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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Treatment Guidelines for Preoperative Radiation Therapy for Retroperitoneal Sarcoma: Preliminary Consensus of an International Expert Panel

Purpose: Evidence for external beam radiation therapy (RT) as part of treatment for retroperitoneal sarcoma (RPS) is limited. Preoperative RT is the subject of a current randomized trial, but the results will not be available for many years. In the meantime, many practitioners use preoperative RT for RPS, and although this approach is used in practice, there are no radiation treatment guidelines. An international expert panel was convened to develop consensus treatment guidelines for preoperative RT for RPS. Methods and Materials: An expert panel of 15 academic radiation oncologists who specialize in the treatment of sarcoma was assembled. A systematic review of reports related to RT for RPS, RT for extremity sarcoma, and RT-related toxicities for organs at risk was performed. Due to the paucity of high-quality published data on the subject of RT for RPS, consensus recommendations were based largely on expert opinion derived from clinical experience and extrapolation of relevant published reports. It is intended that these clinical practice guidelines be updated as pertinent data become available. Results: Treatment guidelines for preoperative RT for RPS are presented. Conclusions: An international panel of radiation oncologists who specialize in sarcoma reached consensus guidelines for preoperative RT for RPS. Many of the recommendations are based on expert opinion because of the absence of higher level evidence and, thus, are best regarded as preliminary. We emphasize that the role of preoperative RT for RPS has not been proven, and we await data from the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) study of preoperative radiotherapy plus surgery versus surgery alone for patients with RPS. Further data are also anticipated pertaining to normal tissue dose constraints, particularly for bowel tolerance. Nonetheless, as we await these data, the guidelines herein can be used to establish treatment uniformity to aid future assessments of efficacy and toxicity.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Fractionation of Palliative Radiation Therapy for Bone Metastases in Ontario: Do Practice Guidelines Guide Practice?

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of a provincial practice guideline on the fractionation of palliative radiation therapy for bone metastases (PRT.B) in Ontario. Methods and Materials: The present retrospective study used electronic treatment records linked to Ontario's population-based cancer registry. Hierarchical multivariable regression analysis was used to evaluate temporal trends in the use of single fractions (SFs), controlling for patient-related factors associated with the use of SFs. Results: From 1984 to 2012, 43.9% of 161,835 courses of PRT.B were administered as SFs. The percentage of SF courses was greater for older patients (age <50 years, 39.8% vs age >80 years, 52.5%), those with a shorter life expectancy (survival >12 months, 36.9% vs < 1 month, 53.6%), and those who lived farther from a radiation therapy center (<10 km, 42.1% vs > 50 km, 47.3%). The percentage of SFs to spinal fields was lower than that to other skeletal sites (31.5% vs 57.1%). The percentage of SFs varied among the cancer centers (range, 26.0%-67.8%). These differences were all highly significant in the multivariable analysis (P<.0001). In 2004, Cancer Care Ontario released a practice guideline endorsing the use of SFs for uncomplicated bone metastases. The rate of use of SFs increased from 42.3% in the pre-guideline period (1999-2003) to 52.6% in the immediate post-guideline period (2004-2007). However, it subsequently decreased again to 44.0% (2009-2012). These temporal trends were significant after controlling for patient-related factors in the multivariable analysis (P<.0001). Large intercenter variations in the use of SFs persisted after publication of the guideline. Conclusions: The publication of an Ontario practice guideline endorsing the use of SF PRT.B was associated with only a transient increase in the use of SFs in Ontario and did little to reduce intercenter variations in fractionation.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Practical Implications of the Publication of Consensus Guidelines by the American Society for Radiation Oncology: Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation and the National Cancer Data Base

Purpose: To examine utilization trends of accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) in the American College of Surgeons' National Cancer Database and changes in APBI use after the 2009 publication of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) guidelines. Methods and Materials: A total of 399,705 women were identified who were diagnosed from 2004 to 2011 with nonmetastatic invasive breast cancer or ductal carcinoma in situ who were treated with breast-conserving surgery and radiation therapy to the breast. Patients were divided by the type of treatment received (whole breast irradiation or APBI) and by suitability to receive APBI as defined by the ASTRO guidelines. Logistic regression was applied to study APBI use overall and within guideline categorization, and a multivariable model was created to determine predictors of treatment with brachytherapy-based APBI based on guideline categorization. Results: For all patients, APBI use increased, from 3.8% in 2004 to 10.6% in 2011 (P<.0001). Overall rates of APBI utilization were higher among “suitable” than “cautionary”/“unsuitable” patients (14.8% vs 7.1%, P<.0001). The majority of APBI treatment was delivered using brachytherapy, for which use peaked in 2008. Starting in 2009, among “suitable” patients, utilization of APBI via brachytherapy plateaued, whereas for “cautionary”/“unsuitable” patients, treatment with brachytherapy-based APBI declined and then plateaued. Conclusion: Use of APBI across all patient groups increased from 2004 through 2008. After publication of the ASTRO APBI guidelines in 2009, rates of brachytherapy-based APBI treatment plateaued among “suitable” patients and declined and then plateaued among “cautionary”/“unsuitable” patients. Our study highlights how large national databases can be used to assess national trends in radiation use in response to the publication of guidelines.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Recommended reporting items for epidemic forecasting and prediction research: The EPIFORGE 2020 guidelines

Background: The importance of infectious disease epidemic forecasting and prediction research is underscored by decades of communicable disease outbreaks, including COVID-19. Unlike other fields of medical research, such as clinical trials and systematic reviews, no reporting guidelines exist for reporting epidemic forecasting and prediction research despite their utility. We therefore developed the EPIFORGE checklist, a guideline for standardized reporting of epidemic forecasting research. Methods and findings: We developed this checklist using a best-practice process for development of reporting guidelines, involving a Delphi process and broad consultation with an international panel of infectious disease modelers and model end users. The objectives of these guidelines are to improve the consistency, reproducibility, comparability, and quality of epidemic forecasting reporting. The guidelines are not designed to advise scientists on how to perform epidemic forecasting and prediction research, but rather to serve as a standard for reporting critical methodological details of such studies. Conclusions: These guidelines have been submitted to the EQUATOR network, in addition to hosting by other dedicated webpages to facilitate feedback and journal endorsement.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Terminology Guideline for Classifying Offshore Wind Energy Resources

The purpose of this guideline is to establish a clear and consistent vocabulary for conveying offshore wind resource potential and to interpret this vocabulary in terms that are familiar to the oil and gas (O&G) industry. This involves clarifying and refining existing definitions of offshore wind energy resource classes. The terminology developed in this guideline represents one of several possible sets of vocabulary that may differ with respect to their purpose, data availability, and comprehensiveness. It was customized to correspond with established offshore wind practices and existing renewable energy industry terminology (e.g. DOE 2013, Brown et al. 2015) while conforming to established fossil resource classification as best as possible. The developers of the guideline recognize the fundamental differences that exist between fossil and renewable energy resources with respect to availability, accessibility, lifetime, and quality. Any quantitative comparison between fossil and renewable energy resources, including offshore wind, is therefore limited. For instance, O&G resources are finite and there may be significant uncertainty associated with the amount of the resource. In contrast, aboveground renewable resources, such as offshore wind, do not generally deplete over time but can vary significantly subhourly, daily, seasonally, and annually. The intent of this guideline is to make these differences transparent and develop an offshore wind resource classification that conforms to established fossil resource classifications where possible. This guideline also provides methods to quantitatively compare certain offshore wind energy resources to O&G resource classes for specific applications. Finally, this guideline identifies areas where analogies to established O&G terminology may be inappropriate or subject to misinterpretation.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
NASA NTRS1991

Guideline requirements for serviceable spacecraft grasping/berthing/docking interfaces based on simulations and flight experience

The described efforts support a NASA Space Assembly and Servicing Working Group activity to draft guideline interface standards. The general requirements are to provide a simple, reliable, and durable system. Interface requirements developed include lateral position offset, axial and lateral velocities, and angular misalignment. A survey of concepts and simulation studies of spacecraft docking, existing docking/end effector performance criteria, and space proven, qualified docking data was conducted and evaluated, in order to provide recommended mechanical interface guidelines and interface tolerances for manual and autonomous capture operations. The criterion for the selection of the guidelines was maximum capability to handle malfunctions. Originally the guidelines for a zero velocity docking were considered to be covered within the grasping/berthing definition. It is acknowledged that perhaps a separate category needs to be established for this operation. The draft standard was delivered to the AIAA for review, revision, and issuance as the first U.S. national standard guideline on interfaces. The intent is to develop the guidelines into an International Standards Organization standard.

Thompson, Allen B.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Lateral-Directional Eigenvector Flying Qualities Guidelines for High Performance Aircraft

This report presents the development of lateral-directional flying qualities guidelines with application to eigenspace (eigenstructure) assignment methods. These guidelines will assist designers in choosing eigenvectors to achieve desired closed-loop flying qualities or performing trade-offs between flying qualities and other important design requirements, such as achieving realizable gain magnitudes or desired system robustness. This has been accomplished by developing relationships between the system's eigenvectors and the roll rate and sideslip transfer functions. Using these relationships, along with constraints imposed by system dynamics, key eigenvector elements are identified and guidelines for choosing values of these elements to yield desirable flying qualities have been developed. Two guidelines are developed - one for low roll-to-sideslip ratio and one for moderate-to-high roll-to-sideslip ratio. These flying qualities guidelines are based upon the Military Standard lateral-directional coupling criteria for high performance aircraft - the roll rate oscillation criteria and the sideslip excursion criteria. Example guidelines are generated for a moderate-to-large, an intermediate, and low value of roll-to-sideslip ratio.

Davidson, John B.↗
NASA NTRS2004

New NASA SEE LEO Spacecraft Charging Design Guidelines: How to Survive in LEO Rather than GEO

It has been almost two solar cycles since the GEO Guidelines of Purvis et al (1984) were published. In that time, interest in high voltage LEO systems has increased. The correct and conventional wisdom has been that LEO conditions are sufficiently different from GEO that the GEO Guidelines (and other GEO and POLAR documents produced since then) should not be used for LEO spacecraft. Because of significant recent GEO spacecraft failures that have been shown in ground testing to be likely to also occur on LEO spacecraft, the SEE program commissioned the production of the new LEO Spacecraft Charging Design Guidelines (hereafter referred to as the LEO Guidelines). Now available in CD-ROM form, the LEO Guidelines highlight mitigation techniques to prevent spacecraft arcing on LEO solar arrays and other systems. We compare and contrast the mitigation techniques for LEO and GEO in this paper. We also discuss the extensive bibliography included in the LEO Guidelines, so results can be found in their primary sources.

Ferguson, Dale C.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Spacecraft Water Exposure Guidelines for Selected Contaminants

To protect space crews from contaminants in potable and hygiene water. the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) requested that the National Research Council (NRC) provide guidance on how to develop water exposure guidelines and subsequently review NASA's development of exposure guidelines for specific chemicals. The exposure guidelines are to be similar to those established by the NRC for airborne contaminants (NRC 1992; 1994; 1996a,b; 2000a). The NRC was asked to consider only chemical contaminants, and not microbial agents. The NRC convened the Subcommittee on Spacecraft Water Exposure Guidelines to address this task, and the subcommittee's first report, Methods for Developing Spacecraft Water Exposure Guidelines, was published in 2000 (NRC 2000b). A summary of that report is provided. Spacecraft water exposure guidelines (SWEGs) are to he established for exposures of l, 10, 100, and 1,000 days (d). The 1-d SWEG is the concentration of a substance in water that is judged acceptable for the performance of specific tasks during rare emergency conditions lasting for periods up to 24 hours (h). The 1-d SWEG is intended to prevent irreversible harm and degradation in crew performance. Temporary discomfort is permissible as long as there is no effect on judgment, performance, or ability to respond to an emergency. Longer-term SWEGs are intended to prevent adverse health effects (either immediate or delayed) and degradation in crew performance that could result from continuous exposure in closed spacecraft for as long as 1,000 d. In contrast with the 1-d SWEG, longer-term SWEGs are intended to provide guidance for exposure under the expected normal operating conditions in spacecraft.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2024

Development of learning objectives to support undergraduate virology curriculum guidelines

It has become increasingly important for microbiology educators to help students learn critical concepts of the discipline. This is particularly true in virology, where current challenges include increasing rates of vaccine hesitancy, misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, and controversy surrounding research on pathogens with pandemic potential. Having students learn virology can attract more people to the field and increase the number of people who can engage in meaningful discourse about issues relating to the discipline. However, the limited number of virologists who teach undergraduates, combined with the fact that many institutions lack stand-alone virology courses, results in virology often being taught as a limited number of lectures within an undergraduate microbiology course (if it is covered at all), which may or may not be taught by an individual trained as a virologist. To provide a framework to teach virology to undergraduate students, a team of virology educators, with support from the American Society for Virology (ASV), developed curriculum guidelines for use in a stand-alone undergraduate virology course or a virology section within another course. These guidelines are available at the ASV website (https://asv.org/curriculum-guidelines/). To assist educators in implementing these guidelines, we created examples of measurable learning objectives. This perspective provides details about the virology curriculum guidelines and learning objectives and accompanies the perspective by Boury et al. in this issue of the Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education about the recent revision of the microbiology curriculum guidelines overseen by the American Society for Microbiology.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

RELAP5-3D Developer Guidelines and Programming Practices

Our ultimate goal is to create and maintain RELAP5-3D as the best software tool available to analyze nuclear power plants. This begins with writing excellent programming and requires thorough testing. This document covers development of RELAP5-3D software, the behavior of the RELAP5-3D program that must be maintained, and code testing. RELAP5-3D must perform in a manner consistent with previous code versions with backward compatibility for the sake of the users. Thus file operations, code termination, input and output must remain consistent in form and content while adding appropriate new files, input and output as new features are developed. As computer hardware, operating systems, and other software change, RELAP5-3D must adapt and maintain performance. The code must be thoroughly tested to ensure that it continues to perform robustly on the supported platforms. The coding must be written in a consistent manner that makes the program easy to read to reduce the time and cost of development, maintenance and error resolution. The programming guidelines presented her are intended to institutionalize a consistent way of writing FORTRAN code for the RELAP5-3D computer program that will minimize errors and rework. A common format and organization of program units creates a unifying look and feel to the code. This in turn increases readability and reduces time required for maintenance, development and debugging. It also aids new programmers in reading and understanding the program. Therefore, when undertaking development of the RELAP5-3D computer program, the programmer must write computer code that follows these guidelines. This set of programming guidelines creates a framework of good programming practices, such as initialization, structured programming, and vector-friendly coding. It sets out formatting rules for lines of code, such as indentation, capitalization, spacing, etc. It creates limits on program units, such as subprograms, functions, and modules. It establishes documentation guidance on internal comments. The guidelines apply to both existing and new subprograms. They are written for both FORTRAN 77 and FORTRAN 95. The guidelines are not so rigorous as to inhibit a programmer’s unique style, but do restrict the variations in acceptable coding to create sufficient commonality that new readers will find the coding in each new subroutine familiar. It is recognized that this is a “living” document and must be updated as languages, compilers, and computer hardware and software evolve.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Guidelines for Publicly Archiving Terrestrial Model Data to Enhance Usability, Intercomparison, and Synthesis

Scientific communities are increasingly publishing data to evaluate, accredit, and build on published research. However, guidelines for curating data for publication are sparse for model-related research, limiting the usability of archived simulation data. In particular, there are no established guidelines for archiving data related to terrestrial models that simulate land processes and their coupled interactions with climate. Terrestrial modelers have a unique set of challenges when publishing data due to the diversity of scientific domains, research questions, and the types and scales of simulations. Researchers in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) projects use a variety of multiscale models to advance robust predictions of terrestrial and subsurface ecosystem processes. Here, we synthesize archiving needs for data associated with different DOE models, and provide guidelines for publishing terrestrial model data components following FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles. The guidelines recommend archiving model inputs and testing data used in final simulation runs along with associated codes, workflow scripts, and metadata in public repositories. Researchers should consider archiving model outputs if they are within the storage limits of the repository. We also provide considerations for how to bundle files into different data publications with citable digital object identifiers. Finally, we identify repository features and tools that would enable storage and reuse of model data. Given the diversity of DOE terrestrial models, these guidelines are transferable to other model types and will enable efficient reuse of simulation data for purposes such as model intercomparisons, initialization, benchmarking, synthesis, and comparisons with field observations.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2014

The Development of Human Factor Guidelines for Unmanned Aircraft System Control Stations

Despite being referred to as unmanned some of the major challenges confronting unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) relate to human factors. NASA is conducting research to address the human factors relevant to UAS access to non-segregated airspace. This work covers the issues of pilot performance, interaction with ATC, and control station design. A major outcome of this research will be recommendations for human factors design guidelines for UAS control stations to support routine beyond-line-of-sight operations in the US national airspace system (NAS). To be effective, guidelines must be relevant to a wide range of systems, must not be overly prescriptive, and must not impose premature standardization on evolving technologies. In developing guidelines, we recognize that existing regulatory and guidance material may already provide adequate coverage of certain issues. In other cases suitable guidelines may be found in existing military or industry human factors standards. In cases where appropriate existing standards cannot be identified, original guidelines will be proposed.

guidelines↗
DOE OSTI2019

Guidelines for MR imaging in rectal cancer: Europe versus United States

The aim of this study was to compare and contrast recently published guidelines for staging and reporting of MR imaging in rectal cancer from the European Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology and the North American Society of Abdominal Radiology. These guidelines were assessed on the presence of consensus and disagreement. Items were compared by two reviewers, and items with agreement and disagreement between the guidelines were identified and are presented in the current paper. Differences between guidelines are discussed to offer insights in practice variations between both continents and among expert centers, which to some extent may explain the differences between guidelines.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Best practice reporting guideline for building stock energy models

Buildings are responsible for 38% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and, therefore, pathways to reduce their impact are crucial to achieve climate targets. Building stock energy models (BSEMs) have long been used as a tool to assess the current and future energy demand and environmental impact of building stocks. BSEMs have become more and more complex and are often tailored to case-specific datasets, which results in a high degree of heterogeneity among models. This heterogeneity, together with a lack of consistency in the reporting hinders the understanding of these models and, thereby, an accurate interpretation and comparison of results. In this paper we present a reporting guideline in order to improve reporting practices of BSEMs. The guideline was developed by experts as part of the IEA's Annex 70 and builds upon reporting guidelines from other fields. It consists of five topics (Overview, Model Components, Input and Output, Quality Assurance and Additional Information), which are further subdivided into subtopics. We explain which model aspects should be described in each subtopic, and provide illustrative examples on how to apply the guideline. In closing, the reporting guideline is consistent with the model classification framework and online model registry also developed in the Annex.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2015

Expert Consensus Contouring Guidelines for Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy in Esophageal and Gastroesophageal Junction Cancer

Purpose/Objective(s): Current guidelines for esophageal cancer contouring are derived from traditional 2-dimensional fields based on bony landmarks, and they do not provide sufficient anatomic detail to ensure consistent contouring for more conformal radiation therapy techniques such as intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Therefore, we convened an expert panel with the specific aim to derive contouring guidelines and generate an atlas for the clinical target volume (CTV) in esophageal or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer. Methods and Materials: Eight expert academically based gastrointestinal radiation oncologists participated. Three sample cases were chosen: a GEJ cancer, a distal esophageal cancer, and a mid-upper esophageal cancer. Uniform computed tomographic (CT) simulation datasets and accompanying diagnostic positron emission tomographic/CT images were distributed to each expert, and the expert was instructed to generate gross tumor volume (GTV) and CTV contours for each case. All contours were aggregated and subjected to quantitative analysis to assess the degree of concordance between experts and to generate draft consensus contours. The panel then refined these contours to generate the contouring atlas. Results: The κ statistics indicated substantial agreement between panelists for each of the 3 test cases. A consensus CTV atlas was generated for the 3 test cases, each representing common anatomic presentations of esophageal cancer. The panel agreed on guidelines and principles to facilitate the generalizability of the atlas to individual cases. Conclusions: This expert panel successfully reached agreement on contouring guidelines for esophageal and GEJ IMRT and generated a reference CTV atlas. This atlas will serve as a reference for IMRT contours for clinical practice and prospective trial design. Subsequent patterns of failure analyses of clinical datasets using these guidelines may require modification in the future.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2019

CSP-Plant Modeling Guidelines and Compliance of the System Advisor Model (SAM)

Accurately modeling risks, costs, and electricity output is essential to the financing and advancement of concentrating solar power projects. To address this need, a group of CSP experts created a guideline document, titled SolarPACES Guideline for Bankable STE Yield Assessment [1]. To make this information more accessible and allow stakeholders to test specific models against the recommendations, the guidelines have been condensed into a spreadsheet-based checklist. The checklist was applied to NREL's System Advisor Model (SAM) software, providing useful feedback to both the checklist group and the SAM development team. This study showed strong agreement between SAM and the guidelines, demonstrated the use of the guidelines in model validation, and resulted in several recommended improvements to SAM.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Summary of Oxy Boiler Design Guidelines and Design Considerations (Topical Report- Recovery Act: Oxy-Combustion Technology Development for Industrial-Scale Boiler Applications)

This Topical Report outlines guidelines and key considerations for design and operation of pulverized coal-fired boilers for oxy-combustion. The scope addressed includes only the boiler island, not the entire oxy-fired CO 2 capture plant. These guidelines are primarily developed for tangential-fired boilers and focus on designs capable of dual air and oxy-fired operation. The guidelines and considerations discussed are applicable to both new units and existing boiler retrofits. These guidelines are largely based on the findings from the extensive 15 MW th pilot testing and design efforts conducted under this project. A summary level description is provided for each major aspect of boiler design impacted by oxy-combustion, and key considerations are discussed for broader application to different utility and industrial designs. Guidelines address the boiler system arrangement, firing system, boiler thermal design, ducting, materials, control system, and other key systems.

42 ENGINEERING↗