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Optimization of prefabricated component installation using a real-time evaluator (RTE) connection locating system

Prefabrication promises to industrialize the construction industry. By constructing elements within a manufacturing environment, producers can better control quality and maximize production efficiency. Since the major adoption of prefabrication, a wide variety of prefabricated components have been produced for varying applications such as new construction and exterior wall retrofits. While the production processes of these prefabricated components have seen much innovation, the installation process has remained relatively unchanged for decades. To innovate the installation process with modern technologies, a real-time evaluator (RTE) has been developed to reduce the installation cost of prefabricated components by reducing installation time, decreasing rework, and improving accuracy. The RTE uses developed software solutions with off-the-shelf hardware to assist erectors in completing an installation by measuring the real-time positions of connections and prefabricated components, providing installation guidance through a graphical user interface, and monitoring the accumulated installation errors. An overview of the RTE and proposed workflow is presented. A connection locating system that guides users in expediting the installation of connections is introduced. Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the accuracy improvement and time savings of the RTE in installing connections for prefabricated components. RTE enabled a time saving of up to 37% compared to traditional connection installation methods using handheld measurement tools.

Hayes, Nolan↗

COG Software Architecture Design Description Document

This COG Software Architecture Design Description Document describes the organization and functionality of the COG Multiparticle Monte Carlo Transport Code for radiation shielding and criticality calculations, at a level of detail suitable for guiding a new code developer in the maintenance and enhancement of COG. The intended audience also includes managers and scientists and engineers who wish to have a general knowledge of how the code works. This Document is not intended for end-users.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

SPRUCE Surface N2O fluxes measured with LI-7820, 2024

This dataset contains N2O (nitrous oxide) efflux rates measurements from the Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments (SPRUCE) experimental site within the Marcell Experimental Forest in northern Minnesota, USA. Measurements were made manually with a LiCor N2O/H2O analyzer (LI-7820) and paired SmartChamber (LI-8200-01S) in June, August, and October (2024-06-24 to 2024-10-22). During each measurement, the SmartChamber was placed on 8” PVC collars that were installed in May 2024. N2O flux was derived from 10-minute flux measurements processed using SoilFluxPro software (v5.3.1) and fit to a linear model. Model slope and R2 are reported along with soil water, soil temperature, and air temperature observations made with SmartChamber sensors. N2O is a gaseous N species formed during the microbial processes of denitrification and ammonia oxidation, and is a powerful greenhouse gas. This dataset contains one data file in comma-separate values (*.csv) format. Additional metadata are provided: one data dictionary and a file-level metadata file in comma-separate values (.csv) format and a user guide in PDF (*.pdf) format.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Spin-Controllable Dynamics in Defect-Engineered Carbon Nanotubes as Single Photon Emitters: Data-Driven Modeling and Computations

Quantum technologies, such as quantum computing and sensing, require efficient single-photon emission (SPE) sources that operate at room temperature in telecom wavelengths. While several materials can serve as SPE sources, no single platform meets all the criteria for efficiency, ambient operation, and scalability. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with covalently attached molecules offer a promising solution. Their SPE can be easily tuned via modifications of the SWCNT's diameter, chirality, and bonded molecules, enabling emission across near-IR to telecom wavelengths at ambient conditions. However, to fully realize the potential of SWCNTs and unlock their quantum capabilities, a deeper understanding of how structural defects from molecular adducts affect their emission and competing photoexcited processes is essential. To address this gap in our knowledge, this project combined quantum chemistry calculations with data-driven methods of cheminformatics (QSAR) and machine learning (ML). The developed computational approaches have provided several design strategies for covalent functionalization of SWCNTs to improve their optical response. The collaboration with Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) enabled direct comparison of computational and experimental data, facilitating method validation. This partnership was enhanced through access to LANL's Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) utilizing User Facility Program and summer internships, which provided three NDSU graduate students with hands-on experience at LANL. The outcomes of this project included (1) Advancing the current stage of computational methods in accurate modeling of non-adiabatic spin-dependent photoexcited dynamics and its applicability to nanosystems consisting of thousands of atoms, realized as open-access codes linked to existing DFT-based software; (2) Establishing the relationship between the structure of adducts and SWCNTs and intrinsic excitonic and spin properties of defect states for guiding novel synthetic strategies and experimental probes of chemically functionalized SWCNTs as near-IR emitting materials; (3) Generating virtual libraries of hypothetical functionalized SWCNTs for virtual screening of their chemical structures and optical properties, leveraging new functionalities of SWCNTs; (4) Offering a unique experience for NDSU graduate students that prepared them for future scientific careers related to materials modeling and big data processing. These results were summarized in 12 published journal papers and 3 recently submitted papers. One of a key finding is that the position of defect sites on the SWCNT surface primarily drives the emission redshift (up to 100 meV), while the polarity of the defect-inducing molecules has a much smaller effect (~10 meV). However, the electron-donating or withdrawing properties of a molecule influence selecting reactivity of defect sites. These insights important for optimizing synthetic protocols for desired emissions in SWCNTs. We also revealed that the interaction between two defects at various positions on the SWCNT enhances the redshift and optical activity of states, favoring strong near-IR emission. This suggests that manipulations in defect concentrations is a promising strategy for controlling efficient emission. Mostly important, the defect position was found controllable by the spin states of photoexcited intermediates: Excited aromatic molecules form ortho defects with SWCNTs at their singlet states in the presence of oxygen, while oxygen-free conditions favor para defects via the triplet-state mechanism. Additionally, a heat-activated [2+2] cycloaddition reaction facilitates divalent defect formation with fewer bonding positions that narrows emission bands. These groundbreaking findings have been experimentally validated and significantly advance our understanding of defect chemistry in SWCNTs. Using a novel encoding technique and 3D-MoRSE descriptors, we developed highly accurate ML/QSAR models to predict both the 3D structure and optical properties of SWCNTs with chemical defects. This model enabled the creation of a virtual library of 125,556 structures, providing new insights into the relationship between SWCNT-defect structure and emission.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Nanopolysaccharide Builder: A User-Friendly Tool for Atomistic Models of Polysaccharide-Based Nanostructures

Here, we introduce Nanopolysaccharide Builder (NPB), a user-friendly software tool designed to construct polysaccharide nanostructures─mainly those based on cellulose, chitin, and chitosan─using experimental data or user-defined parameters. NPB enables the generation of cellulose and chitin allomorphs with customizable biochemical topologies and also facilitates the construction of large bundles that replicate nanostructures found in biological support systems, including plant cell walls and arthropod cuticles. The software outputs atomic Cartesian coordinates in Protein Data Bank (PDB) format and also provides atom connectivity files in PSF and PARM formats, ensuring seamless integration with major molecular dynamics (MD) engines such as NAMD, CHARMM, GROMACS, AMBER, OpenMM, and LAMMPS. Built on an interactive visualization framework, NPB features a graphical user interface (GUI) and supports both macOS and Linux operating systems. By enabling detailed atomic-scale studies of polysaccharide evolution in extracellular matrices and cell walls of algae, bacteria, fungi, and plants, NPB is poised to advance AI-guided research in sustainable chemical development and biomass utilization.

Wan, Zhangmin [Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouve↗

CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery Evaluation System (CO2_E_EvSystem), Version 2025

The United States Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Fossil Energy and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) developed a suite of screening-level, techno-economic models/tools, known as the CO2_E_EvSystem, to evaluate technical aspects and costs of using carbon dioxide (CO2) enhanced oil recovery (EOR) to store CO2 and produce oil. CO2_E_EvSystem has three software components and several input and output files. The software components are CO2_E_EvTool, CO2_Prophet, and CO2_E_COM. Almost all computational work is performed by CO2_Prophet and CO2_E_COM, which are both Fortran programs. The primary role of CO2_E_EvTool is to manage input and output files for the two programs, run the two programs, allow multiple oilfields to be evaluated in a single run, and generate files that summarize the results for all the oilfields run. This version of the CO2_E_EvSystem includes a residual oil zone dataset from the San Andres formation, Permian Basin, to demonstrate the system and guide users on attributes needed for dataset inputs.

AS↗

MaterialsMap: A CALPHAD-based tool to design composition pathways through feasibility map for desired dissimilar materials, demonstrated with resistance spot welding joining of Ag-Al-Cu

Assembly of dissimilar metals can be achieved by different methods, for example, casting, welding, and additive manufacturing (AM). However, undesired phases formed in liquid-phase assembling processes due to solute segregation during solidification diminish mechanical and other properties of the processed parts. In the present work, an open-source software named MaterialsMap, has been developed based on the CALculation of Phase Diagrams (CALPHAD) approach. The primary objective of MaterialsMap is to facilitate the design of an optimal composition pathway for assembling dissimilar alloys with liquid-phases based on the formation of desired and undesired phases along the pathway. In MaterialsMap, equilibrium thermodynamic calculations are used to predict equilibrium phases formed at slow cooling rate, while Scheil-Gulliver simulations are employed to predict non-equilibrium phases formed during rapid cooling. Additionally, by combining these two simulations, MaterialsMap offers a thorough guide for understanding phase formation in various manufacturing processes, assisting users in making informed decisions during material selection and production. As a demonstration of this approach, a compositional pathway was designed from pure Al to pure Cu through Ag using MaterialsMap. The design was experimentally verified using resistance spot welding (RSW).

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

ElementLIBS User's Guide: An operational aid for use and development

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy or LIBS is a rapid, in-situ analytical technique where a laser of known energy is pulsed at the surface of an analyte. The laser pulse rapidly heats a localized area to many thousand degrees Kelvin, ablating part of the analyte and turning it into a plasma. As the plasma cools, excited atoms return to a ground state with known emission energies. This emitted energy is captured by various spectrometers and provides a spectrum of the emitted energies and intensities. This spectrum can be analyzed to provide the elemental composition of a sample by using known emission lines and relative abundance. ElementLIBS was developed for the SciAps hand-held LIBS model Z300 but will work with any model that provides a LIBS spectrum of similar resolution. The Z300 has an integrated resolution of 1/30 nm with a range of approximately 180nm – 960nm, providing an output spectrum of 23431 pixels across three spectrometers. These criteria are only provided as a reference, as the software was designed to work with any size spectrum, provided the input file is of the correct format and the models were developed using the same framework. If spectra of varying dimensions are used, the software will fail without warning and unusual events could occur.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Accessible, uniform protein property prediction with a scikit-learn based toolset AIDE

Summary Protein property prediction via machine learning with and without labeled data is becoming increasingly powerful, yet methods are disparate and capabilities vary widely over applications. The software presented here, “Artificial Intelligence Driven protein Estimation (AIDE)”, enables instantiating, optimizing, and testing many zero-shot and supervised property prediction methods for variants and variable length homologs in a single, reproducible notebook or script by defining a modular, standardized application programming interface (API), i.e. drop-in compatible with scikit-learn transformers and pipelines. Availability and implementation AIDE is an installable, importable python package inheriting from scikit-learn classes and API and is installable on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Many of the wrapped models internal to AIDE will be effectively inaccessible without a GPU, and some assume CUDA. The newest stable, tested version can be found at https://github.com/beckham-lab/aide_predict and a full user guide and API reference can be found at https://beckham-lab.github.io/aide_predict/. Static versions of both at the time of writing can be found on Zenodo.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

The CMS Statistical Analysis and Combination Tool: Combine

This paper describes the Combine software package used for statistical analyses by the CMS Collaboration. The package, originally designed to perform searches for a Higgs boson and the combined analysis of those searches, has evolved to become the statistical analysis tool presently used in the majority of measurements and searches performed by the CMS Collaboration. It is not specific to the CMS experiment, and this paper is intended to serve as a reference for users outside of the CMS Collaboration, providing an outline of the most salient features and capabilities. Readers are provided with the possibility to run Combine and reproduce examples provided in this paper using a publicly available container image. Since the package is constantly evolving to meet the demands of ever-increasing data sets and analysis sophistication, this paper cannot cover all details of Combine. However, the online documentation referenced within this paper provides an up-to-date and complete user guide.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

IRIS-GNN: Leveraging Graph Neural Networks for Scheduling on Truly Heterogeneous Runtime Systems

The diversity of accelerators in computer systems poses significant challenges for software developers, such as managing vendor-specific compiler toolchains, code fragmentation requiring different kernel implementations, and performance portability issues. To address these, the Intelligent Runtime System (IRIS) was developed. IRIS works across various systems, from smartphones to supercomputers, enabling automatic performance scaling based on available accelerators. It introduces abstract tasks for seamless execution transitions between accelerators while ensuring memory consistency and task dependencies. Although IRIS simplifies system details, optimal dynamic scheduling still requires user input to understand workload structures. To address this, we introduce a new scheduling policy for IRIS, termed IRIS-GNN, which is the first IRIS hybrid policy that operates in conjunction with the dynamic policies. This policy employs a Graph-Neural Network (GNN) to conduct Graph Classification of any task graphs submitted to IRIS. This GNN analyzes the structure and attributes of the task graph, categorizing it as either locality, concurrency, or mixed. This classification subsequently guides the selection of the dynamic policy used by IRIS. We provide a comparison of the performance of IRIS-GNN against the complete spectrum of IRIS’s dynamic policies, assess the overhead introduced by the GNN within this scheduling framework, and ultimately explore its practical application in real-world scenarios.

Johnston, Beau↗

Docker Containers for MCNP ® Development

Containers are a revolutionary technology in software development and deployment that provides a lightweight, portable environment for ensuring consistency across multiple computing environments. In anticipation of the MCNP 6.3.1 release, two Docker container images have been released on DockerHub for general use. The MCNP source code is not included in the images, and users are still required to obtain it through RSICC. The images produced by Docker are compliant with the OCI (Open Container Initiative) standards, ensuring compatibility with other container engines such as Podman or Kubernetes’ CRI-O. Initially, the images are stored under the author’s personal space on DockerHub (docker.io/azukaitis), but they will be relocated to a dedicated MCNP group space once approved. In the future, they will also be available through the registry feature of the https://github.com/lanl/mcnp-containers project. The use of Docker provides a pre-configured environment for building and running MCNP, ensuring reproducibility of results across various host architectures. This significantly improves consistency when running MCNP on different systems. Notably, executables and installers from the Docker images have successfully passed the MCNP development branch testing suite on x86-64 architectures, including Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems. Furthermore, testing has demonstrated compatibility with macOS Docker in emulation mode on the latest Apple Mac M2 Ultra hardware, ensuring robust support even on the latest platforms. In this document, we will provide a step-by-step guide to using the Docker images across multiple platforms. Additionally, we will present performance numbers for building and running the MCNP test suite.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Tutorial: Machine-Learning-Based CREASE-2D Analysis of 2D SAXS Profiles to Characterize Anisotropic Nanostructures in Soft Materials

We present a tutorial to guide users on how to extend the Computational Reverse Engineering Analysis of Scattering Experiments-2D (CREASE-2D) framework to interpret their experimental two-dimensional small-angle scattering (SAS) data from soft materials (e.g., polymers, peptide amphiphiles, biomolecular fibrils). Unlike most traditional SAS analysis approaches, which typically rely on azimuthally averaged onedimensional (1D) profiles, CREASE-2D utilizes the complete 2D scattering profile to reveal information about anisotropy in the structure. In past applications, CREASE has provided insights into complex structural features, including the cross-sectional shapes of assembled nanostructures and dispersity in these features, which are difficult to discern with existing analytical models. While (1D- ) CREASE has been applied to SANS and SAXS data, this tutorial shares the steps for implementing CREASE-2D using an example of a dipeptide solution system, for which we have SAXS data. We present details for these steps involved in using CREASE-2D to interpret SAXS profiles: how to preprocess SAXS data, define relevant structural features, generate three-dimensional real-space structures for specific values of these features, train a machine learning (ML) surrogate model to predict scattering profiles for given structural features, and optimize these features using genetic algorithms (GA). Then, we use these steps to interpret complex 2DSAXS data collected from dipeptide solutions that, in microscopy images, exhibit nanoscale structures that could be elliptical tubes/ flat tapes/cylinders or a combination of these cross sections. Open-source codes, computational hardware, and software requirements, as well as the strengths and limitations of this protocol, are also presented. We expect researchers working with (soft) biomaterials, peptide amphiphiles, amphiphilic polymer solutions, polymer nanocomposites, and blends of particles/polymers will find this CREASE-2D method and this tutorial of use.

CREASE↗

SPRUCE Root Production Assessed with Manual Minirhizotrons Resolved to Plant Functional Type, 2015-2021

This dataset contains raw root length and diameter for individual roots and estimated root population production measurements from the Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments (SPRUCE) experimental site within the Marcell Experimental Forest in northern Minnesota, USA. Measurements started at the beginning of whole ecosystem warming manipulations in 2015 through 2021 (2015-05-26 to 2021-09-01). Root morphology and estimated production were quantified throughout the peat profile with manual minirhizotrons deployed within SPRUCE plots. Images were processed using commercial software to quantify the length and diameter of individual roots. Roots were visually assigned to a plant functional type (PFT) of either (ericaceous) shrub, herb (sedges and Maianthemum trifolium), or tree (Larix laricina, Picea mariana) based on expert opinion. The biomass of individual roots was estimated using PFT-specific allometric equations (Iversen et al., 2018). Production per day was estimated as the length of new roots produced between imaging sessions, divided by the number of days between imaging sessions. These values were placed on a m2 aboveground area basis and scaled to a standard depth of 1m (roots are not evenly distributed with depth, do not interpret value as being on a m3 basis). Maximum and average (weighted by production length) depth of each PFT were also estimated within each minirhizotron tube. Annual production was interpolated as the average of four methods to scale these data (see Weber et al, 2026). Standing crop of roots was estimated for each tube as the maximum visible amount (both length and mass) of roots of that PFT for that year. These data expand the ability of researchers to accurately estimate the belowground dynamics of peatland vegetation, as well as the role that fine roots may play in impacting the fluxes of carbon within peatlands. This dataset contains three data files in comma-separate values (*.csv) format. This dataset contains one data file in comma-separate values (.csv) format. Additional metadata are provided: three data dictionaries and a file-level metadata file in comma-separate values (.csv) format and a user guide in PDF (*.pdf) format.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

OmicsMLMentor: A Web Application for Guided Machine Learning Analysis of Omics Data

Expression-based omics technologies (e.g. proteomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, etc.) increasingly rely on supervised and unsupervised machine learning (ML) models to find key biomolecules distinguishing conditions, identify natural groupings in biological data, or generate predictions for outcomes of interest. Fitting ML models to omics data presents several challenges, including handling missing data, selecting a normalization method, choosing a valid model, and optimizing hyperparameters, all requiring statistical programming skills to address these challenges. Thus, the open-source web application SLOPE was designed to lower the barrier to ML modeling for omics data. SLOPE supports the fitting of 15 ML models (10 supervised and 5 unsupervised) tailored to omics datasets, such as proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics, and transcriptomics. SLOPE offers several omics-specific features, including methods for handling missingness (imputation, conversion, removal), normalization tests, ranking of models based on the structure of a user’s data and user input, and optimal hyperparameter selections using cross-validation splits. By streamlining ML workflows for omics analysis, SLOPE address critical gaps in existing online web tools, facilitating a broader adoption of these models for omics research. Here, SLOPE is applied to data from a lignin exposure study to highlight the workflow for fitting both supervised and unsupervised models to data.

lipidomics↗

FORCE Update 2024

The Framework for Optimization of Resources and Economics (FORCE) tool suite is the U.S. Department of Energy’s Nuclear Integrated Energy Systems (IES) Program flagship tool suite for technoeconomic IES analysis of IES. This tool suite is useful for analysis designed to evaluate and improve the technoeconomics of energy production systems, particularly for systems including nuclear technology. In this report, we document the development activity for the FORCE tool suite to extend its capabilities as performed during fiscal year 2024. In addition to reliability and accessibility, capability is one of the three standards guiding the development of the FORCE tool suite and the software codes that are its constituent parts. Extending the capabilities of the FORCE tool suite allows analysis both within the IES program as well as industry, university, and laboratory partners to perform analysis with more accuracy, insight, and impactful narrative. Four areas of capability development were the focus of activity this year: economic parameter uncertainty quantification, multiresolution analysis, components-to-optimization workflow automation, and statespace construction workflows for real-time optimal control. In economic parameter uncertainty quantification, the ability of HERON to capture risk due to scenarios (weather and energy demand uncertainty) was expanded to also include uncertainties in financial parameters such as capital cost or operation and maintenance costs. By including these sources of uncertainty, which are sometimes very large compared with scenario uncertainty, HERON is better able to capture the risk posed by investment in various IES technology. Because of this, analysts can also consider the reduction in risks that can be realized by choice of some technologies. In multiresolution analysis, development activity extended on work completed previously. In fiscal year 2023, methods for decomposing time series signals, such as demand, solar and wind availability, and price profiles, were analyzed and down-selected to those most effective at splitting signals into different resolutions. These resolutions allow considering the influence of different energy demand and supply behaviors across different time scales. For example, energy demand might be divided into seasonal, weekly, and hourly profiles. In fiscal year 2024, this preliminary work was extended and implemented within the Risk Analysis Virtual Environment (RAVEN) risk and uncertainty analysis platform, which is used throughout the FORCE framework. This development of the “multi-resolution time series analysis” (MR-TSA) module in RAVEN allows training synthetic history generators on complex time series. These synthetic history generators can then be used in HERON for generating scenarios that represent possible market and weather scenarios that can be analyzed on different time scales. We envision completing this work in the future, implementing multiresolution dispatch optimization strategies that can make the most beneficial use of these stratified time histories. In components-to-optimization workflow development, workflows for translating user inputs of components into algorithms for algebraic optimization were selected and implemented. Similar algorithms within the Holistic Energy Resource Optimization Network (HERON) were separated from the main code base of HERON and gathered with the components-to-optimization workflows in the new Dispatch Optimization Variable Engine (DOVE) software library. This modularization allows FORCE users to analyze dispatch optimization and energy system duty cycles independently of HERON, which previously was a burdensome task. Additionally, these dispatch optimization algorithms, set up in an independent library, can now be used across all software applications within FORCE, especially including the real-time optimal control software Optimization of Real-time Capacity Allocation (ORCA). Allowing FORCE software to share dispatch optimization algorithms within a single library allows for improved software maintenance and reliability. In statespace characterization workflow development, alternative workflows for optimizing dispatch with additional technical accuracy was the focus, particularly to improve the real-time optimization decision making in ORCA. Using algorithms and workflows initially developed for the Feasible Actuator Range Modifier (FARM), workflows for determining the statespace representation of IES were identified and demonstrated. The resulting dispatch optimization required a more robust optimization algorithm than that originally used in HERON (and moved to DOVE), which required adding an alternate workflow to DOVE that can more accurately match the behavior of physical systems using a partial differential equation representation. In conclusion, capability developments in the FORCE tool suite in fiscal year 2024 have improved the ability of the FORCE tool suite to perform

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗