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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 901 records · Page 50

Pulsed-Laser Irradiation Space Weathering Of A Carbonaceous Chondrite

Grains on the surfaces of airless bodies experience irradiation from solar energetic particles and melting, vaporization and recondensation processes associated with micrometeorite impacts. Collectively, these processes are known as space weathering and they affect the spectral properties, composition, and microstructure of material on the surfaces of airless bodies, e.g. Recent efforts have focused on space weathering of carbonaceous materials which will be critical for interpreting results from the OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa2 missions targeting primitive, organic-rich asteroids. In addition to returned sample analyses, space weathering processes are quantified through laboratory experiments. For example, the short-duration thermal pulse from hypervelocity micrometeorite impacts have been simulated using pulsed-laser irradiation of target material e.g. Recent work however, has shown that pulsed-laser irradiation has variable effects on the spectral properties and microstructure of carbonaceous chondrite samples. Here we investigate the spectral characteristics of pulsed-laser irradiated CM2 carbonaceous chondrite, Murchison, including the vaporized component. We also report the chemical and structural characteristics of specific mineral phases within the meteorite as a result of pulsed-laser irradiation.

Thompson, M. S.↗

Interannual variability and predictability of 500 mb geopotential heights over the Northern Hemisphere

The interannual variability of monthly mean 500 mb heights in a 15-year sample of observed data is compared to the variance expected from sampling errors associated with high-frequency fluctuations using the analysis of variance approach. The monthly mean 'signal' stands out significantly from the 'noise' over a substantial fraction of the Northern Hemisphere during the winter. The expected spectrum of variance at very low frequencies is assumed to be white at frequencies lower than per (30 days) rather than the per (96 days) cutoff used by Madden. This difference is justified by observing that the effective time between independent samples T(0) is relatively insensitive to changes in the maximum lag over which the local autocorrelation is integrated to calculate T(0). Further non-randomness in the variance of 500 mb heights is evidenced by the correlation between monthly mean height and contemporaneous daily variability.

Shukla, J.↗

Oxaliplatin and irinotecan induce heterogenous changes in the EMT markers of metastasizing colorectal carcinoma cells

Highlights: • Significant variability and lower expression uniformity in lymph node metastatic cells. • Heterogeneity of cell response partially determined by cancer cell microenvironment. • Metastatic cells proved to be less sensitive to chemotherapy treatment compared to primary site cancer cells. • Irinotecan and oxaliplatin affected EMT markers in primary cell lines. In patients with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC), surgery is complemented with systemic therapy – chemotherapy and radiochemotherapy. Although the patients’ overall survival has been significantly improved, tumor resistance is still a frequent cause of chemotherapy failure. Several factors contribute to chemoresistance of tumor cells including changes related with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). The present study was designed to verify the presence of EMT markers in paired CRC primary cell lines obtained from primary tumor sites and lymph node metastases of three patients and to investigate the effect of irinotecan and oxaliplatin treatment on these markers as well. The samples of the higher stage of CRC and positive for angioinvasion were selected and qPCR, western blot analysis, migration assay, cytotoxicity testing was performed. Results confirmed the increased expression of several markers characteristic of EMT and invasiveness in lymph node metastatic cells, with a significant variability between individual samples. Irinotecan and oxaliplatin decreased migration activity of the cells and to the varying degree affected the expression of EMT and invasiveness markers. In conclusion, in CRC EMT is present in metastatic cells over a phenotypic continuum whose expression is altered heterogeneously upon irinotecan and oxaliplatin treatment.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Imprecise global sensitivity analysis using bayesian multimodel inference and importance sampling

Global Sensitivity Analysis (GSA) aims to understand the relative importance of uncertain input variables to model response. Conventional GSA involves calculating sensitivity (Sobol’) indices for a model with known model parameter distributions. However, model parameters are affected by aleatory and epistemic uncertainty, with the latter often caused by lack of data. In this paper, we propose a new framework to quantify uncertainty in probability model-form and model parameters resulting from small datasets and integrate these uncertainties into Sobol’ index estimates. First, the process establishes, through Bayesian multimodel inference, a set of candidate probability models and their associated probabilities. Imprecise Sobol’ indices are calculated from these probability models using an importance sampling reweighting approach. This results in probabilistic Sobol’ indices, whose distribution characterizes uncertainty in the sensitivity resulting from small dataset size. The imprecise Sobol’ indices thus provide a measure of confidence in the sensitivity estimate and, moreover, can be used to inform data collection efforts targeted to minimize the impact of uncertainties. Through an example studying the parameters of a Timoshenko beam, we show that these probabilistic Sobol’ indices converge to the true/deterministic Sobol’ indices as the dataset size increases and hence, distribution-form uncertainty reduces. The approach is then applied to assess the sensitivity of the out-of-plane properties of an E-glass fiber composite material to its constituent properties. This second example illustrates the approach for an important class of materials with wide-ranging applications when data may be lacking for some input parameters.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Alpha1 LASSO data bundles Lamont, OK

A data bundle is a unified package consisting of LASSO LES input and output, observations, evaluation diagnostics, and model skill scores. LES input includes model configuration information and forcing data. LES output includes profile statistics and full domain fields of cloud and environmental variables. Model evaluation data consists of LES output and ARM observations co-registered on the same grid and sampling frequency. Model performance is quantified by skill scores and diagnostics in terms of cloud and environmental variables.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

LASSO Data Bundles

The Alpha 2 release is the second release from the LASSO Pilot Phase that builds upon the Alpha 1 release. Alpha 2 contains additional diagnostics in the data bundles and focuses on cases from spring-summer 2016. A data bundle is a unified package consisting of LASSO LES input and output, observations, evaluation diagnostics, and model skill scores. LES input include model configuration information and forcing data. LES output includes profile statistics and full domain fields of cloud and environmental variables. Model evaluation data consists of LES output and ARM observations co-registered on the same grid and sampling frequency. Model performance is quantified by skill scores and diagnostics in terms of cloud and environmental variables.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Empirically assessing the potential release of rare earth elements from black shale under simulated hydraulic fracturing conditions

Rare earth elements (REEs) are economically important to modern society and the rapid growth of technologies dependent on REEs has placed considerable economic pressure on their sourcing. This study addresses whether REEs could be released as a byproduct of natural gas extraction from a series of experiments that were designed to simulate hydraulic fracturing of black shale under various pressure (25 and 27.5 MPa) and temperature (50, 90, 130 °C) conditions. The dissolved REEs in the reacted fluids displayed no propensity for the REEs to be released from black shale under high pressure and temperature conditions, a result that is consistent across the different types of fluids investigated. Overall, there was a net loss of REEs from the fluid. These changes in dissolved REEs were greatest at the moment the fluids first contacted the shale and before the high temperature and high pressure conditions were imposed, although the magnitude of these changes (10 -4 μg/g) were small compared to the magnitude of the total REE content present in the solid shale samples (10 2 μg/g). These results highlight the variability and complexity of hydraulic fracturing systems and indicate that REE may not serve as robust tracers for fracturing fluid-shale reactions. Additionally, the results suggest that significant quantities of REEs may not be byproducts of hydraulically fractured shales.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

Phase transformations in oxides above 2000°C: experimental technique development

Here, the oxidation of boride and carbide-based ultra-high-temperature ceramics is the primary limiting factor for their use as aerodynamic surfaces. Understanding the behaviour of the oxides that can result from oxidation of metal borides and carbides at very high temperatures is essential to optimise and tailor the performance of these materials; yet experimental thermodynamic and structural data for refractory oxides above 2000°C are mostly absent. The following techniques that can be applied to fill this gap are discussed: (i) commercial ultra-high-temperature differential thermal analysis for investigation of phase transformations and melting in inert environments to 2500°C, (ii) a combination of laser heating with a splittable nozzle aerodynamic levitator for splat quenching and drop calorimetry from temperatures limited only by sample evaporation, (iii) synchrotron X-ray and neutron diffraction on laser-heated aerodynamically levitated oxide samples for in situ observation of phase transformations in variable atmospheres, refinement of high-temperature structures and thermal expansion. Recent experimental findings include anomalous thermal expansion of the defect fluorite phase of YSZ, thermodynamics of pyrochlore–fluorite transformation from high-temperature structure refinements, and measurement of thermal expansion to the melting temperatures and fusion enthalpies of Zr, Hf, La, Yb and Lu oxides. These methods provide temperatures, enthalpies and volume change for phase transformations above 2000°C, which are required for thermodynamic assessments and calculation of phase diagrams of multicomponent systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Simulating PV System Performance with Component Reliability Distributions

A feature developed by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) for simulating PV system component reliability has been integrated into the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's System Advisor Model (SAM). The PV Reliability Performance Model (PV-RPM) uses fault/failure and repair distributions to estimate impacts to power, energy production and operational costs. Realization results include the number of failures per component, failure rate, O&M costs incurred based on maintenance strategies, and energy lost based on the failure estimates. As the inputs are inherently uncertain and based on probability distributions, the model realizations include statistical confidence intervals to help bracket the probability that the sample interval contains the true mean value of the variable in question. This paper presents the current validation efforts and provides detail on how this feature is utilized in a PV performance model.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

The air mycobiome is decoupled from the soil mycobiome in the California San Joaquin Valley

Abstract Dispersal is a key force in the assembly of fungal communities and the air is the dominant route of dispersal for most fungi. Understanding the dynamics of airborne fungi is important for determining their source and for helping to prevent fungal disease. This understanding is important in the San Joaquin Valley of California, which is home to 4.2 million people and where the airborne fungus Coccidioides is responsible for the most important fungal disease of otherwise healthy humans, coccidioidomycosis. The San Joaquin Valley is the most productive agricultural region in the United States, with the principal crops grown therein susceptible to fungal pathogens. Here, we characterize the fungal community in soil and air on undeveloped and agricultural land in the San Joaquin Valley using metabarcoding of the internal transcribed spacer 2 variable region of fungal rDNA. Using 1,002 individual samples, we report one of the most extensive studies of fungi sampled simultaneously from air and soil using modern sequencing techniques. We find that the air mycobiome in the San Joaquin Valley is distinct from the soil mycobiome, and that the assemblages of airborne fungi from sites as far apart as 160 km are far more similar to one another than to the fungal communities in nearby soils. Additionally, we present evidence that airborne fungi in the San Joaquin Valley are subject to dispersal limitation and cyclical intra‐annual patterns of community composition. Our findings are broadly applicable to understanding the dispersal of airborne fungi and the taxonomic structure of airborne fungal assemblages.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

ARM Trajectories Data Set Value-Added Product Report

The U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility’s ARM Trajectories Data Set (ARMTRAJ) Value-Added Product (VAP) provides trajectory data sets initialized at ARM deployment coordinates and configured using ARM data sets. The four trajectory data sets support aerosol, cloud, and planetary boundary-layer research. Trajectory calculations use the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model informed by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) fifth-generation atmospheric reanalysis (ERA5) data set at its highest spatial resolution (~31 km). HYSPLIT also runs at multiple initial starting locations surrounding ARM deployments (in latitude/longitude and/or vertical coordinates), facilitating an ensemble for each sample in the data sets. The ensemble mean and variability reported in ARMTRAJ improve the fidelity and provide uncertainty estimates of trajectory coordinates, thermodynamic properties, and other output fields.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

ARM Trajectories Data Set Value-Added Product Report

The U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility’s ARM Trajectories Data Set (ARMTRAJ) Value-Added Product (VAP) provides trajectory data sets initialized at ARM deployment coordinates and configured using ARM data sets. The six trajectory data sets support aerosol, cloud, planetary boundary layer, and related research (aerosol-cloud interactions, etc.), as well as studies using ARM Aerial Facility (AAF) and tethered balloon system (TBS) measurements. Trajectory calculations use the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model informed by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) fifth-generation atmospheric reanalysis (ERA5) data set at its highest spatial resolution (~31 km). HYSPLIT also runs at multiple initial starting locations surrounding ARM deployments (in latitude/longitude and/or vertical coordinates), facilitating an ensemble for each sample in the data sets. The ensemble mean and variability reported in ARMTRAJ improve the fidelity and provide uncertainty estimates of trajectory coordinates, thermodynamic properties, and other output fields.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Jimsphere wind and turbulence exceedance statistic

Exceedance statistics of winds and gusts observed over Cape Kennedy with Jimsphere balloon sensors are described. Gust profiles containing positive and negative departures, from smoothed profiles, in the wavelength ranges 100-2500, 100-1900, 100-860, and 100-460 meters were computed from 1578 profiles with four 41 weight digital high pass filters. Extreme values of the square root of gust speed are normally distributed. Monthly and annual exceedance probability distributions of normalized rms gust speeds in three altitude bands (2-7, 6-11, and 9-14 km) are log-normal. The rms gust speeds are largest in the 100-2500 wavelength band between 9 and 14 km in late winter and early spring. A study of monthly and annual exceedance probabilities and the number of occurrences per kilometer of level crossings with positive slope indicates significant variability with season, altitude, and filter configuration. A decile sampling scheme is tested and an optimum approach is suggested for drawing a relatively small random sample that represents the characteristic extreme wind speeds and shears of a large parent population of Jimsphere wind profiles.

Adelfang, S. I.↗

The asymptotic distribution of maxima in bivariate samples

The joint distribution (as n tends to infinity) of the maxima of a sample of n independent observations of a bivariate random variable (X,Y) is studied. A method is developed for deriving the asymptotic distribution of the maxima, assuming that X and Y possess asymptotic extreme-value distributions and that the probability element dF(x,y) can be expanded in a canonical series. Applied both to the bivariate normal distribution and to the bivariate gamma and compound correlated bivariate Poisson distributions, the method shows that maxima from all these distributions are asymptotically uncorrelated.

Campbell, J. W.↗

Program documentation OCM, HISTOG, PRINTUM

The One Channel Map (OCM) program is described as a program which fills the need for better quality reproduction of digital pictures on high-speed printers. The method, program variables, and usage are presented. Flow charts and a sample run are included for the OCM.

Bryant, J.↗

Remote sensing of land use and water quality relationships - Wisconsin shore, Lake Michigan

This investigation assessed the utility of remote sensing techniques in the study of land use-water quality relationships in an east central Wisconsin test area. The following types of aerial imagery were evaluated: high altitude (60,000 ft) color, color infrared, multispectral black and white, and thermal; low altitude (less than 5000 ft) color infrared, multispectral black and white, thermal, and passive microwave. A non-imaging hand-held four-band radiometer was evaluated for utility in providing data on suspended sediment concentrations. Land use analysis includes the development of mapping and quantification methods to obtain baseline data for comparison to water quality variables. Suspended sediment loads in streams, determined from water samples, were related to land use differences and soil types in three major watersheds. A multiple correlation coefficient R of 0.85 was obtained for the relationship between the 0.6-0.7 micrometer incident and reflected radiation data from the hand-held radiometer and concurrent ground measurements of suspended solids in streams. Applications of the methods and baseline data developed in this investigation include: mapping and quantification of land use; input to watershed runoff models; estimation of effects of land use changes on stream sedimentation; and remote sensing of suspended sediment content of streams. High altitude color infrared imagery was found to be the most acceptable remote sensing technique for the mapping and measurement of land use types.

Haugen, R. K.↗

TRANDESNF: A computer program for transonic airfoil design and analysis in nonuniform flow

The use of a transonic airfoil code for analysis, inverse design, and direct optimization of an airfoil immersed in propfan slipstream is described. A summary of the theoretical method, program capabilities, input format, output variables, and program execution are described. Input data of sample test cases and the corresponding output are given.

Chang, J. F.↗

Optical and near-infrared observations of BL Lacertae objects and active quasars

UBVRI and JHK photometric and polarimetric observations, obtained using the 1.5-m UCSD/UM telescope at Mount Lemmon, AZ during 1982-1984, are reported for a sample of 10 BL Lac objects, eight optically violent variable quasars, and the low-polarization quasar 3C 273. The data are presented in extensive tables and graphs and analyzed in detail. Most of the objects are found to have undergone large polarization variations on time scales ranging from 1 d to several months; five objects had fractional linear polarization P greater than 30 percent at least once during the period of observation, but four never had P greater than 10 percent. Of four objects which exhibited a preferred polarization position angle (theta), three had theta within 20 deg of the jet position angle determined by VLBI.

Smith, Paul S.↗