompanied by datasheets. Notably, Texas Instruments emerged as the leading supplier, providing over 16% of the components, followed by ON Semiconductor at 11.3%, Analog Devices at 5.3%, and Renesas Electronics Corp at 4.1%. Other notable vendors included Toshiba Corporation, iC-Haus Corporation, Atmel, Vishay, and STMicroelectronics. The enumeration process involved thorough documentation of each component, including its designation, quantity, identifiers, pin package, description, vendor, model, and country of origin. This process provided valuable insights into the complexity and diversity of the electronic systems within these wind devices. It also highlighted the distinct separation of components between vendors, suggesting a trend of vendor-specific component usage. Key findings from the project emphasized the importance of broadening the scope of vendor analysis in future research to gain a comprehensive understanding of component distribution and commonality. The identification of vendor-specific component usage patterns offers new avenues for research and underscores the significance of continued investigation in this field. Overall, this project provides critical insights into the component composition of wind devices, aiding in the development of improved supply chain management and component sourcing strategies. The results contribute valuable knowledge to the wind technology sector, laying the groundwork for enhanced security and resilience in wind energy systems.

17 - WIND ENERGY↗

The NIST Real-Time Control System (RCS): A Reference Model Architecture for Computational Intelligence

The Real-time Control System (RCS) developed at NIST and elsewhere over the past two decades defines a reference model architecture for design and analysis of complex intelligent control systems. The RCS architecture consists of a hierarchically layered set of functional processing modules connected by a network of communication pathways. The primary distinguishing feature of the layers is the bandwidth of the control loops. The characteristic bandwidth of each level is determined by the spatial and temporal integration window of filters, the temporal frequency of signals and events, the spatial frequency of patterns, and the planning horizon and granularity of the planners that operate at each level. At each level, tasks are decomposed into sequential subtasks, to be performed by cooperating sets of subordinate agents. At each level, signals from sensors are filtered and correlated with spatial and temporal features that are relevant to the control function being implemented at that level.

Albus, James S.↗

Supporting Crew Medical Decisions on Deep Space Missions: A Real-Time Performance Monitoring

Crewed missions into deep space will require astronauts to respond autonomously to safety- and time-critical anomalies. These and other potential issues will require the continuous monitoring and recognition of potentially subtle, but complex, anomalous data patterns. NASA continues to investigate real-time metrics for Extravehicular Operations1 and for providing feedback to improve performance2. Since it is unknown how long-term exposure to deep space will affect crew health, continuous monitoring of clinical and subclinical status is warranted. NASA is characterizing crew medical decision-support needs and identifying the recommended requirements of a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) within the Exploration Medical Capability Element (ExMC) of the Human Research Program3. Early detection, and continuous monitoring, of performance may provide an effective prognostic capability for assessing crew health state, and the identified requirements could be provided for an in-vehicle CDSS that acts as an assistant for delivering optimal health and performance and medical care during exploration missions. There is evidence to suggest that automatic, unobtrusive collection of keystroke features, such as alphanumeric key latencies, backspaces or typing rhythm, could be a valuable performance screening tool. Keystroke features show significant differences between control subjects and patients with overt clinical illness, such as multiple sclerosis4 and Parkinson’s disease5, as well as behavioral health and performance issues, such as mild cognitive impairment6 and depression7. This work is exploring a capability for the assessment of early task performance decline in crew as they perform daily activities. Timestamped keyboard entries are continuously collected and stored. Nominal keystroke interactions are compared to those obtained after exposure to spaceflight stressors, e.g., fatigue, to determine the methods sensitivity. This work will pave the way toward an objective detection tool that may be deployed in a spaceflight setting.

clinical↗

Advanced Computing, Data Science, and Artificial Intelligence Research Opportunities for Energy-Focused Transportation Science

The Energy Efficient Mobility Systems (EEMS) technology landscape is complex and rapidly evolving, which provides both tremendous opportunities and formidable challenges. Significant alterations to the mobility landscape are underway due to the advent of vehicle and infrastructure connectivity, autonomous driving, and rapid passenger- and freight-vehicle electrification. Advanced computing will play an increasingly important role in enabling the EEMS program to understand and identify the most important levers to improve the energy productivity of future integrated mobility systems. It is also driving new approaches to mobility and the research to unlock an affordable, efficient, safe, and accessible transportation future. Driving much of this change is the collection, analysis, and strategic use of massive amounts of diverse, complex data from infrastructure and vehicles with on-board sensors and data storage and transmission capabilities. Diverse and representative data are key to implementing approaches to maximize mobility energy productivity. While high-fidelity modeling of integrated transportation networks has strengthened our understanding of dynamic movement and behavior patterns, existing tools must be expanded beyond their current focus. This work necessitates data infrastructure investments (e.g., secure-streaming data platforms driven by ubiquitous sensors and video analytics) as well as investments in critical capabilities for large-scale automated analysis and organization using modern machine learning, statistics, and artificial intelligence. Other chief needs include agile, large-scale storage that can be quickly searched and queried for relevant data to support validation and model development, data-sharing agreements, and formatting standards for key data types. The future of public transit must be explored in greater detail, research must inform design, and opportunities must be identified for improving the mobility productivity of public transit in both urban and rural America.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

The role of non-standard translation in Candida albicans pathogenesis

ABSTRACT Candida albicans typically resides in the human gastrointestinal tract and mucosal membranes as a commensal organism. To adapt and cope with the host immune system, it has evolved a variety of mechanisms of adaptation such as stress-induced mutagenesis and epigenetic regulation. Niche-specific patterns of gene expression also allow the fungus to fine-tune its response to specific microenvironments in the host and switch from harmless commensal to invasive pathogen. Proteome plasticity produced by CUG ambiguity, on the other hand is emerging as a new layer of complexity in C. albicans adaptation, pathogenesis, and drug resistance. Such proteome plasticity is the result of a genetic code alteration where the leucine CUG codon is translated mainly as serine (97%), but maintains some level of leucine (3%) assignment. In this review, we dissect the link between C. albicans non-standard CUG translation, proteome plasticity, host adaptation and pathogenesis. We discuss published work showing how this pathogen uses the fidelity of protein synthesis to spawn novel virulence traits.

Bezerra, Ana Rita (ORCID:0000000346131711)↗

Deep Neural Network High Spatiotemporal Resolution Precipitation Estimation (Deep-STEP) Using Passive Microwave and Infrared Data

Recent developments in “headline-making” deep neural networks (DNNs), specifically convolutional neural networks (CNNs), along with advancements in computational power, open great opportunities to integrate massive amounts of real-time observations to characterize spatiotemporal structures of surface precipitation. This study aims to develop a CNN algorithm, named Deep Neural Network High Spatiotemporal Resolution Precipitation Estimation (Deep-STEP), that ingests direct satellite passive microwave (PMW) brightness temperatures (Tbs) at emission and scattering frequencies combined with infrared (IR) Tbs from geostationary satellites and surface information to automatically extract geospatial features related to the precipitable clouds. These features allow the end-to-end Deep-STEP algorithm to instantaneously map surface precipitation intensities with a spatial resolution of 4 km. The main advantages of Deep-STEP, as compared to current state-of-the-art techniques, are 1) it learns and estimates complex precipitation systems directly from raw measurements in near–real time, 2) it uses the automatic spatial neighborhood feature extraction approach, and 3) it fuses coarse-resolution PMW footprints with IR images to reliably retrieve surface precipitation at a high spatial resolution. We anticipate our proposed DNN algorithm to be a starting point for more sophisticated and efficient precipitation retrieval systems in terms of accuracy, fine spatial pattern detection skills, and computational costs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Large-Scale Visualization of 3D Unstructured Groundwater Model Using Cave Automated Virtual Environment

The immersive three-dimensional (3D) virtual reality (VR) visualization of groundwater models allows us to deepen our understanding of aquifer systems and provide better solutions to present groundwater-related problems, such as groundwater recharge, water quality, and sustainability. Visualization assists in accurately developing groundwater models and revealing important subsurface features, including faulting, folding, and unconformity. However, assessing model accuracy poses challenges due to the complexity of geology and groundwater systems. This research demonstrates a workflow to visualize and analyze raw 3D unstructured groundwater model data using an immersive Cave Automated Virtual Environment (CAVE). To visualize the unstructured groundwater model data, the raw dataset is converted into interactive CAVE-compatible formats utilizing a set of tools: ParaView, Blender, and Unity. This enables researchers to immerse themselves in the data, identifying influential patterns and relationships. e resulting insights can inform the development of sophisticated machine-learning models for groundwater level prediction. The CAVE’s immersive capabilities allow intuitive exploration from various perspectives, providing a more holistic understanding of the factors affecting groundwater levels. These insights are crucial to improve predictive models. The CAVE results also facilitate collaborative analysis and have potential applications in training and education. is research demonstrates the value of immersive VR tools such as the CAVE for unraveling intricacies within high-dimensional scientific data to drive real-world forecasting and modeling applications.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Laboratory Studies of Fischer-Tropsch-Type Reactions and Their Implications for Organics in Asteroids and Comets

We have been studying Fischer-Tropsch type (FTT) reactions as a source for organic materials both in the gas phase of the solar nebula and incorporated into primitive comets and asteroids for almost 10 years, and over this time our concept has evolved greatly from the standard "catalytic" model to a much more robust chemical scenario. Our simulations have been conducted at temperatures that are much higher than we like, primarily for practical reasons such as the timescale of individual reactions, and we are just starting a series of measurements to allow us to measure reaction rates at temperatures from 873K down to as low as 373K. We have preliminary data on the carbon (d13C = -50) & nitrogen (d15N = +9.5) isotopic fractionation at 873K, but not on materials produced at lower temperature. Isotope values are on the VPDB scale for carbon and vs. Air for nitrogen. We have also investigated the noble gas trapping efficiency of the FTT process by adding a small amount of a noble gas mix to our standard synthesis mix. The noble gas ratio is 49:49:1:1::Ne:Ar:Kr:Xe. Xe and Kr are trapped at 873K and are more efficiently trapped at 673K with no isotopic fractionation at either temperature. Ar trapping is detected at 673K, but not at 873K. Ne has not yet been observed in our samples. The solar nebula was an extremely complex system, mixing materials from the innermost regions out to well into the zones where comets formed and thus mixing highly processed nebular materials with grains and coatings formed before the nebula began to collapse. Laboratory studies may provide the means to separate such diverse components based on carbon or nitrogen isotopic fractionation or the quantities of noble gases trapped in grain coatings and their thermal release patterns, among other observables. The ultimate goal of laboratory synthesis of nebular analogs is to provide the means to identifY the conditions under which natural samples were formed and the signatures of subsequent metamorphic events.

Nuth, Joseph↗