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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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NASA NTRS2001

Error Estimation of An Ensemble Statistical Seasonal Precipitation Prediction Model

This NASA Technical Memorandum describes an optimal ensemble canonical correlation forecasting model for seasonal precipitation. Each individual forecast is based on the canonical correlation analysis (CCA) in the spectral spaces whose bases are empirical orthogonal functions (EOF). The optimal weights in the ensemble forecasting crucially depend on the mean square error of each individual forecast. An estimate of the mean square error of a CCA prediction is made also using the spectral method. The error is decomposed onto EOFs of the predictand and decreases linearly according to the correlation between the predictor and predictand. Since new CCA scheme is derived for continuous fields of predictor and predictand, an area-factor is automatically included. Thus our model is an improvement of the spectral CCA scheme of Barnett and Preisendorfer. The improvements include (1) the use of area-factor, (2) the estimation of prediction error, and (3) the optimal ensemble of multiple forecasts. The new CCA model is applied to the seasonal forecasting of the United States (US) precipitation field. The predictor is the sea surface temperature (SST). The US Climate Prediction Center's reconstructed SST is used as the predictor's historical data. The US National Center for Environmental Prediction's optimally interpolated precipitation (1951-2000) is used as the predictand's historical data. Our forecast experiments show that the new ensemble canonical correlation scheme renders a reasonable forecasting skill. For example, when using September-October-November SST to predict the next season December-January-February precipitation, the spatial pattern correlation between the observed and predicted are positive in 46 years among the 50 years of experiments. The positive correlations are close to or greater than 0.4 in 29 years, which indicates excellent performance of the forecasting model. The forecasting skill can be further enhanced when several predictors are used.

Shen, Samuel S. P.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Utilization of LANDSAT data for water quality surveys in the Choptank River

Computer processing of LANDSAT-1 multispectral digital data demonstrated the applicability of remotely sensed data to water quality survey in the Choptank River. Water classes derived by automated analysis correlate to river nuisance levels of chlorophyll a and sediment loading as defined by the Maryland Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Corps of Engineers. Results indicate that an increase in chlorophyll a concentration corresponds, relative to MSS 5, to decreases in 4 and increases in 6 relative to the trends with increasing sediment load. It appears that for the purpose of water quality analysis, under favorable atmospheric conditions, only MSS 4, 5 and 6 are necessary.

Johnson, J. M.↗
DOE OSTI2024

On the detectability of the moving lens signal in CMB experiments

Abstract Upcoming cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments are expected to detect new signals probing interaction of CMB photons with intervening large-scale structure. Among these the moving-lens effect, the CMB temperature anisotropy induced by cosmological structures moving transverse to our line of sight, is anticipated to be measured to high significance in the near future. In this paper, we investigate two possible strategies for the detection of this signal: pairwise transverse-velocity estimation and oriented stacking. We expand on previous studies by including in the analysis realistic simulations of competing signals and foregrounds. We confirm that the moving lens effect can be detected at ≥ 10σlevel by a combination of CMB-S4 and LSST surveys. We show that the limiting factors in the detection depend on the strategy: for the stacking analysis, correlated extragalactic foregrounds, namely the cosmic infrared background and thermal Sunyaev Zel'dovich effect, play the most important role. The addition of foregrounds make the signal-to-noise ratio be most influenced by large and nearby objects. As for the pairwise detection, halo lensing and pair number counts are the main issues. In light of our findings, we elaborate on possible strategies to improve the analysis approach for the moving lens detection with upcoming experiments. We also deliver to the community all the simulations and tools we developed for this study.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
NASA NTRS2014

Unusual Flaring Activity in the Blazar PKS 1424-418 During 2008-2011

Blazars are a subset of active galactic nuclei (AGN) with jets that are oriented along our line of sight. Variability and spectral energy distribution (SED) studies are crucial tools for understanding the physical processes responsible for observed AGN emission. Aims. We report peculiar behavior in the bright gamma-ray blazar PKS 1424-418 and use its strong variability to reveal information about the particle acceleration and interactions in the jet. Methods. Correlation analysis of the extensive optical coverage by the ATOM telescope and nearly continuous -ray coverage by the Fermi Large Area Telescope is combined with broadband, time-dependent modeling of the SED incorporating supplemental information from radio and X-ray observations of this blazar. Results. We analyse in detail four bright phases at optical-GeV energies. These flares of PKS 1424-418 show high correlation between these energy ranges, with the exception of one large optical flare that coincides with relatively low -ray activity. Although the optical/gamma-ray behavior of PKS 1424-418 shows variety, the multiwavelength modeling indicates that these differences can largely be explained by changes in the flux and energy spectrum of the electrons in the jet that are radiating. We find that for all flares the SED is adequately represented by a leptonic model that includes inverse Compton emission from external radiation fields with similar parameters. Conclusions. Detailed studies of individual blazars like PKS 1424-418 during periods of enhanced activity in different wavebands are helping us identify underlying patterns in the physical parameters in this class of AGN.

flaring↗
NASA NTRS2024

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Galactic Dust Structure and the Cosmic PAH Background in Cross-correlation with WISE

We present a cross-correlation analysis between 1ʹ resolution total intensity and polarization observations from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) at 150 and 220 GHz and 15ʺ mid-infrared photometry from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) over 107 12°.5 × 12°.5 patches of sky. We detect a spatially isotropic signal in the WISE×ACT TT cross-power spectrum at 30σ significance that we interpret as the correlation between the cosmic infrared background at ACT frequencies and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission from galaxies in WISE, i.e., the cosmic PAH background. Within the Milky Way, the Galactic dust TT spectra are generally well described by power laws in ℓ over the range 10 3 < ℓ < 10 4 , but there is evidence both for variability in the power-law index and for non-power-law behavior in some regions. We measure a positive correlation between WISE total intensity and ACT E-mode polarization at 1000 < ℓ ≲ 6000 at >3σ in each of 35 distinct ∼100 deg 2 regions of the sky, suggesting that alignment between Galactic density structures and the local magnetic field persists to subparsec physical scales in these regions. The distribution of TE amplitudes in this ℓ range across all 107 regions is biased to positive values, while there is no evidence for such a bias in the TB spectra. This work constitutes the highest-ℓ measurements of the Galactic dust TE spectrum to date and indicates that cross-correlation with high-resolution mid-infrared measurements of dust emission is a promising tool for constraining the spatial statistics of dust emission at millimeter wavelengths.

Rodrigo Córdova Rosado↗
DOE OSTI2014

Unusual flaring activity in the blazar PKS 1424-418 during 2008-2011

Context. Blazars are a subset of active galactic nuclei (AGN) with jets that are oriented along our line of sight. Variability and spectral energy distribution (SED) studies are crucial tools for understanding the physical processes responsible for observed AGN emission. Aims. We report peculiar behaviour in the bright γ-ray blazar PKS 1424-418 and use its strong variability to reveal information about the particle acceleration and interactions in the jet. Methods. Correlation analysis of the extensive optical coverage by the ATOM telescope and nearly continuous γ-ray coverage by the Fermi Large Area Telescope is combined with broadband, time-dependent modeling of the SED incorporating supplemental information from radio and X-ray observations of this blazar. Results. We analyse in detail four bright phases at optical-GeV energies. These flares of PKS 1424-418 show high correlation between these energy ranges, with the exception of one large optical flare that coincides with relatively low γ-ray activity. Although the optical/ γ-ray behaviour of PKS 1424-418 shows variety, the multiwavelength modeling indicates that these differences can largely be explained by changes in the flux and energy spectrum of the electrons in the jet that are radiating. We find that for all flares the SED is adequately represented by a leptonic model that includes inverse Compton emission from external radiation fields with similar parameters. Conclusions. Detailed studies of individual blazars like PKS 1424-418 during periods of enhanced activity in different wavebands are helping us identify underlying patterns in the physical parameters in this class of AGN.

Buson, S.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Development of OPTIMOD - The new Space Shuttle Orbiter/Payload Thermal Integration Model

The development of the Orbiter/Payload Thermal Integration Model (OPTIMOD), a simplified Space Shuttle Orbiter thermal math model to be used for payload thermal integration analysis, is described. The Orbiter lower fuselage math model has been reduced to the minimum level of detail consistent with accuracy requirements. Instead, an 'environment radiation sensor', a simple closed-end cylinder oriented in a fixed position with respect to the Orbiter, is introduced. Equations are presented which relate the cylinder surface heating rates to external fuselage steady-state temperatures. These equations were derived from a regression correlation analysis of steady-state Orbiter thermal solutions for 2372 points on orbit, representing a complete range of vehicle-earth-sun orientations. An exponential equation is developed to relate the steady-state data to time-variant temperatures for the particular transient attitude timeline being simulated. The accuracy of OPTIMOD is shown to be excellent in the payload bay and to compare favorably with previous models in Orbiter elements outside the bay.

Russell, David J.↗
DOE OSTI2011

Learning statistical correlation for fast prostate registration in image-guided radiotherapy

Purpose: In adaptive radiation therapy of prostate cancer, fast and accurate registration between the planning image and treatment images of the patient is of essential importance. With the authors' recently developed deformable surface model, prostate boundaries in each treatment image can be rapidly segmented and their correspondences (or relative deformations) to the prostate boundaries in the planning image are also established automatically. However, the dense correspondences on the nonboundary regions, which are important especially for transforming the treatment plan designed in the planning image space to each treatment image space, are remained unresolved. This paper presents a novel approach to learn the statistical correlation between deformations of prostate boundary and nonboundary regions, for rapidly estimating deformations of the nonboundary regions when given the deformations of the prostate boundary at a new treatment image. Methods: The main contributions of the proposed method lie in the following aspects. First, the statistical deformation correlation will be learned from both current patient and other training patients, and further updated adaptively during the radiotherapy. Specifically, in the initial treatment stage when the number of treatment images collected from the current patient is small, the statistical deformation correlation is mainly learned from other training patients. As more treatment images are collected from the current patient, the patient-specific information will play a more important role in learning patient-specific statistical deformation correlation to effectively reflect prostate deformation of the current patient during the treatment. Eventually, only the patient-specific statistical deformation correlation is used to estimate dense correspondences when a sufficient number of treatment images have been acquired from the current patient. Second, the statistical deformation correlation will be learned by using a multiple linear regression (MLR) model, i.e., ridge regression (RR) model, which has the best prediction accuracy than other MLR models such as canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and principal component regression (PCR). Results: To demonstrate the performance of the proposed method, we first evaluate its registration accuracy by comparing the deformation field predicted by our method with the deformation field estimated by the thin plate spline (TPS) based correspondence interpolation method on 306 serial prostate CT images of 24 patients. The average predictive error on the voxels around 5 mm of prostate boundary is 0.38 mm for our method of RR-based correlation model. Also, the corresponding maximum error is 2.89 mm. We then compare the speed for deformation interpolation by different methods. When considering the larger region of interest (ROI) with the size of 512 x 512 x 61, our method takes 24.41 seconds to interpolate the dense deformation field while TPS method needs 6.7 minutes; when considering a small ROI (surrounding prostate) with size of 112 x 110 x 93, our method takes 1.80 seconds, while TPS method needs 25 seconds. Conclusions: Experimental results show that the proposed method can achieve much faster registration speed yet with comparable registration accuracy, compared to the TPS-based correspondence (or deformation) interpolation approach.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
NASA NTRS2012

Mission Life Thermal Analysis and Environment Correlation for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

Standard thermal analysis practices include stacking worst-case conditions including environmental heat loads, thermo-optical properties and orbital beta angles. This results in the design being driven by a few bounding thermal cases, although those cases may only represent a very small portion of the actual mission life. The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Thermal Branch developed a procedure to predict the flight temperatures over the entire mission life, assuming a known beta angle progression, variation in the thermal environment, and a degradation rate in the coatings. This was applied to the Global Precipitation Measurement core spacecraft. In order to assess the validity of this process, this work applies the similar process to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. A flight-correlated thermal model was exercised to give predictions of the thermal performance over the mission life. These results were then compared against flight data from the first two years of the spacecraft s use. This is used to validate the process and to suggest possible improvements for future analyses.

Garrison, Matthew B.↗
DOE OSTI2018

Probing the light scattering properties of insulin secretory granules in single live cells

Light scattering was recently demonstrated to serve as an intrinsic indicator for pancreatic islet cell mass and secretion. The insulin secretory granule (ISG), in particular, was proposed to be a reasonable candidate as the main intracellular source of scattered light due to the densely-packed insulin semi-crystal in the granule lumen. This scenario, if confirmed, would in principle open new perspectives for label-free single-granule imaging, tracking, and analysis. Contrary to such expectations, here we demonstrate that ISGs are not a primary source of scattering in primary human β-cells, as well as in immortalized β-like cells, quantitatively not superior to other intracellular organelles/structures, such as lysosomes and internal membranes. This result is achieved through multi-channel imaging of scattered light along with fluorescence arising from selectively-labelled ISGs. Co-localization and spatiotemporal cross-correlation analysis is performed on these signals, and compared among different cell lines. Obtained results suggest a careful re-thinking of the possibility to exploit intrinsic optical properties originating from ISGs for single-granule imaging purposes.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

Oblique electron-cyclotron-emission radial and phase detector of rotating magnetic islands applied to alignment and modulation of electron-cyclotron-current-drive for neoclassical tearing mode stabilization

A two channel oblique electron cyclotron emission (ECE) radiometer was installed on the DIII-D tokamak and interfaced to four gyrotrons. Oblique ECE was used to toroidally and radially localize rotating magnetic islands and so assist their electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) stabilization. In particular, after manipulations operated by the interfacing analogue circuit, the oblique ECE signals directly modulated the current drive in synch with the island rotation and in phase with the island O-point, for a more efficient stabilization. Apart from the different toroidal location, the diagnostic view is identical to the ECCD launch direction, which greatly simplified the real-time use of the signals. In fact, a simple toroidal extrapolation was sufficient to lock the modulation to the O-point phase. This was accomplished by a specially designed phase shifter of nearly flat response over the 1-7 kHz range. Moreover, correlation analysis of two channels slightly above and below the ECCD frequency allowed checking the radial alignment to the island, based on the fact that for satisfactory alignment the two signals are out of phase.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Imaging dose in breast radiotherapy: does breast size affect the dose to the organs at risk and the risk of secondary cancer to the contralateral breast?

Correct target positioning is crucial for accurate dose delivery in breast radiotherapy resulting in utilisation of daily imaging. However, the radiation dose from daily imaging is associated with increased probability of secondary induced cancer. The aim of this study was to quantify doses associated with three imaging modalities and investigate the correlation of dose and varying breast size in breast radiotherapy. Planning computed tomography (CT) data sets of 30 breast cancer patients were utilised to simulate the dose received by various organs from a megavoltage computed tomography (MV-CT), megavoltage electronic portal image (MV-EPI) and megavoltage cone-beam computed tomography (MV-CBCT). The mean dose to organs adjacent to the target volume (contralateral breast, lungs, spinal cord and heart) were analysed. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to determine the relationship between imaging dose and primary breast volume and the lifetime attributable risk (LAR) of induced secondary cancer was calculated for the contralateral breast. The highest contralateral breast mean dose was from the MV-CBCT (1.79 Gy), followed by MV-EPI (0.22 Gy) and MV-CT (0.11 Gy). A similar trend was found for all organs at risk (OAR) analysed. The primary breast volume inversely correlated with the contralateral breast dose for all three imaging modalities. As the primary breast volume increases, the likelihood of a patient developing a radiation-induced secondary cancer to the contralateral breast decreases. MV-CBCT showed a stronger relationship between breast size and LAR of developing a radiation-induced contralateral breast cancer in comparison with the MV-CT and MV-EPI. For breast patients, imaging dose to OAR depends on imaging modality and treated breast size. When considering the use of imaging during breast radiotherapy, the patient's breast size and contralateral breast dose should be taken into account.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
NASA NTRS2005

Plasma sheet turbulence observed by Cluster II

Cluster fluxgate magnetometer (FGM) and ion spectrometer (CIS) data are employed to analyze magnetic field fluctuations within the plasma sheet during passages through the magnetotail region in the summers of 2001 and 2002 and, in particular, to look for characteristics of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. Power spectral indices determined from power spectral density functions are on average larger than Kolmogorov's theoretical value for fluid turbulence as well as Kraichnan's theoretical value for MHD plasma turbulence. Probability distribution functions of the magnetic fluctuations show a scaling law over a large range of temporal scales with non-Gaussian distributions at small dissipative scales and inertial scales and more Gaussian distribution at large driving scales. Furthermore, a multifractal analysis of the magnetic field components shows scaling behavior in the inertial range of the fluctuations from about 20 s to 13 min for moments through the fifth order. Both the scaling behavior of the probability distribution functions and the multifractal structure function suggest that intermittent turbulence is present within the plasma sheet. The unique multispacecraft aspect and fortuitous spacecraft spacing allow us to examine the turbulent eddy scale sizes. Dynamic autocorrelation and cross correlation analysis of the magnetic field components allow us to determine that eddy scale sizes fit within the plasma sheet. These results suggest that magnetic field turbulence is occurring within the plasma sheet resulting in turbulent energy dissipation.

Weygand, James M.↗
DOE OSTI2016

Relationship between student selection criteria and learner success for medical dosimetry students

Medical dosimetry education occupies a specialized branch of allied health higher education. Noted international shortages of health care workers, reduced university funding, limitations on faculty staffing, trends in learner attrition, and increased enrollment of nontraditional students force medical dosimetry educational leadership to reevaluate current admission practices. Program officials wish to select medical dosimetry students with the best chances of successful graduation. The purpose of the quantitative ex post facto correlation study was to investigate the relationship between applicant characteristics (cumulative undergraduate grade point average (GPA), science grade point average (SGPA), prior experience as a radiation therapist, and previous academic degrees) and the successful completion of a medical dosimetry program, as measured by graduation. A key finding from the quantitative study was the statistically significant positive correlation between a student's previous degree and his or her successful graduation from the medical dosimetry program. Future research investigations could include a larger research sample, representative of more medical dosimetry student populations, and additional studies concerning the relationship of previous work as a radiation therapist and the effect on success as a medical dosimetry student. Based on the quantitative correlation analysis, medical dosimetry leadership on admissions committees could revise student selection rubrics to place less emphasis on an applicant's undergraduate cumulative GPA and increase the weight assigned to previous degrees.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
NASA NTRS2014

Deducing Electronic Unit Internal Response During a Vibration Test Using a Lumped Parameter Modeling Approach

During random vibration testing of electronic boxes there is often a desire to know the dynamic response of certain internal printed wiring boards (PWBs) for the purpose of monitoring the response of sensitive hardware or for post-test forensic analysis in support of anomaly investigation. Due to restrictions on internally mounted accelerometers for most flight hardware there is usually no means to empirically observe the internal dynamics of the unit, so one must resort to crude and highly uncertain approximations. One common practice is to apply Miles Equation, which does not account for the coupled response of the board in the chassis, resulting in significant over- or under-prediction. This paper explores the application of simple multiple-degree-of-freedom lumped parameter modeling to predict the coupled random vibration response of the PWBs in their fundamental modes of vibration. A simple tool using this approach could be used during or following a random vibration test to interpret vibration test data from a single external chassis measurement to deduce internal board dynamics by means of a rapid correlation analysis. Such a tool might also be useful in early design stages as a supplemental analysis to a more detailed finite element analysis to quickly prototype and analyze the dynamics of various design iterations. After developing the theoretical basis, a lumped parameter modeling approach is applied to an electronic unit for which both external and internal test vibration response measurements are available for direct comparison. Reasonable correlation of the results demonstrates the potential viability of such an approach. Further development of the preliminary approach presented in this paper will involve correlation with detailed finite element models and additional relevant test data.

random vibration response↗
DOE OSTI2017

Experimental study on team coordination of NPP plant operators based on the simultaneous NIRS measurements - 266

One of the key features when dealing with severe situations far beyond the previous experiences and expectations is the coordination capability among operators with different roles. In this study, the feasibility of estimating coordination capability of nuclear plant operators has been examined based on the correlation analysis of brain activities among operators. The cognitive experiments have been performed in the full scope NPP simulator at BWR Operator Training Center Cooperation. Four experienced instructors participated in the experiments. They played different roles such as shift supervisor, turbine operator, reactor operator and auxiliary operator and were instructed to go through four training scenarios shown below with NIRS devices attached. The brain activity of each operator has been measured along with the progress of anomaly events and the correlation of brain activities for every pair of operators have been calculated. The correlations of brain activities have also analyzed focusing on the specific events along with the progress in the anomaly scenarios. It has been shown in the results that the higher correlation among all operators were observed when the global events occurred and the higher correlation among specific pair of operators related to the specific event were partially observed. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Bispectral analysis of broadband turbulence and geodesic acoustic modes in the T-10 tokamak

Local fluctuations of electrostatic potential, poloidal electric field, magnetic potential and electron density are simultaneously measured in the T-10 tokamak by a heavy ion beam probe (HIBP) having a five-slit energy analyser, which allows an estimate of the turbulent particle flux and $\boldsymbol {E}\times \boldsymbol {B}$ rotation velocity in the off-minor-axis gradient zone of the toroidal plasma column. The high spatial and temporal resolution of the modern multichannel HIBP makes it an effective tool to study plasma oscillations. Motivated by previous work that has documented time-resolved interactions between measured plasma parameters using correlation analysis (coherence of $E_{\textrm {pol}}$ and density $n_e$ , and cross-phase), a new result from bicorrelation analysis (bicoherence of magnetic potential $A_\zeta$ and density $n_e$ , and biphase) is reported for documenting the evidence of wave–wave coupling and energy transfer associated with the interaction between geodesic acoustic modes (GAM) and broadband, quasi-coherent modes.

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2013

THE CLUSTERING OF ALFALFA GALAXIES: DEPENDENCE ON H I MASS, RELATIONSHIP WITH OPTICAL SAMPLES, AND CLUES OF HOST HALO PROPERTIES

We use a sample of ≈6000 galaxies detected by the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) 21 cm survey to measure the clustering properties of H I-selected galaxies. We find no convincing evidence for a dependence of clustering on galactic atomic hydrogen (H I) mass, over the range M{sub H{sub I}} ≈ 10{sup 8.5}-10{sup 10.5} M{sub ☉}. We show that previously reported results of weaker clustering for low H I mass galaxies are probably due to finite-volume effects. In addition, we compare the clustering of ALFALFA galaxies with optically selected samples drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We find that H I-selected galaxies cluster more weakly than even relatively optically faint galaxies, when no color selection is applied. Conversely, when SDSS galaxies are split based on their color, we find that the correlation function of blue optical galaxies is practically indistinguishable from that of H I-selected galaxies. At the same time, SDSS galaxies with red colors are found to cluster significantly more than H I-selected galaxies, a fact that is evident in both the projected as well as the full two-dimensional correlation function. A cross-correlation analysis further reveals that gas-rich galaxies 'avoid' being located within ≈3 Mpc of optical galaxies with red colors. Next, we consider the clustering properties of halo samples selected from the Bolshoi ΛCDM simulation. A comparison with the clustering of ALFALFA galaxies suggests that galactic H I mass is not tightly related to host halo mass and that a sizable fraction of subhalos do not host H I galaxies. Lastly, we find that we can recover fairly well the correlation function of H I galaxies by just excluding halos with low spin parameter. This finding lends support to the hypothesis that halo spin plays a key role in determining the gas content of galaxies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗