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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 55 records · Page 3

Zwartia hollandica gen. nov., sp. nov., Jezberella montanilacus gen. nov., sp. nov. and Sheuella amnicola gen. nov., comb. nov., representing the environmental GKS98 (betIII) cluster

We present two strains affiliated with the GKS98 cluster. This phylogenetically defined cluster is representing abundant, mainly uncultured freshwater bacteria, which were observed by many cultivation-independent studies on the diversity of bacteria in various freshwater lakes and streams. Bacteria affiliated with the GKS98 cluster were detected by cultivation-independent methods in freshwater systems located in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. The two strains, LF4-65 T (=CCUG 56422 T =DSM 107630 T ) and MWH-P2sevCIIIb T (=CCUG 56420 T =DSM 107629 T ), are aerobic chemoorganotrophs, both with genome sizes of 3.2 Mbp and G+C values of 52.4 and 51.0 mol%, respectively. Phylogenomic analyses based on concatenated amino acid sequences of 120 proteins suggest an affiliation of the two strains with the family Alcaligenaceae and revealed Orrella amnicola and Orrella marina (= Algicoccus marinus ) as being the closest related, previously described species. However, the calculated phylogenomic trees clearly suggest that the current genus Orrella represents a polyphyletic taxon. Based on the branching order in the phylogenomic trees, as well as the revealed phylogenetic distances and chemotaxonomic traits, we propose to establish the new genus Zwartia gen. nov. and the new species Z. hollandica sp. nov. to harbour strain LF4-65 T and the new genus Jezberella gen. nov. and the new species J. montanilacus sp. nov. to harbour strain MWH-P2sevCIIIb T . Furthermore, we propose the reclassification of the species Orrella amnicola in the new genus Sheuella gen. nov. The new genera Zwartia, Jezberella and Sheuella together represent taxonomically the GKS98 cluster.

Microbiology↗

On the bulk compaction of brittle granular materials, Part II: Representing interparticle comminution by K COMP

An applied and empirical compaction fracture resistance parameter, K COMP , was developed to represent the compression-induced interparticle-comminution response of granular brittle materials (e.g., ceramic or glass particles). The development of K COMP is an outcome from Part I of this three-paper series. The K COMP represents a continuum response of compaction fracture resistance and was adapted from established Griffith linear elastic fracture mechanics theory. From that, the K COMP relates macroscopically applied compressive stress to a corresponding inverse-square-root representative particle size, where the latter is estimated from an entire particle size distribution or specific surface area measurement. In conclusion, the K COMP value was not constant over a wide range of stresses for all examined brittle granular materials, and this is indicative of a change in the dominant mode of permanent deformation at higher compaction stresses.

brittle↗

Modeling strategies and data needs for representing coastal wetland vegetation in land surface models

Vegetated coastal ecosystems sequester carbon rapidly relative to terrestrial ecosystems. Coastal wetlands are poorly represented in land surface models, but work is underway to improve process-based, predictive modeling of these ecosystems. Here, in this work, we identify guiding questions, potential simulations, and data needs to make progress in improving representation of vegetation in terrestrial–aquatic interfaces, with a focus on coastal and estuarine ecosystems. We synthesize relevant plant traits and environmental controls on vegetation that influence carbon cycling in coastal ecosystems. We propose that models include separate plant functional types (PFTs) for mangroves, graminoid salt marshes, and succulent salt marshes to adequately represent the variation in aboveground and belowground productivity between common coastal wetland vegetation types. We also discuss the drivers and carbon storage consequences of shifts in dominant PFTs. We suggest several potential approaches to represent the diversity in vegetation tolerance and adaptations to fluctuations in salinity and water level, which drive key gradients in coastal wetland ecosystems. Finally, we discuss data needs for parameterizing and evaluating model implementations of coastal wetland vegetation types and function.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Selection of representative general circulation models under climatic uncertainty for Western North America

Abstract Climate change research uses an ensemble of general circulation model runs (GCMs-runs) to predict future climate under uncertainties. To reduce computational costs, this study selects representative GCM-runs (RGCM-runs) for Western North America (WNA) based on their performance in replicating historical climate conditions from 1981 to 2005 and projecting future changes from 1981–2010 to 2071–2100. This evaluation is conducted under two representative concentration pathways (RCPs) scenarios, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5. By using an envelope-based selection technique and a multi-objective distance-based approach, we identify four RGCM-runs per RCP representing diverse climatic conditions, including wet-warm, wet-cold, dry-warm, and dry-cold. Compared to the full-set, these selected runs show a decreased mean absolute error (MAE) between the reference and RGCM-runs concerning the monthly average mean air temperature (T̄) and precipitation (P̄). For RCP4.5, T̄ MAE is 0.45 (vs. 0.58 in the full-set) and P̄ MAE is 0.31 (vs. 0.42). For RCP8.5, T̄ MAE is 0.51 (vs. 0.75) and P̄ MAE is 0.25 (vs. 0.36). The lower MAE values in the RGCM-run set indicate closer alignment between predicted and reference values, making the RGCM-run suitable for climate impact assessments in the region.

Water Resources↗

CPViz: Visualizing clinical pathways represented in higher-order networks

To improve clinical care practice, it is important to understand the variability of clinical pathways executed in different contexts (e.g., pathways in different geographical locations, demographics, and phenotypic groups). A common way of representing clinical pathways is through network-based representations that capture trajectories of treatment steps. However, first-order networks, which are based on the Markovian property and the de facto standard model to represent transitions between steps, often fail to capture real trajectories. This paper introduces a visual analytic tool to explore and compare pathways represented in higher-order networks. Because each higher node in the network is a subtrajectory (i.e., partial or full history of treatment steps), the tool can display true sequences of treatment steps and compute the similarity of the two networks in a space of higher-order nodes. The tool also highlights areas in which the two networks are similar and dissimilar and how a certain subtrajectory is realized differently in different pathways. The paper demonstrates the tool's usefulness by applying it to multiple antidepressant pharmacotherapy pathways for veterans diagnosed with major depressive disorder and by illustrating heterogeneity in prescription patterns across pathways.

Chae, Junghoon↗

Inclusion of a cold hardening scheme to represent frost tolerance is essential to model realistic plant hydraulics in the Arctic–boreal zone in CLM5.0-FATES-Hydro

As temperatures decrease in autumn, vegetation of temperate and boreal ecosystems increases its tolerance to freezing. This process, known as hardening, results in a set of physiological changes at the molecular level that initiate modifications of cell membrane composition and the synthesis of anti-freeze proteins. Together with the freezing of extracellular water, anti-freeze proteins reduce plant water potentials and xylem conductivity. To represent the responses of vegetation to climate change, land surface schemes increasingly employ “hydrodynamic” models that represent the explicit fluxes of water from soil and through plants. The functioning of such schemes under frozen soil conditions, however, is poorly understood. Nonetheless, hydraulic processes are of major importance in the dynamics of these systems, which can suffer from, e.g., winter “frost drought” events. In this study, we implement a scheme that represents hardening into CLM5.0-FATES-Hydro. FATES-Hydro is a plant hydrodynamics module in FATES, a cohort model of vegetation physiology, growth, and dynamics hosted in CLM5.0. We find that, in frozen systems, it is necessary to introduce reductions in plant water loss associated with hardening to prevent winter desiccation. This work makes it possible to use CLM5.0-FATES-Hydro to model realistic impacts from frost droughts on vegetation growth and photosynthesis, leading to more reliable projections of how northern ecosystems respond to climate change.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

US metric study mission to the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Germany: Report of the NASA representative (Executive Summary)

The trip report is given of the NASA representative of the U.S. metric study mission to the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Germany. The mission was organized and conducted under the aegis of the American National Metric Council to learn at first hand the progress of metrication in the United Kingdom and the progress of metrication in the aerospace industry in both the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Germany. Representatives of the mission included a cross section of government, industry, labor, and other segments of the private sector. After general and special meetings in the United Kingdom, U.S. members with aerospace related interests met with aerospace representatives in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Vlannes, P. N.↗

Gaussian membership functions are most adequate in representing uncertainty in measurements

In rare situations, like fundamental physics, we perform experiments without knowing what their results will be. In the majority of real-life measurement situations, we more or less know beforehand what kind of results we will get. Of course, this is not the precise knowledge of the type 'the result will be between alpha - beta and alpha + beta,' because in this case, we would not need any measurements at all. This is usually a knowledge that is best represented in uncertain terms, like 'perhaps (or 'most likely', etc.) the measured value x is between alpha - beta and alpha + beta.' Traditional statistical methods neglect this additional knowledge and process only the measurement results. So it is desirable to be able to process this uncertain knowledge as well. A natural way to process it is by using fuzzy logic. But, there is a problem; we can use different membership functions to represent the same uncertain statements, and different functions lead to different results. What membership function do we choose? In the present paper, we show that under some reasonable assumptions, Gaussian functions mu(x) = exp(-beta(x(exp 2))) are the most adequate choice of the membership functions for representing uncertainty in measurements. This representation was efficiently used in testing jet engines to airplanes and spaceships.

Kreinovich, V.↗

Acting on Information: Representing Actions That Manipulate Information

Information manipulation is the creation of new information based on existing information sources. This paper discusses problems that arise when planning for information manipulation, and proposes a novel action representation, called ADLIM, that addresses these problems, including: How to represent information in a way sufficient to express the effects of actions that modify the information. I present a simple, yet expressive, representation of information goals and effects that generalizes earlier work on representing sensing actions; How to concisely represent actions that copy information, or produce new information that is based on existing information sources. I show how this is a generalization of the frame problem, and present a solution based on generalized frame effects; and How to generate a pipeline of information-processing commands that will produce an output containing exactly the desired information. I present a new approach to goal regression.

Golden, Keith↗

Applicability of the single equivalent point dipole model to represent a spatially distributed bio-electrical source

Although the single equivalent point dipole model has been used to represent well-localised bio-electrical sources, in realistic situations the source is distributed. Consequently, position estimates of point dipoles determined by inverse algorithms suffer from systematic error due to the non-exact applicability of the inverse model. In realistic situations, this systematic error cannot be avoided, a limitation that is independent of the complexity of the torso model used. This study quantitatively investigates the intrinsic limitations in the assignment of a location to the equivalent dipole due to distributed electrical source. To simulate arrhythmic activity in the heart, a model of a wave of depolarisation spreading from a focal source over the surface of a spherical shell is used. The activity is represented by a sequence of concentric belt sources (obtained by slicing the shell with a sequence of parallel plane pairs), with constant dipole moment per unit length (circumferentially) directed parallel to the propagation direction. The distributed source is represented by N dipoles at equal arc lengths along the belt. The sum of the dipole potentials is calculated at predefined electrode locations. The inverse problem involves finding a single equivalent point dipole that best reproduces the electrode potentials due to the distributed source. The inverse problem is implemented by minimising the chi2 per degree of freedom. It is found that the trajectory traced by the equivalent dipole is sensitive to the location of the spherical shell relative to the fixed electrodes. It is shown that this trajectory does not coincide with the sequence of geometrical centres of the consecutive belt sources. For distributed sources within a bounded spherical medium, displaced from the sphere's centre by 40% of the sphere's radius, it is found that the error in the equivalent dipole location varies from 3 to 20% for sources with size between 5 and 50% of the sphere's radius. Finally, a method is devised to obtain the size of the distributed source during the cardiac cycle.

NASA Discipline Cardiopulmonary↗

Design and Fabrication of DebriSat - A Representative LEO Satellite for Improvements to Standard Satellite Breakup Models

This paper discusses the design and fabrication of DebriSat, a 50 kg satellite developed to be representative of a modern low Earth orbit satellite in terms of its components, materials used, and fabrication procedures. DebriSat will be the target of a future hypervelocity impact experiment to determine the physical characteristics of debris generated after an on-orbit collision of a modern LEO satellite. The major ground-based satellite impact experiment used by DoD and NASA in their development of satellite breakup models was SOCIT, conducted in 1992. The target used for that experiment was a Navy transit satellite (~40 cm, 35 kg) fabricated in the 1960's. Modern satellites are very different in materials and construction techniques than those built 40 years ago. Therefore, there is a need to conduct a similar experiment using a modern target satellite to improve the fidelity of the satellite breakup models. To ensure that DebriSat is truly representative of typical LEO missions, a comprehensive study of historical LEO satellite designs and missions within the past 15 years for satellites ranging from 1 kg to 5000 kg was conducted. This study identified modern trends in hardware, material, and construction practices utilized in recent LEO missions. Although DebriSat is an engineering model, specific attention is placed on the quality, type, and quantity of the materials used in its fabrication to ensure the integrity of the outcome. With the exception of software, all other aspects of the satellite s design, fabrication, and assembly integration and testing will be as rigorous as that of an actual flight vehicle. For example, to simulate survivability of launch loads, DebriSat will be subjected to a vibration test. As well, the satellite will undergo thermal vacuum tests to verify that the components and overall systems meet typical environmental standards. Proper assembly and integration techniques will involve comprehensive joint analysis, including the precise torqueing of fasteners and thread locking. Finally, the implementation of process documentation and verification procedures is discussed to provide a comprehensive overview of the design and fabrication of this representative LEO satellite.

Clark, S.↗

Representing Matrix Cracks Through Decomposition of the Deformation Gradient Tensor in Continuum Damage Mechanics Methods

A method is presented to represent the large-deformation kinematics of intraply matrix cracks and delaminations in continuum damage mechanics (CDM) constitutive material models. The method involves the additive decomposition of the deformation gradient tensor into 'crack' and 'bulk material' components. The response of the intact bulk material is represented by a reduced deformation gradient tensor, and the opening of an embedded cohesive interface is represented by a normalized cohesive displacement-jump vector. The rotation of the embedded interface is tracked as the material deforms and as the crack opens. The distribution of the total local deformation between the bulk material and the cohesive interface components is determined by minimizing the difference between the cohesive stress and the bulk material stress projected onto the cohesive interface. The improvements to the accuracy of CDM models that incorporate the presented method over existing approaches are demonstrated for a single element subjected to simple shear deformation and for a finite element model of a unidirectional open-hole tension specimen. The material model is implemented as a VUMAT user subroutine for the Abaqus/Explicit finite element software. The presented deformation gradient decomposition method reduces the artificial load transfer across matrix cracks subjected to large shearing deformations, and avoids the spurious secondary failure modes that often occur in analyses based on conventional progressive damage models.

Leone, Frank A., Jr.↗

An adaptive granular representative volume element model with an evolutionary periodic boundary for hierarchical multiscale analysis

The hierarchical multiscale analysis normally utilizes a microscopic representative volume element (RVE) model to capture path/history-dependent macroscopic responses instead of using phenomenological constitutive models. However, for problems involving large deformation, the current RVE model used in geomechanics may lose representative properties due to the progressive distortion of the RVE box, unless a proper reinitialization is applied. This work develops an adaptive RVE model in conjunction with an evolutionary periodic boundary (EPB) algorithm for hierarchical multiscale analysis of granular materials undergoing large deformation based on a recent RVE model proposed for coupling molecular dynamics and the material point method. The proposed adaptive RVE model avoids the reinitialization of the RVE box that even undergoes extremely large shear deformation; meanwhile, it accounts for the deformation history of the RVE model and treats the interaction between boundary particles and other image particles in a more efficient way. Numerical examples with extremely large deformation are used to illustrate the adaptive granular RVE model enhanced by the proposed EPB algorithm. Furthermore, some key features of this new methodology are further discussed for clarification.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Representative Phenomena of Cyclic Turbulent Combustion in High-Pressure Fuel Sprays

Abstract Cyclic variations in conventional diesel combustion engines can lead to large differences in engine out emissions even at steady operation. This study uses an optically accessible constant-pressure flow chamber to acquire fuel injections in quick succession to analyze mixing, auto-ignition, and combustion of diesel-surrogate n-heptane using multiple high-speed optical diagnostics. Prior studies have utilized fewer injections and/or they rely on analysis of ensemble average behavior. These approaches do not yield information on injection-to-injection variation or provide confidence in utilizing individual injection measurements for high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics(CFD) model validation. In this study, a large set of 500 injections is used to obtain global parameters including liquid length, vapor penetration length, ignition delay time, and lift-off length. Results for multiple injections are presented to illustrate large injection to injection variations. Potential sources for these variations are analyzed to conclude localized, small scale turbulence and rate of injection variations as the likely sources. Then, a statistical method based on z-scores is proposed and implemented to identify instantaneous injections that best represent the bulk data-set of jet boundaries measured independently by three different diagnostics. This synthesis of statistics-guided screening of data set and ensemble-average analysis offers higher confidence for CFD model validation relying upon both a representative single and average injection results.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Do we have globally representative data to understand soil processes?

Understanding and modeling soils and soil organic matter (SOM) are central to a variety of human needs, from food production to ecosystem management. Soil data have been collected for over a century, but the global spatial and process representativeness of soil data remains unclear. We assessed the representativeness of currently available soil data that could be used to understand a variety of SOM processes. We used 16 open-source soil databases and data from over 281,000 unique locations globally, categorizing the databases into three main data types necessary to understand SOM processes: soil carbon stocks and fluxes, mechanistic drivers of these stocks and fluxes, and soil carbon gain or loss potential. We found that stock and driver data have extensive global coverage. However, data on soil carbon gain or loss potential, particularly data describing change in soils over time such as time series data, are severely limited in their global coverage. We conclude that while significant strides have been made in measuring soil carbon stocks and fluxes, and their drivers, we are limited in global data related to changes in soils over time. Our recommendations for soil data generators are to ensure precise metadata reporting and prioritizing sampling in underrepresented areas like tropical, arctic, mountainous, wetland and arid regions. We also encourage designing revisit schemes that explicitly support change detection and reporting multi-modal datasets that can aid in model development. Targeted measurement of low coverage soil data types and regions is necessary for a range of applications including current and future biogeochemical predictions, and their management and policy implications.

carbon fluxes↗

Measuring representative volume elements from high-resolution grain-scale strain fields

Most crystalline materials present a highly heterogeneous response at the microscale, which can be affected by both internal factors (such as microstructural parameters) and external factors (such as loading). Relating microscale inhomogeneities to the macroscale response of a material requires the use of homogenisation techniques, usually based on the concept of a representative volume element (RVE)—the smallest volume of material that represents the global average response. Here, in this work, we present a new and robust experimental method of measuring the size of a strain-based RVE from high-resolution grain-scale strain fields obtained using digital image correlation (DIC). The proposed method is based on the statistical (stereological) nature of the RVE, which has been widely adopted in numerical studies, and involves dividing a strain field into randomly selected regions of varying sizes and statistically analysing the distributions of average strains within them. To validate the new method, we generate a large number of synthetic strain fields from a fractional Gaussian noise algorithm. The proposed stereological method is shown to be capable of producing reliable RVE measurements from a very large range of possible microscale strain fields while at the same time being robust in that it can produce RVE measurement results even in cases where other existing methods may be unable to do so. The proposed method has a low field-of-view requirement, only needing a field-of-view about 1.2 times as large as the RVE to produce reliable measurements. In addition, the stereological method offers significant flexibility since its statistical nature allows for control over how strict the RVE measurement should be in each case.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

RAVEN Template for Dynamic Representativity Analysis of the High Temperature Test Facility

These slides present a walkthrough of the template that has been developed for using RAVEN to perform representativity analysis using models of the High Temperature Test Facility and the General Atomics Modular High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor. The presentation provides participants in the HTTF benchmark with a walkthrough on how to use RAVEN for their sensitivity analysis and how to read results from the MHTGR-350 to perform representativity

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Representing cropping systems with the MEMS 2 ecosystem model

Abstract Croplands have been the focus of substantial investigation due to their considerable potential for sequestering carbon. Understanding the potential for soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration and necessary management strategies will be enabled with accurate process‐based models. Accurately representing crop growth and agricultural practices will be critical for realistic SOC modeling. The MEMS 2 model incorporates a current understanding of SOC formation and stabilization, measurable SOC pools, and deep SOC dynamics and is seen as a highly promising tool to inform management intervention for SOC sequestration. Thus far, MEMS 2 has been developed to represent grasslands. In this study, we further developed MEMS 2 to model annual grain crops and common agricultural practices, such as irrigation, fertilization, harvesting, and tillage. Using four Ameriflux sites, we demonstrated an accurate simulation of crop growth and development. Model performance was strong for simulating aboveground biomass (index of agreement [d] range of 0.89–0.98) and green leaf area index (dfrom 0.90 to 0.96) across corn, soybean, and winter wheat. Good agreement with observations was also achieved for net ecosystem CO 2 exchange (dfrom 0.90 to 0.96), evapotranspiration (dfrom 0.91 to 0.94), and soil temperature (dof 0.96), while discrepancy with the available soil water content data remain (dfrom 0.14 to 0.81 at four depths to 100 cm). While we will continue model testing and improvement, MEMS 2 (version 2.14) has now demonstrated its ability to effectively simulate the growth of common grain crops and practices.

Agriculture↗