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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
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Spaceflight-Associated Changes of snoRNAs in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells and Plasma Exosomes—A Pilot Study

During spaceflight, astronauts are exposed to various physiological and psychological stressors that have been associated with adverse health effects. Therefore, there is an unmet need to develop novel diagnostic tools to predict early alterations in astronauts’ health. Small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) is a type of short non-coding RNA (60–300 nucleotides) known to guide 2'-O-methylation (Nm) or pseudouridine (ψ) of ribosomal RNA (rRNA), small nuclear RNA (snRNA), or messenger RNA (mRNA). Emerging evidence suggests that dysregulated snoRNAs may be key players in regulating fundamental cellular mechanisms and in the pathogenesis of cancer, heart, and neurological disease. Therefore, we sought to determine whether the spaceflight-induced snoRNA changes in astronaut’s peripheral blood (PB) plasma extracellular vesicles (PB-EV) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Using unbiased small RNA sequencing (sRNAseq), we evaluated changes in PB-EV snoRNA content isolated from astronauts (n = 5/group) who underwent median 12-day long Shuttle missions between 1998 and 2001. Using stringent cutoff (fold change > 2 or log 2 -fold change >1, FDR < 0.05), we detected 21 down-and 9—up-regulated snoRNAs in PB-EVs 3 days after return (R + 3) compared to 10 days before launch (L-10). qPCR validation revealed that SNORA74A was significantly down-regulated at R + 3 compared to L-10. We next determined snoRNA expression levels in astronauts’ PBMCs at R + 3 and L-10 (n = 6/group). qPCR analysis further confirmed a significant increase in SNORA19 and SNORA47 in astronauts’ PBMCs at R + 3 compared to L-10. Notably, many downregulated snoRNA-guided rRNA modifications, including four Nms and five ψs. Our findings revealed that spaceflight induced changes in PB-EV and PBMCs snoRNA expression, thus suggesting snoRNAs may serve as potential novel biomarkers for monitoring astronauts’ health.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Predicting SARS-CoV-2 Variant Using Non-Invasive Hand Odor Analysis: A Pilot Study

The adaptable nature of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has led to the emergence of multiple viral variants of concern. This research builds upon a previous demonstration of sampling human hand odor to distinguish SARS-CoV-2 infection status in order to incorporate considerations of the disease variants. This study demonstrates the ability of human odor expression to be implemented as a non-invasive medium for the differentiation of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were extracted from SARS-CoV-2-positive samples using solid phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Sparse partial least squares discriminant analysis (sPLS-DA) modeling revealed that supervised machine learning could be used to predict the variant identity of a sample using VOC expression alone. The class discrimination of Delta and Omicron BA.5 variant samples was performed with 95.2% (±0.4) accuracy. Omicron BA.2 and Omicron BA.5 variants were correctly classified with 78.5% (±0.8) accuracy. Lastly, Delta and Omicron BA.2 samples were assigned with 71.2% (±1.0) accuracy. This work builds upon the framework of non-invasive techniques producing diagnostics through the analysis of human odor expression, all in support of public health monitoring.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Pilot Study of Whole-Blood Transcriptomic Analysis to Identify Genes Associated with Repetitive Low-Level Blast Exposure in Career Breachers

Repetitive low-level blast exposure is one of the major occupational health concerns among US military service members and law enforcement. This study seeks to identify gene expression using microRNA and RNA sequencing in whole-blood samples from experienced breachers and unexposed controls. We performed experimental RNA sequencing using Illumina’s HiSeq 2500 Sequencing System, and microRNA analysis using NanoString Technology nCounter miRNA expression panel in whole-blood total RNA samples from 15 experienced breachers and 14 age-, sex-, and race-matched unexposed controls. We identified 10 significantly dysregulated genes between experienced breachers and unexposed controls, with FDR corrected <0.05: One upregulated gene, LINC00996 (long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 996); and nine downregulated genes, IGLV3-16 (immunoglobulin lambda variable 3-16), CD200 (CD200 molecule), LILRB5 (leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor B5), ZNF667-AS1 (ZNF667 antisense RNA 1), LMOD1 (leiomodin 1), CNTNAP2 (contactin-associated protein 2), EVPL (envoplakin), DPF3 (double PHD fingers 3), and IGHV4-34 (immunoglobulin heavy variable 4-34). The dysregulated gene expressions reported here have been associated with chronic inflammation and immune response, suggesting that these pathways may relate to the risk of lasting neurological symptoms following high exposures to blast over a career.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Evaluation of sterol-o-acyl transferase 1 and cholesterol ester levels in plasma, peritoneal fluid and tumor tissue of patients with endometrial cancer: A pilot study

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most prevalent gynecological malignancy. Abnormal accumulation of sterol-O-acyl transferase 1 (SOAT1) and SOAT1-mediated cholesterol ester (CE) contributes to cancer progression in various malignancies, including ovarian cancer. Therefore, it was hypothesized that similar molecular changes may occur in EC. The present study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic and/or prognostic potential of SOAT1 and CE in EC by: i) Determining SOAT1 and CE levels in plasma, peritoneal fluid and endometrial tissue from patients with EC and control subjects; ii) performing receiver operating characteristic curve analysis to determine diagnostic performance; iii) comparing SOAT1 and CE expression to that of the tumor proliferation marker Ki67; and iv) assessing the association between SOAT1 expression and survival. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine the levels of SOAT1 protein in tissue, plasma and peritoneal fluid. The mRNA and protein expression levels of SOAT1 and Ki67 in tissues were detected by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry, respectively. CE levels were determined colorimetrically in plasma and peritoneal fluid. SOAT1-associated survival data from the cBioPortal cancer genomics database were used to assess prognostic relevance. The results revealed that SOAT1 and CE levels were significantly elevated in tumor tissue and peritoneal fluid samples collected from the EC group. By contrast, the plasma levels of SOAT1 and CE in the EC and control groups were similar. Significant positive associations between CE and SOAT1, SOAT1/CE and Ki67, and SOAT1/CE and poor overall survival in patients with EC suggested that SOAT1/CE may be associated with malignancy, aggressiveness and poor prognosis. In conclusion, SOAT1 and CE may serve as potential biomarkers for prognosis and target-specific treatment of EC.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Pilot Study for Determining HVAC Fault Prevalence from Fault Monitoring Data

HVAC faults in U.S. commercial buildings are estimated to waste 0.7 quads of energy annually and many companies have deployed software at scale for fault detection and diagnosis (FDD). Yet the lack of comprehensive published data on fault prevalence makes it difficult for researchers, software developers, and building operators to target the most important types of faults and accelerate the widespread deployment of this technology. A multi-lab effort is underway to quantify the prevalence of commercial building HVAC faults. This paper describes initial analysis conducted on over 2-years of FDD data from 12 campus buildings to inform the methodology and data collection strategy of the full study. The analysis found a large variability in fault prevalence across different buildings, pieces of equipment, and fault types, many duplicate fault alarms, and challenges in validating faults with secondary data sources such as manually entered work order data. This paper also discusses the requirements for a successful full study, which necessitates the acquisition of a large, diverse dataset, from buildings that vary in end-use, climate region, and installed FDD software platform, as well as robust validation data easily linked to the FDD data. It is especially important to perform this analysis on data from multiple FDD providers and building owners to ensure that the results are agnostic to the software methodology used and building-specific settings. Future work will present the results of the full study, which will contain data from several different partner organizations, spanning a large proportion of U.S. climate zones.

Newman, Sarah F.↗
DOE OSTI2026

2020 Can Do Colorado E-Bike Mini Pilot Program Study

### The Colorado Energy Office conducted a mini pilot program study as part of the Can Do Colorado initiative, providing e-bikes to 13 low-income participants. The program aimed to encourage energy-efficient transportation during the COVID-19 pandemic as transit services were reduced and people were concerned about exposure. The insights garnered from this small-scale pilot study informed the design of a full-scale, 2-year pilot in locations across Colorado. For more information about the mini pilot program, see NLR's [Preliminary Results Report](https://www.nlr.gov/docs/fy21osti/79657.pdf). Micromobility options such as e-bikes offer a solution for improving energy efficiency for short-distance trips, especially in urban areas. Pedal-assist e-bikes use an electric motor and battery to help power the bike. The motor amplifies the power behind each pedal stroke, augmenting the energy you put into the bike. #### Data Collection Agency The Colorado Energy Office conducted the survey. #### Survey Methodology Participants in the program received a Momentum LaFree E+ e-bike (Class 1) and accessories at no cost and manually submitted travel data and feedback for 3 months using the CanBikeCo App. The smartphone app, developed in partnership with NLR, used a customized version of the [NLR OpenPATH platform](https://www.nlr.gov/transportation/openpath.html). #### Survey Records and Data Survey records include a total of 13 participants. This dataset contains 3 months of end-to-end, multimodal travel data manually submitted via smartphone app by 13 low-income essential workers in the greater Denver area. The data includes distance, mode (e.g., e-bike, car, transit), trip purpose, and demographic information.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2026

2021–2022 Can Do Colorado E-Bike Full-Scale Pilot Program Study

In 2021–2022, the Colorado Energy Office conducted a full-scale pilot program study on e-bike usage as part of the Can Do Colorado initiative, providing e-bikes to low-income participants across the state. A [2020 mini pilot program study](https://www.nlr.gov/transportation/secure-transportation-data/tsdc-2020-can-do-colorado-e-bike-pilot-program.html) informed the full-scale study. Both studies used pedal-assist e-bikes, which feature an electric motor and battery to help power the bike. The motor amplifies the power behind each pedal stroke, augmenting the energy you put into the bike. #### Data Collection Agency The Colorado Energy Office conducted the study in partnership with local organizations in Adams and Broomfield counties (Smart Commute Metro North), Boulder (Community Cycles), Durango (Four Corners Office for Resource Efficiency), Fort Collins (City of Fort Collins), Pueblo (Pueblo County), and Vail (Town of Vail). #### Survey Methodology Program participants received an e-bike and accessories at no cost and manually submitted travel data and feedback via the CanBikeCO smartphone app. Developed in partnership with NLR, the app used a customized version of the open-source [NLR OpenPATH platform](https://www.nlr.gov/transportation/openpath.html). #### Survey Records and Data Survey records include 170 participants. The six datasets contain up to 18 months of partially automated travel diaries, combining sensed and surveyed travel behavior data—patterns of multimodal, end-to-end, individual human mobility—as well as demographic information from participants. The number of e-bike trips and e-bike miles traveled per location are 1,560 and 4,179 for Adams and Broomfield counties; 8,481 and 27,000 for Boulder; 2,815 and 6,307 for Durango; 3,483 and 7,080 for Fort Collins; 4,022 and 14,887 for Pueblo, and 1,206 and 3,3361 for Vail.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2026

2015 Madison County, Indiana, In the Moment Travel Study

The 2015 In the Moment Travel Study—a pilot study—captured the travel behavior and characteristics of residents in Madison County, Indiana. The Madison County Council of Governments sponsored the study, which was administered by Resource Systems Group and conducted from February to March 2015. It used an activity sampling or "random moments" sampling approach via a smartphone application to capture travel behavior and characteristics from the survey participants. This approach included brief smartphone interactions, e.g., a few minutes per interaction, conducted multiple times a day over multiple days, which was considered less burdensome than traditional household travel diary surveys, which often require 20-30 minutes in one sitting. This proof-of-concept study included households that also participated in the 2014 Heartland in Motion household travel diary survey. Because of this, an assessment of the accuracy and completeness of the collected smartphone application data and comparisons between the "random moments" sample method and traditional household travel surveys can conceivably be drawn.

1Hz data↗
DOE OSTI2026

2022 Bull E-Bike Pilot Program Study

In 2022, the City of Durham conducted an e-bike pilot program study to learn more about how electric bikes (e-bikes) could improve the transportation experience in the "Bull City" (a.k.a., Durham, North Carolina). The study used pedal-assist e-bikes, which feature an electric motor and battery to help power the bike. The motor amplifies the power behind each pedal stroke, augmenting the energy you put into the bike. #### Data Collection Agency The City of Durham's Transportation Department conducted the study. #### Survey Methodology Program participants used electric-assist e-bikes for at least 4 weeks between August and November 2022 in exchange for sharing information about their experiences, including tracking their travel via a smartphone app. In addition to the e-bike, participants received maintenance support along with a helmet, bike lock, and other accessories. Data collection was enabled by the [NLR OpenPATH platform](https://www.nlr.gov/transportation/openpath.html). #### Survey Records and Data Survey records include a total of 76 participants. The dataset contains 3 months of partially automated travel diaries, combining sensed and surveyed travel behavior data—patterns of multimodal, end-to-end, individual human mobility—as well as demographic and socioeconomic information from participants. The number of total trips was 6,488, the number of e-bike trips was 2,183, and the number of e-bike miles traveled was 5,450.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2023

Technical Specification Surveillance Interval Extension Using Self-Diagnostics

As part of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability program, an ongoing research effort is being conducted on technical specifications surveillance interval extension of digital equipment in nuclear power plants. The research team is led by Idaho National Laboratory and includes Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Technology Resources, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This research focuses on developing methods for applying the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)–approved guidance to implement a licensee-controlled, risk-informed surveillance frequency change program in digital instrumentation and control (I&C) systems that include self-diagnostics and online monitoring (OLM) capabilities. Although approved methods exist for extending technical specifications (TS) surveillance test intervals (STIs) for general equipment, including analog I&C equipment, gaps remain in technology and guidance on crediting newer digital equipment’s internal self-diagnostics and OLM characteristics. Previous research described a general methodology for crediting internal self-diagnostics for extending surveillance test intervals. The methodology used self-diagnostics to detect—and credited recovery from—failure. Self-diagnostics were also applied for performance monitoring during the extended surveillance interval. This report discusses the status of recent activities to evaluate the previously developed methodology using a pilot study. Although both a utility partner for a pilot study and a specific digital asset were identified in FY2020, delays in obtaining proprietary information resulted in a limited ability to fully evaluate the methodology, and further interactions were complicated by the COVID pandemic. Therefore, at that time, the use of public-domain information—along with current processes for surveillance interval extension through a surveillance frequency control program—identified the need to fully assess diagnostic coverage as part of the pilot study. Furthermore, self-diagnostics were also identified as a potential option to replace the drift analyses conducted as part of current STI extension procedures. In FY2022, the project was reconstituted with the industry partner, and information and data were made available by the industry partner to the research team for review. The shared information included failure event descriptions and data for a digital I&C system since its implementation, as well as recent STI extension interval reports developed by the utility partner on that digital I&C system. This report presents an evaluation of this information and data and describes an application of the proposed methodology cited above. The methodology seeks to take advantage of the self-diagnostics and OLM capabilities to reduce risk or reduce the level of qualitative monitoring assessment needed to perform a risk-informed STI extension using existing NRC approved guidance or both. Addressing these issues of STI extension by crediting self-diagnostics is likely to result in benefits for current and future nuclear power plant (NPP) operations, including lowering the barriers to adoption of digital I&C systems and increasing cost savings by deferring or eliminating unneeded preventive maintenance (tasks or checks or activities). Specifically, self-diagnostic and OLM capabilities of newer digital equipment being installed in non-safety and safety applications are designed to detect failures, provide early warning of potential failures, and notify plant operators to take appropriate action to reduce out of service (OOS) time thus protecting safety margins. Moreover, the equipment is expected to provide information that time-related operational degradation is identified early to ensure timely and planned corrective actions instead of a reactive and unplanned approach ahead of an extended-surveillance interval.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Laboratory and pilot-scale studies of membrane distillation for desalination of produced water from Permian Basin

Substantial quantities of produced water generated during the extraction of oil and gas from unconventional reservoirs present significant environmental concern and increase the operating cost for this industry. Membrane Distillation (MD) can serve as a potential solution for beneficial reuse of produced water by generating high-quality permeate and reducing the volume of produced water requiring disposal. This study investigated treatment of produced water from Permian Basin in both laboratory and pilot-scale studies. Laboratory tests revealed the potential to successfully recover 50% of produced water although some increase in permeate conductivity was observed due to the passage of ammonia from the feed side. Initial pilot-scale test with filtration of raw produced water as the only pre-treatment step led to precipitation of SrSO 4 , NaCl, and Fe in the system once the solubility limits for these salts were exceeded. However, chemical pretreatment that included pH adjustment, aeration, and barite precipitation, allowed successful steady-state operation of the AGMD pilot system for 5 days where the produced water was concentrated from 127 g/L to 255 g/L (~50% water recovery) while recovering high quality permeate. Overall, greater than 99.7 % salt rejection was achieved with the average permeate flux of 1.86 LMH. Finally, mass balance analysis suggested potential Ba and Ca precipitation in the system but there was no impact on AGMD performance and permeate quality during 5 days of continuous operation in the field.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Preliminary Pilot-scale Study and Techno-economic Analysis of Chemical Heat Pump with Conventional Nuclear Reactors

The energy economy is continually evolving, particularly in terms of primary energy sources, their conversions to useful forms such as electricity and heat, and their utilization in different sectors, in response to socio-political factors. Because nuclear source is clean and non-carbon-emitting energy source, it is crucial to consider its role in the evolution of the energy economy. A pilot-scale study was conducted for Chemical Heat Pump (ChHP) system at three different scales (25-, 100-, and 1000-kW thermal outputs) using steady state thermal model. To establish the viability of selling heat rather than electricity alone, techno-economic analysis was undertaken for advanced Small Modular Reactor (SMR), and SMR paired with varied thermal output ChHP systems was referred to as the nuclear hybrid energy system (NHES) in this study. Using the U.S. Energy Information Administration statistics, pricing for electricity and natural gas were anticipated for U.S. regions (California, Northwest, Midwest, Southwest, New England, and PJM). Based on thermal output from ChHP, advanced SMR with 100 MWth and four alternative NHES scenarios were explored, namely 50-, 10-, 5-, and 1-MWth. Net present value, payback period, discounted cash flow return, and levelized cost of energy were evaluated for all scenarios. Based on the economic analysis, selling heat to high-temperature industrial processes is more profitable compared to selling electricity only. Higher carbon taxes showed significant improvement in economic parameters for NHESs. Providing heat to high-temperature industries could be beneficial, helping to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by slashing the fossil fuel consumption.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Safety and efficacy of peripheral nerve blocks to treat refractory headaches after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage – A pilot observational study

Objectives: Headache after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (HASH) is common, severe, and often refractory to conventional treatments. Current treatment standards include medications including opioids, until the pain is mitigated. Peripheral nerve blocks (PNBs) may be an effective therapeutic option for HASH. We conducted a small before-and-after study of PNBs to determine safety, feasibility, and efficacy in treatment of HASH. Methods: We conducted a pilot before-and-after observational study and collected data for 5 patients in a retrospective control group and 5 patients in a prospective intervention PNB group over a 12-month period. All patients received a standard treatment of medications including acetaminophen, magnesium, gabapentin, dexamethasone and anti-spasmodics or anti-emetics as needed. Patients in the intervention group received bilateral greater occipital, lesser occipital, and supraorbital PNBs in addition to medications. The primary outcome was pain severity, measured by Numeric pain rating scale (NPRS). All patients were followed for 1 week following enrollment. Results: The mean ages in the PNB group and control group were 58.6 and 57.4, respectively. One patient in the control group developed radiographic vasospasm. Three patients in both groups had radiographic hydrocephalus and IVH, requiring external ventricular drain (EVD) placement. The PNB group had an average reduction in mean raw pain score of 2.76 (4.68, 1.92 p = 0.024), and relative pain score by 0.26 (0.48, 0.22 p = 0.026), compared to the control group. The reduction occurred immediately after PNB administration. Conclusion: PNB can be a safe, feasible and effective treatment modality for HASH. Further investigations with a larger sample size are warranted.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Development of Training Materials for Pathologists to Provide Machine Learning Validation Data of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Breast Cancer

The High Throughput Truthing project aims to develop a dataset for validating artificial intelligence and machine learning models (AI/ML) fit for regulatory purposes. The context of this AI/ML validation dataset is the reporting of stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) density evaluations in hematoxylin and eosin-stained invasive breast cancer biopsy specimens. After completing the pilot study, we found notable variability in the sTILs estimates as well as inconsistencies and gaps in the provided training to pathologists. Using the pilot study data and an expert panel, we created custom training materials to improve pathologist annotation quality for the pivotal study. We categorized regions of interest (ROIs) based on their mean sTILs density and selected ROIs with the highest and lowest sTILs variability. In a series of eight one-hour sessions, the expert panel reviewed each ROI and provided verbal density estimates and comments on features that confounded the sTILs evaluation. We aggregated and shaped the comments to identify pitfalls and instructions to improve our training materials. From these selected ROIs, we created a training set and proficiency test set to improve pathologist training with the goal to improve data collection for the pivotal study. We are not exploring AI/ML performance in this paper. Instead, we are creating materials that will train crowd-sourced pathologists to be the reference standard in a pivotal study to create an AI/ML model validation dataset. The issues discussed here are also important for clinicians to understand about the evaluation of sTILs in clinical practice and can provide insight to developers of AI/ML models.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

AI-Driven Smart Community Control for Accelerating PV Adoption and Enhancing Grid Resilience

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched a Connected Communities program that supports projects that expand DOE's network of grid-interactive, efficient building communities nationwide. As an early pilot of Connected Communities, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and its partners have developed and demonstrated a community-scale, hierarchical control solution to address the potential grid issues arising from high penetration of solar photovoltaics (PV) as well as to improve grid reliability and resilience in this residential community. A field pilot study has been performed at an affordable housing development called the Basalt Vista Community, which was built for school teachers and other professionals in the local workforce and represents an autonomous energy grid with all-electric, energy-efficient homes. With no natural gas line in the community, this is the first all-electric net-zero community in rural Colorado. In the field pilot study, NREL has validated the performance of the hierarchical control solution, which consists of NREL's foresee home energy management systems (HEMS) and community aggregators, in increasing demand flexibility and self-consuming PV, reducing potential over-voltages, and supporting critical loads during emergency events. In this presentation, we will present the methodology, simulation and field pilot results, and lessons learned from the project.

all-electric community↗