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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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This paper traces the origins of the International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA), its structure and mandate, its activities and accomplishments, and its anticipated activities related to the future directions of the field of particle physics.
National Virtual Biotechnology Laboratory (NVBL) Symposium - Bruce Tromberg, Director, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging & Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, “Future S&T Needs: Future of Testing & Surveillance”
This study examines future projections of sea level pressure change in the North Pacific and its impact on winter precipitation changes in California. The multi-model analysis, based on the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) models under the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) scenario, shows a robust sea-level pressure change in the late 21st century over the western North Pacific in which both the Aleutian Low and North Pacific Subtropical High (NPSH) shift poleward in concert with a widening of the Hadley Cell. This change is partly explained by a systematic increase of static stability in the subtropics. However, over the eastern North Pacific, the projected NPSH changes exhibit a substantial inter-model spread, resulting in uncertain projections of precipitation changes in California. This inter-model spread in the eastern North Pacific is associated with a Pacific Decadal Oscillation-like surface temperature change in the western North Pacific and the resulting meridional temperature gradient change. This study points to a major source of uncertainty for the response of winter precipitation to global warming over the West Coast of North America: atmosphere-ocean coupling in the North Pacific.
No abstract prepared.
Smart buildings play a crucial role toward decarbonizing society, as globally buildings emit about one-third of greenhouse gases. In the last few years, machine learning has achieved a notable momentum that, if properly harnessed, may unleash its potential for advanced analytics and control of smart buildings, enabling the technique to scale up for supporting the decarbonization of the building sector. In this perspective, transfer learning aims to improve the performance of a target learner exploiting knowledge in related environments. The present work provides a comprehensive overview of transfer learning applications in smart buildings, classifying and analyzing 77 papers according to their applications, algorithms, and adopted metrics. The study identified four main application areas of transfer learning: (1) building load prediction, (2) occupancy detection and activity recognition, (3) building dynamics modeling, and (4) energy systems control. Furthermore, the review highlighted the role of deep learning in transfer learning applications that has been used in more than half of the analyzed studies. The paper also discusses how to integrate transfer learning in a smart building's ecosystem, identifying, for each application area, the research gaps and guidelines for future research directions.
Very high-energy gamma-ray measurements of distant blazars can be well explained by secondary gamma rays emitted by cascades induced by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. The secondary gamma rays will enable one to detect a large number of blazars with future ground based gamma-ray telescopes such as Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). We show that the secondary emission process will allow CTA to detect 100, 130, 150, 87, and 8 blazars above 30 GeV, 100 GeV, 300 GeV, 1 TeV, and 10 TeV, respectively, up to z~8 assuming the intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF) strength B=10-17 G and an unbiased all sky survey with 0.5 h exposure at each field of view, where total observing time is ~540 h. These numbers will be 79, 96, 110, 63, and 6 up to z~5 in the case of B=10-15 G. This large statistics of sources will be a clear evidence of the secondary gamma-ray scenarios and a new key to studying the IGMF statistically. We also find that a wider and shallower survey is favored to detect more and higher redshift sources even if we take into account secondary gamma rays.
In the transition toward sustainable energy systems, the co-firing of hydrogen (H2) with natural gas emerges as a critical technology for cleaner power generation. This study examines its benefits, including emissions reduction, enhanced efficiency, and compatibility with existing infrastructure. Concurrently, it addresses the inherent challenges, such as combustion dynamics, necessary infrastructure modifications, and economic considerations. Incorporating global case studies, the review explores recent advancements in hydrogen production and co-firing, evaluating their practicality and operational efficiency. It also provides a critical examination of the economic implications and societal acceptance, which are crucial for the adoption of hydrogen technologies. Moreover, the review investigates the synergy between hydrogen and renewable energy technologies, assessing potential impacts on energy policy and regulation. Ultimately, this comprehensive analysis underscores the essential role of hydrogen co-firing in the energy sector and advocates for a comprehensive strategy that synergizes technological progress, economic viability, regulatory support, and public engagement to promote a resilient and sustainable energy future.
The energy crisis and environmental pollution require the advancement of large-scale energy storage techniques. Among the various commercialized technologies, batteries have attracted enormous attention due to their relatively high energy density and long cycle life. Nevertheless, the limited supply and uneven distribution of lithium minerals, as well as their high cost, has greatly hindered the application of lithium-ion batteries in large-scale energy storage. Therefore, building next-generation alternative rechargeable batteries that feature low cost, long service life, and high safety is of the utmost importance. Over the past several years, we have witnessed many successful research outcomes for sodium and potassium ion batteries (SIBs and PIBs) in regard to electrode and electrolyte materials. In this Perspective, we summarize the current developments on SIBs/PIBs and their challenges when facing practical applications, including their cost, energy density, ion diffusivity in solids/electrolytes/interphases, cycle life, and safety concerns. Furthermore, we provide an overview of strategies to overcome the remaining challenges for achieving better electrochemical performance. Finally, we outline several possible directions for the future development of these two battery chemistries, with the hope of aiding the transition from the laboratory to next-generation practical applications for SIBs/PIBs batteries in grid-scale energy storage.
Exchange bias has been investigated for more than half a century and several insightful reviews, published around the year 2000, have already summarized many key experimental and theoretical aspects related to this phenomenon. Since then, due to developments in thin-film fabrication and sophisticated characterization methods, exchange bias continues to show substantial advances; in particular, recent studies on epitaxial systems, which is the focus of this review, allow many long-standing mysteries of exchange bias to be unambiguously resolved. The advantage of epitaxial samples lies in the well-defined interface structures, larger coherence lengths, and competing magnetic anisotropies, which are often negligible in polycrystalline samples. Beginning with a discussion of the microscopic spin properties at the ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic interface, we correlate the details of spin lattices with phenomenological anisotropies, and finally connect the two by introducing realistic measurement approaches and models. We conclude by providing a brief perspective on the future of exchange bias and related studies in the context of the rapidly evolving interest in antiferromagnetic spintronics.
The proposed Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) will operate high-luminosity high-energy electron+proton and electron+nucleus collisions at the collision energies from 20 GeV to 141 GeV to solve several fundamental questions in the high energy and nuclear physics fields. Its instantaneous luminosity can reach 10 33-34 cm -2 s -1 and the bunching crossing rate is around 10 ns. The EIC project has received CD1 approval from the US DOE in 2021 and moves toward the machine design and preparation for construction. To realize various particle measurements with high precision at the future EIC, a low material-budget and high-granularity silicon vertex and tracking detector with fine spatial and momentum resolutions and nearly 4π solid angle coverage is desired. The Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor (MAPS) and AC Coupled Low Gain Avalanche Diode (AC-LGAD) technologies stand out of several advanced technology options for the EIC silicon vertex and tracking detector subsystems. The MAPS technology has advanced features of low material budget, low power consumption, good radiation resistance and fine spatial resolution. The AC-LGAD technology can achieve fast timing resolution. Latest studies and progress of the EIC silicon vertex and tracking detector conceptual design, performance validations in simulation and ongoing MAPS and AC-LGAD R&D will be shown. Furthermore, schedule and plan of the EIC project detector development will be discussed as well.
High impact low probability (HILP) events such as hurricanes, heat waves, and floods have instigated widespread power outages and blackouts around the globe in the past decade. With the increasing challenges concerning the threats to the power distribution systems and the growing need to mitigate the impacts of the HILP events, resilience has become a crucial requirement for the power grid infrastructures. Numerous efforts have been made to define, measure, and characterize the resilience of power distribution systems. This study thoroughly reviews the state-of-the-art methods on the existing resilience evaluation framework and metrics. Here, the desirable characteristics of resilience metrics are highlighted, and the challenges associated with formulating, developing, and calculating such metrics are discussed. Next, we detail the state-of-the-art literature on planning solutions to ensure distribution system resilience. This paper aims to extract a deep insight into this challenging and critical research area and envision future opportunities that can guide the power distribution system operators/planners to formulate more effective mitigation strategies to enhance the resilience of power distribution systems.
We report on the current status of the Adaptive X-ray Optics project run by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). LLNL is collaborating with the Advanced Light Source (ALS) to demonstrate a near real-time adaptive X-ray optic. To this end, a custom-built 45 cm long deformable mirror has been installed at ALS beamline 5.3.1 (end station 2) for a two-year period that started in September 2014. We will outline general aspects of the instrument, present results from a recent experimental campaign and touch on future plans for the project.
As an energy source, Electricity benefits from a number of desirable characteristics: it can be transported at nearly the speed of light with transmission infrastructure, it has zero enduse emissions, it is highly flexible and controllable, it is now storable at rapidly declining costs, and it can offer improved service quality relative to conventional fuels. As such, electrification-the conversion of previously fossil-fueled end-use processes to electricity-has been identified as a key pathway to a clean, reliable, and secure energy future. Electric vehicles are the most widely cited application of electrification, but technology improvements in electrically driven devices for buildings and industrial end uses, including heat pumps for space and water heating needs, induction stoves for cooking, infrared or ultraviolet curing processes, and electric arc furnaces for process heating, could lead to more widespread electrification across these sectors.
Accurately capturing dynamic soil response to disturbance effects in agroecosystem models remains elusive, thereby limiting projections of climate change mitigation potential. Perennial grasses cultivated in zero‐tillage management systems hold promise as sustainable agroecosystems. High‐yielding tropical C 4 grasses often have extensive rooting systems, and the belowground processes of root turnover, aggregate formation, and mineral stabilization drove rapid C accumulation after cultivation in a recent study. We sought (i) to understand and constrain the size and responsiveness of dynamic, intermediate‐cycling C pools contributing to the observed C accrual rates, and (ii) to simulate C stocks over time under the disturbance of elevated temperature using soil incubation at multiple temperatures and physical fractionation via density and sonication. Three‐pool transfer modeling of soil incubations revealed small pools of readily available (i.e., days to months) microbial substrate that were responsive to temperature, time since cultivation, and inputs. Larger, kinetically slow‐cycling pools were more indicative of long‐term (i.e., years to decades) changes in C stock and strongly connected to measured changes in physical fractions. Combining the sensitivity of readily available microbial substrate with three‐pool transfer modeling of the physical fractions over time since cultivation revealed that dynamic transfers of inputs occurred between the free organic and aggregate‐protected fractions, and from these fractions to the mineral‐associated dense fraction. Under 5°C temperature elevation, increased transfer rates outweighed elevated decomposition losses to sustain soil C accrual into the future. To effectively plan managed landscapes and monitor sustainable agroecosystems for climate change mitigation, tools must incorporate the complexity of soil response to change. Core Ideas Dynamic aspects of soil C are inadequately represented in most models. Intermediate‐cycling pools are more responsive to disturbances than thought. Root inputs are rapidly moved from particulate debris to mineral‐bound stable pools. Temperature increased the transfer rate to stable pools and sustained C accumulation Climate change mitigation projections must capture dynamic responses in agroecosystems.
Nuclear power today accounts for approximately 20% of the electrical supply for the US. It provides reliable energy that helps to stabilize the national grid. In contrast to current nuclear power facilities, future concepts operate at higher temperatures, are operationally more efficient, more fully utilize the energy stored within the fuel, and reduce the amount of waste produced. Recent advances in chemistry and materials sciences provide an unprecedented opportunity to develop the critical systems—the fuel, coolant, and structural materials—needed for deployment of advanced nuclear reactor designs. To address the challenge of stringent demands on material systems as their properties and performance continuously evolve over the operational lifetime, the frameworks to uncover the underlying processes that cause reduced performance have been developed over the last decade. There is now the prospect of designing materials that report upon their own damage, are self-healing, and leverage what would be considered deleterious chemical processes to increase their performance within advanced reactor designs. Success will provide an energy source needed to secure a stable and safe energy supply for the nation. To identify the key research directions required to discover the chemical processes and material degradation mechanisms that result in loss of performance of the fuel, coolant, and structural materials, nearly 150 theoreticians, computational experts, and experimentalists from industry, national laboratories, academia, and federal agencies participated in a workshop held in August 2017. Based on the discussions held at the workshop, five Priority Research Directions (PRDs) were identified. These PRDs defined the key scientific challenges that must be met as well as the opportunities that can be exploited to achieve a multi-scale spatial and temporal understanding of fundamental processes that govern the properties and performance of the different material systems required for advanced reactors.