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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 OSTI2013

WHOLE CELL TOMOGRAPHY/MOLECULAR BIOLOGY/STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY: Affordable x-ray microscopy with nanoscale resolution

Biological research spans 10 orders of magnitude from angstroms to meters. While electron microscopy can reveal structural details at most of these spatial length scales, transmission electron tomography only reliably reconstructs three-dimensional (3-D) volumes of cellular material with a spatial resolution between 1-5 nm from samples less than 500 nm thick1. Most biological cells are 2-30 times thicker than this threshold, which means that a cell must be cut into consecutive slices with each slice reconstructed individually in order to approximate the contextual information of the entire cell. Fortunately, due to a larger penetration depth2, X-ray computed tomography bypasses the need to physically section a cell and enables imaging of intact cells and tissues on the micrometer or larger scale with tens to hundreds of nanometer spatial resolution. While the technique of soft x-ray microscopy has been extensively developed in synchrotron facilities, advancements in laboratory x-ray source designs now increase its accessibility by supporting commercial systems suitable for a standard laboratory. In this paper, we highlight a new commercial compact cryogenic soft x-ray microscope designed for a standard laboratory setting and explore its capabilities for mesoscopic investigations of intact prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.

femtosecond crystallography↗
DOE OSTI2021

Determining diagnostic coverage for memory using redundant execution

Memory, used by a computer to store data, is generally prone to faults, including permanent faults (i.e. relating to a lifetime of the memory hardware), and also transient faults (i.e. relating to some external cause) which are otherwise known as soft errors. Since soft errors can change the state of the data in the memory and thus cause errors in applications reading and processing the data, there is a desire to characterize the degree of vulnerability of the memory to soft errors. In particular, once the vulnerability for a particular memory to soft errors has been characterized, cost/reliability trade-offs can be determined, or soft error detection mechanisms (e.g. parity) may be selectively employed for the memory. In some cases, memory faults can be diagnosed by redundant execution and a diagnostic coverage may be determined.

Bramley, Richard Gavin↗
DOE OSTI2011

EPID-guided 3D dose verification of lung SBRT

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of utilizing tumor tracks from electronic portal imaging device (EPID) images taken during treatment to verify the delivered dose. Methods: The proposed method is based on a computation of the delivered fluence by utilizing the planned fluence and the tumor motion track for each field. A phantom study was designed to assess the feasibility of the method. The CIRS dynamic thorax phantom was utilized with a realistic soft resin tumor, modeled after a real patient tumor. The dose calculated with the proposed method was compared to direct measurements taken with 15 metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) inserted in small fissures made in the tumor model. The phantom was irradiated with the tumor static and moved with different range of motions and setup errors. EPID images were recorded throughout all deliveries and the tumor model was tracked post-treatment with in-house developed software. The planned fluence for each field was convolved with the tumor motion tracks to obtain the delivered fluence. Utilizing the delivered fluence from each field, the delivered dose was calculated. The estimated delivered dose was compared to the dose directly measured with the MOSFETs. The feasibility of the proposed method was also demonstrated on a real lung cancer patient, treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy. Results: The calculation of delivered dose with the delivered fluence method was in good agreement with the MOSFET measurements, with average differences ranging from 0.8% to 8.3% depending on the proximity of a dose gradient. For the patient treatment, the planned and delivered dose volume histograms were compared and verified the overall good coverage of the target volume. Conclusions: The delivered fluence method was applied successfully on phantom and clinical data and its accuracy was evaluated. Verifying each treatment fraction may enable correction strategies that can be applied during the course of treatment to ensure the desired dose coverage.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

A fully-integrated lattice Boltzmann method for fluid–structure interaction

Here we present a fully-integrated lattice Boltzmann (LB) method for fluid–structure interaction (FSI) simulations that efficiently models deformable solids in complex suspensions and active systems. Our Eulerian method (LBRMT) couples finite-strain solids to the LB fluid on the same fixed computational grid with the reference map technique (RMT). An integral part of the LBRMT is a new LB boundary condition for moving deformable interfaces across different densities. With this fully Eulerian solid–fluid coupling, the LBRMT is well-suited for parallelization and simulating multi-body contact without remeshing or extra meshes. We validate its accuracy via a benchmark of a deformable solid in a lid-driven cavity, then showcase its versatility through examples of soft solids rotating and settling. The LBRMT achieves a spatial convergence rate between first-order and second-order for FSI simulations and is designed for low to intermediate Reynolds number flows with finite inertia at small Mach numbers. With simulations of complex suspensions mixing, we highlight the potential of the LBRMT for studying collective behavior in soft matter and biofluid dynamics.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2026

How Does Metal Spin State Affect Electronic Communication in Mixed-Valence Dimers? Insights from Ultrafast Near-Infrared and Soft X-ray Transient Absorption Spectroscopy

Recent advancements in photocatalysis, photovoltaics, and quantum information science take advantage of electron spin, and determining how spin multiplicity affects electron transfer is key to understanding these phenomena. Here, in this study, we examine how metal spin state affects electronic communication in an organometallic mixed-valence dimer, ferrocenyl cobaltocenium ([Fe II Cp 2 Co III Cp 2 ] + ). This complex can be photoexcited from its low-spin singlet Fe II ground state to form intermediate-spin triplet Fe II and high-spin quintet Fe II excited states. Using femtosecond optical transient absorption (OTA) spectroscopy with visible (vis), near-infrared (NIR), and short-wave IR (SWIR) probes, supported by time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations, we measure Fe II Co III →Fe III Co II intervalence charge transfer (IVCT) bands in each of the Fe II spin states. Mulliken–Hush analysis of the excited-state IVCT bands was used to compute the electronic coupling between the metal centers in all three spin states, which increased as quintet < triplet < singlet. Meanwhile, the peak energy of the bands, and thus the ΔG of the IVCT transition, increased as triplet < quintet < singlet. Then, to directly probe the electronic structure at each metal center, we employed picosecond soft X-ray transient absorption (XTA) spectroscopy at the Fe and Co L 3 edges. Our results show that the low-spin and high-spin states of [Fe II Cp 2 Co III Cp 2 ] + are valence-localized, while the intermediate-spin state is partially delocalized. The differences in charge delocalization are attributed to differences in orbital occupation and geometry that affect the free energy and superexchange coupling.

Burke, John H. [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champa↗
NASA NTRS1987

Soft X-ray line profiles in the impulsive phase of electron-heated solar flares

Using a model of the hydrodynamic response of a flare loop to energy input in the form of a nonthermal electron beam, the predicted line profile of the Ca XIX resonance line at 3.177 A is computed. The results are compared with observations and are shown to generally agree, both qualitatively and quantitatively, with these observations. The model does, however, predict an overall blueshift in the line profile, a result which differs with earlier interpretations of the observations, and which remains to be tested by absolutely calibrated measurements of the Ca XIX spectrum. It is concluded that electron-heated models of solar flares quite naturally predict the observed features in the Ca XIX line profile, without the need to introduce nonthermal motions or an artificial division of the flare plasma into two distinct components, as suggested by previous authors.

Emslie, Gordon A.↗
DOE OSTI2014

Conception and realization of a parallel-plate free-air ionization chamber for the absolute dosimetry of an ultrasoft X-ray beam

We report the design of a millimeter-sized parallel plate free-air ionization chamber (IC) aimed at determining the absolute air kerma rate of an ultra-soft X-ray beam (E = 1.5 keV). The size of the IC was determined so that the measurement volume satisfies the condition of charged-particle equilibrium. The correction factors necessary to properly measure the absolute kerma using the IC have been established. Particular attention was given to the determination of the effective mean energy for the 1.5 keV photons using the PENELOPE code. Other correction factors were determined by means of computer simulation (COMSOL™and FLUKA). Measurements of air kerma rates under specific operating parameters of the lab-bench X-ray source have been performed at various distances from that source and compared to Monte Carlo calculations. We show that the developed ionization chamber makes it possible to determine accurate photon fluence rates in routine work and will constitute substantial time-savings for future radiobiological experiments based on the use of ultra-soft X-rays.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2012

Light-Front Holography and the Light-Front Schrodinger Equation

One of the most important nonperturbative methods for solving QCD is quantization at fixed light-front time {tau} = t+z=c - Dirac's 'Front Form'. The eigenvalues of the light-front QCD Hamiltonian predict the hadron spectrum and the eigensolutions provide the light-front wavefunctions which describe hadron structure. More generally, we show that the valence Fock-state wavefunctions of the light-front QCD Hamiltonian satisfy a single-variable relativistic equation of motion, analogous to the nonrelativistic radial Schrodinger equation, with an effective confining potential U which systematically incorporates the effects of higher quark and gluon Fock states. We outline a method for computing the required potential from first principles in QCD. The holographic mapping of gravity in AdS space to QCD, quantized at fixed light-front time, yields the same light front Schrodinger equation; in fact, the soft-wall AdS/QCD approach provides a model for the light-front potential which is color-confining and reproduces well the light-hadron spectrum. One also derives via light-front holography a precise relation between the bound-state amplitudes in the fifth dimension of AdS space and the boost-invariant light-front wavefunctions describing the internal structure of hadrons in physical space-time. The elastic and transition form factors of the pion and the nucleons are found to be well described in this framework. The light-front AdS/QCD holographic approach thus gives a frame-independent first approximation of the color-confining dynamics, spectroscopy, and excitation spectra of relativistic light-quark bound states in QCD.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Hydrodynamic computations of high-power laser drives generating metal ejecta jets from surface grooves

Understanding dynamic fragmentation in shock-loaded metals and predicting properties of the resulting ejecta are of considerable importance for both basic and applied science. The nature of material ejection has been shown to change drastically when the free surface melts on compression or release. In this work, we present hydrodynamic simulations of laser-driven microjetting from micron-scale grooves on a tin surface. We study microjet formation across a range of shock strengths from drives that leave the target solid after release to drives that induce shock melting in the target. The shock-state particle velocity (Up) varies from 0.3 to 3 km/s and the shock breakout pressure is 3–120 GPa. The microjet tip velocity is 1–8 km/s and the free-surface velocity varies from 0.1 to 5 km/s. Two tin equations of state are examined: a “soft” model (LEOS 501) where the target melts for U p > 1 km/s and a more detailed multiphase model (SESAME 2161) that melts for U p > 1.4 km/s. We use these two models to examine the influence of phase change and the choice of the material model on microjet formation and evolution. We observe in our computational results that jet formation can be classified into three regimes: a low-energy regime where material strength affects jet formation, a moderate-energy regime dominated by the changing phase of tin material, and a high-energy regime where results are insensitive to the material model and jet formation is described by an idealized steady-jet theory. Using an ensemble of 2D simulations, we show that these trends hold across a wide range of drive energies and groove angles.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Multiperiod Distribution System Restoration With Routing Repair Crews, Mobile Electric Vehicles, and Soft-Open-Point Networked Microgrids

This paper proposes a distribution system restoration model which is in response to multiple outages caused by natural disasters. The proposed restoration model includes the coordination of routing repair crews (RRCs), mobile batterycarried vehicles (MBCVs), and networked microgrids (NMGs) formed by soft open points (SOPs). The travel and repair time constraints are modeled for each RRC; travel path and charging strategy are modeled for each MBCV; and the network reconfiguration is developed considering the optimal operation of SOP-based NMGs. Furthermore, the proposed model is presented as a mixedinteger linear program which is solved by an auxiliary induce function based algorithm to reduce the computational complexity. The modified IEEE 33-bus and 69-bus distribution systems are tested with multiple outages. The presented results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2014

SU-E-J-263: Dosimetric Analysis On Breast Brachytherapy Based On Deformable Image Registration

Purpose: To quantitatively compare and evaluate the dosimetry difference between breast brachytherapy protocols with different fractionation using deformable image registration. Methods: The accumulative dose distribution for multiple breast brachytherapy patients using four different applicators: Contura, Mammosite, Savi, and interstitial catheters, under two treatment protocols: 340cGy by 10 fractions in 5 days and 825cGy by 3 fractions in 2days has been reconstructed using a two stage deformable image registration approach. For all patients, daily CT was acquired with the same slice thickness (2.5mm). In the first stage, the daily CT images were rigidly registered to the initial planning CT using the registration module in Eclipse (Varian) to align the applicators. In the second stage, the tissues surrounding the applicator in the rigidly registered daily CT image were non-rigidly registered to the initial CT using a combination of image force and the local constraint that enforce zero normal motion on the surface of the applicator, using a software developed in house. We calculated the dose distribution in the daily CTs and deformed them using the final registration to convert into the image domain of the initial planning CT. The accumulative dose distributions were evaluated by dosimetry parameters including D90, V150 and V200, as well as DVH. Results: Dose reconstruction results showed that the two day treatment has a significant dosimetry improvement over the five day protocols. An average daily drop of D90 at 1.3% of the prescription dose has been observed on multiple brachytherapy patients. There is no significant difference on V150 and V200 between those two protocols. Conclusion: Brachytherapy with higher fractional dose and less fractions has an improved performance on being conformal to the dose distribution in the initial plan. Elongated brachytherapy treatments need to consider the dose uncertainty caused by the temporal changes of the soft tissue.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

SU-F-J-188: Clinical Implementation of in Room Mobile CT for Image Guided Proton Therapy

Purpose: To implement soft-tissue image-guided proton therapy using inroom mobile CT. Methods: Anthropomorphic phantom was first used to determine the setup accuracy using in- room mobile CT. Laser and bbs were used for the initial setup (marked isocenter). CT data was then acquired with in-room mobile CT (daily CT). The shift between the marked isocenter and the planned isocenter (final isocenter) was determined from the daily CT using in-house Computer Assisted Targeting (CAT) software. Orthogonal DRRs of the day was also generated from the daily CT. The phantom was then transferred on the treatment couch top to the treatment machine using a transportation system, and again aligned to the marked isocenter. Couch shifts were made to align the phantom to the final isocenter using the shifts as determined using the CAT software, and verified using orthogonal X-ray images with the daily DRRs. Results: Phantom data suggests that following the setup procedure as described above, targeting accuracy could be within 1 mm. Patient data are being acquired and analyzed. Conclusion: In-room mobile CT is capable of providing soft-tissue image-guided proton therapy.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Sci-Thur AM: YIS – 02: Imaging dose distributions through the detection of radiation-induced acoustic waves

Purpose: X-ray acoustic computed tomography (XACT) is an emerging technique that images the dose deposited within an object following linac irradiation by detecting acoustic waves induced via the photoacoustic effect. This work shows that XACT images can be formed in soft-tissue equivalent material and that dosimetric information can be extracted from such images. Methods: Acoustic waves induced in a water tank following irradiation by a 10 MV flattening filter free photon beam were detected with an immersion ultrasound transducer at 60 angles surrounding the radiation field. A back-projection algorithm was used to reconstruct an XACT image from the detected transducer signals. Profiles extracted from XACT images were compared to profiles measured with ion chambers as per the current clinical protocol. Results: XACT images were successfully formed of simple 4 cm × 4 cm and 6 cm × 3 cm fields, as well as of more complicated multi-leaf collimator defined fields. For the 6 cm × 3 cm field, 74% and 87% of the XACT profile points in the 6 cm and 3 cm dimensions, respectively, passed a 7% / 4 mm gamma test when compared to ion chamber measurements. In a complicated puzzle piece shaped field, 86% of the pixels in an extracted profile passed a 7% / 4 mm gamma test. Conclusions: XACT is capable of imaging the dose distribution delivered by a variety of field sizes and shapes in water, and is a viable technique for both water tank and in vivo dosimetry.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2009

Case Study of Using High Performance Commercial Processors in a Space Environment

The purpose of the Space Shuttle Cockpit Avionics Upgrade project was to reduce crew workload and improve situational awareness. The upgrade was to augment the Shuttle avionics system with new hardware and software. A major success of this project was the validation of the hardware architecture and software design. This was significant because the project incorporated new technology and approaches for the development of human rated space software. An early version of this system was tested at the Johnson Space Center for one month by teams of astronauts. The results were positive, but NASA eventually cancelled the project towards the end of the development cycle. The goal to reduce crew workload and improve situational awareness resulted in the need for high performance Central Processing Units (CPUs). The choice of CPU selected was the PowerPC family, which is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) known for its high performance. However, the requirement for radiation tolerance resulted in the reevaluation of the selected family member of the PowerPC line. Radiation testing revealed that the original selected processor (PowerPC 7400) was too soft to meet mission objectives and an effort was established to perform trade studies and performance testing to determine a feasible candidate. At that time, the PowerPC RAD750s where radiation tolerant, but did not meet the required performance needs of the project. Thus, the final solution was to select the PowerPC 7455. This processor did not have a radiation tolerant version, but faired better than the 7400 in the ability to detect failures. However, its cache tags did not provide parity and thus the project incorporated a software strategy to detect radiation failures. The strategy was to incorporate dual paths for software generating commands to the legacy Space Shuttle avionics to prevent failures due to the softness of the upgraded avionics.

Ferguson, Roscoe C.↗
DOE OSTI2012

Report on the ASCR Workshop on Modeling and Simulation of Exascale Systems and Applications

In the last few years, numerous studies commissioned by the Department of Energy (DOE), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and others have examined the challenges that will have to be overcome for computational science to achieve exascale, a two order-of-magnitude increase in capability beyond what is possible today. Exponential growth in the number of devices (Moore’s Law) is expected to continue unabated, but the end of Dennard scaling, and hence the growth in performance of individual processors, has led to exponential growth in concurrency. Power consumption has also grown to the point where the cost of the electrical power for systems threatens to exceed the cost of acquiring them. Ever-shrinking devices, and the growth in their number, are expected to increase the rate of soft, or transient, errors such that applications will no longer be able to assume correct behavior of the underlying machine. Adapting to such systems will require new mathematical algorithms that minimize synchronization and data movement, and a new generation of scientific software. Rather than addressing these issues in isolation, a new process of “Co-Design” is being pursued in which application and computer scientists work toward the common goal of an exascale ecosystem of systems and applications. Modeling and simulation (ModSim) is a critical part of this process. It enables scientists and engineers to analyze future algorithms, applications, and computing systems, long before they are realized, and make the necessary design decisions such that exascale science is broadly achieved. Later, when exascale applications and systems are realized, ModSim technology will enable us to understand their behavior, debugging and optimizing them. Given the increasing importance of modeling and simulation, a workshop was organized by DOE/ASCR to assess the current state of the art and to identify research challenges that must be overcome in this field. Fifty experts, representing academia, industry, and government, participated in the workshop, and others contributed both beforehand and afterwards. This report summarizes their findings.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2012

Report on the ASCR Workshop on Modeling and Simulation of Exascale Systems and Applications

In the last few years, numerous studies commissioned by the Department of Energy (DOE), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and others have examined the challenges that will have to be overcome for computational science to achieve exascale, a two order-of-magnitude increase in capability beyond what is possible today. Exponential growth in the number of devices (Moore's Law) is expected to continue unabated, but the end of Dennard scaling, and hence the growth in performance of individual processors, has led to exponential growth in concurrency. Power consumption has also grown to the point where the cost of the electrical power for systems threatens to exceed the cost of acquiring them. Ever-shrinking devices, and the growth in their number, are expected to increase the rate of soft, or transient, errors such that applications will no longer be able to assume correct behavior of the underlying machine. Adapting to such systems will require new mathematical algorithms that minimize synchronization and data movement, and a new generation of scientific software. Rather than addressing these issues in isolation, a new process of "Co-Design" is being pursued in which application and computer scientists work toward the common goal of an exascale ecosystem of systems and applications. Modeling and simulation (ModSim) is a critical part of this process. It enables scientists and engineers to analyze future algorithms, applications, and computing systems, long before they are realized, and make the necessary design decisions such that exascale science is broadly achieved. Later, when exascale applications and systems are realized, ModSim technology will enable us to understand their behavior, debugging and optimizing them. Given the increasing importance of modeling and simulation, a workshop was organized by DOE/ASCR to assess the current state of the art and to identify research challenges that must be overcome in this field. Fifty experts, representing academia, industry, and government, participated in the workshop, and others contributed both beforehand and afterwards. This report summarizes their findings.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2015

Human Factors and Technical Considerations for a Computerized Operator Support System Prototype

A prototype computerized operator support system (COSS) has been developed in order to demonstrate the concept and provide a test bed for further research. The prototype is based on four underlying elements consisting of a digital alarm system, computer-based procedures, PI&D system representations, and a recommender module for mitigation actions. At this point, the prototype simulates an interface to a sensor validation module and a fault diagnosis module. These two modules will be fully integrated in the next version of the prototype. The initial version of the prototype is now operational at the Idaho National Laboratory using the U.S. Department of Energy’s Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Human Systems Simulation Laboratory (HSSL). The HSSL is a full-scope, full-scale glass top simulator capable of simulating existing and future nuclear power plant main control rooms. The COSS is interfaced to the Generic Pressurized Water Reactor (gPWR) simulator with industry-typical control board layouts. The glass top panels display realistic images of the control boards that can be operated by touch gestures. A section of the simulated control board was dedicated to the COSS human-system interface (HSI), which resulted in a seamless integration of the COSS into the normal control room environment. A COSS demonstration scenario has been developed for the prototype involving the Chemical & Volume Control System (CVCS) of the PWR simulator. It involves a primary coolant leak outside of containment that would require tripping the reactor if not mitigated in a very short timeframe. The COSS prototype presents a series of operator screens that provide the needed information and soft controls to successfully mitigate the event.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Identifying quenched jets in heavy ion collisions with machine learning

Measurements of jet substructure in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions suggest that the jet showering process is modified by the interaction with the quark-gluon plasma. Modifications of the hard substructure of jets can be explored with modern data-driven techniques. In this study, a machine learning approach to the identification of quenched jets is designed. Jet showering processes are simulated with a jet quenching model JEWEL and a non-quenching model PYTHIA 8. Sequential substructure variables are extracted from the jet clustering history following an angular-ordered sequence and are used in the training of a neural network built on top of a long short-term memory network. We show that this approach successfully identifies the quenching effect in the presence of the large uncorrelated background of soft particles created in heavy-ion collisions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗