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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 919 records · Page 51
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Mass Spectrometry Sample Submission Portal

Each step in the scientific process generates contextual information about the data that is important to consider when performing data integration, developing models of biological process, or training AI models. We will develop a flexible, template-driven tool that will log biological samples, capture metadata about those samples, and track the type(s) of analysis being performed by researchers providing samples for analysis by mass spectrometry.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS2013

Soft-Bake Purification of SWCNTs Produced by Pulsed Laser Vaporization

The "soft-bake" method is a simple and reliable initial purification step first proposed by researchers at Rice University for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) produced by high-pressure carbon mon oxide disproportionation (HiPco). Soft-baking consists of annealing as-produced (raw) SWCNT, at low temperatures in humid air, in order to degrade the heavy graphitic shells that surround metal particle impurities. Once these shells are cracked open by the expansion and slow oxidation of the metal particles, the metal impurities can be digested through treatment with hydrochloric acid. The soft-baking of SWCNT produced by pulsed-laser vaporization (PLV) is not straightforward, because the larger average SWCNT diameters (.1.4 nm) and heavier graphitic shells surrounding metal particles call for increased temperatures during soft-bake. A part of the technology development focused on optimizing the temperature so that effective cracking of the graphitic shells is balanced with maintaining a reasonable yield, which was a critical aspect of this study. Once the ideal temperature was determined, a number of samples of raw SWCNT were purified using the soft-bake method. An important benefit to this process is the reduced time and effort required for soft-bake versus the standard purification route for SWCNT. The total time spent purifying samples by soft-bake is one week per batch, which equates to a factor of three reduction in the time required for purification as compared to the standard acid purification method. Reduction of the number of steps also appears to be an important factor in improving reproducibility of yield and purity of SWCNT, as small deviations are likely to get amplified over the course of a complicated multi-step purification process.

Yowell, Leonard↗
DOE OSTI2022

Analysis, identification and confirmation of synthetic opioids using chloroformate chemistry: Retrospective detection of fentanyl and acetylfentanyl in urine and plasma samples by EI-GC-MS and HR-LC-MS

Electron Impact Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (EI-GC-MS) and High Resolution Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (HR-LC-MS) have been used in the analysis of products arising from the trichloroethoxycarbonylation of fentanyl and acetylfentanyl in urine and plasma matrices. The method involves the initial extraction of both synthetic opioids separately from the matrices followed by detection of the unique products that arise from their reaction with 2,2,2-trichloroethoxycarbonyl chloride (Troc-Cl), namely Troc-norfentanyl and Troc-noracetylfentanyl. The optimized protocol was successfully evaluated for its efficacy at detecting these species formed from fentanyl and acetylfentanyl when present at low and high levels in urine (fentanyl: 5 and 10 ng/mL and acetylfentanyl: 20 and 100 ng/mL) and plasma (fentanyl: 10 and 20 ng/mL and acetylfentanyl: 50 and 200 ng/mL), values that reflect levels reported in overdose victims. The HR-LC-MS method’s LOQ (limit of quantitation) for the Troc-norfentanyl and Troc-noracetylfentanyl products was determined to be ~10 ng/mL for both species. Even though the superiority in the detection of these species by HR-LC-MS over EI-GC-MS, the latter method proved to be important in the detection of the second product from the reaction, namely 2-phenylethyl chloride that is crucial in the determination of the original opioid. This observation highlights the importance of using complimentary analytical techniques in the analysis of a sample, whether biological or environmental in nature. The method herein serves as a complementary, qualitative confirmation for the presence of a fentanyl in collected urine, plasma and by extension other biological samples amenable to the common extraction procedures described for opioid analysis. More importantly, the method’s main strength comes from its ability to react with unknown fentanyls to yield products that can be not only detected by EI-GC-MS and HR-LC-MS but can then be used to retrospectively identify an unknown fentanyl.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

TURBULENCE AND STAR FORMATION IN A SAMPLE OF SPIRAL GALAXIES

We investigate turbulent gas motions in spiral galaxies and their importance to star formation in far outer disks, where the column density is typically far below the critical value for spontaneous gravitational collapse. Following the methods of Burkhart et al. on the Small Magellanic Cloud, we use the third and fourth statistical moments, as indicators of structures caused by turbulence, to examine the neutral hydrogen (H i) column density of a sample of spiral galaxies selected from The H i Nearby Galaxy Survey. We apply the statistical moments in three different methods—the galaxy as a whole, divided into a function of radii and then into grids. We create individual grid maps of kurtosis for each galaxy. To investigate the relation between these moments and star formation, we compare these maps with their far-ultraviolet images taken by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer satellite.We find that the moments are largely uniform across the galaxies, in which the variation does not appear to trace any star-forming regions. This may, however, be due to the spatial resolution of our analysis, which could potentially limit the scale of turbulent motions that we are sensitive to greater than ∼700 pc. From comparison between the moments themselves, we find that the gas motions in our sampled galaxies are largely supersonic. This analysis also shows that the Burkhart et al. methods may be applied not just to dwarf galaxies but also to normal spiral galaxies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

On-ground Live Fuel Moisture Content Sampling Along California’s Central Coast Santa Lucia Preserve - Carmel Valley, CA

The ratio of water to dry mass within live plants is an important factor when determining the severity and intensity of potential wildfires. Currently, live fuel moisture content (LFMC) samples support wildland fire management, but are limited in number and spatial extent. In Monterey County, the only LFMC data to analyze spatial and temporal trends is collected by CalFire and the Los Padres National Forest Unit of the United States Forest Service across five long-term sampling sites. Our project aims to enhance the spatial coverage of current LFMC data being collected across Monterey County. Here, we share results from the ongoing work to monitor LFMC across Carmel Valley, CA. We evaluate LFMC data by environmental factors such as slope, aspect, topography, and species composition. We also place our LFMC samples in relation to nearby long-term sampling locations. We conclude by interpreting spatial and temporal trends in the preliminary data and discuss logistical challenges of establishing more long-term LFMC sampling sites to better represent the complex topography and vegetation composition of Central California.

On-ground↗
DOE OSTI2016

X-RAY PROPERTIES OF THE YOUNGEST RADIO SOURCES AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTS

We present the first results from our X-ray study of young radio sources classified as compact symmetric objects (CSOs). Using the Chandra X-ray Observatory we observed six CSOs for the first time in X-rays, and re-observed four CSOs already observed with XMM-Newton or BeppoSAX. We also included six other CSOs with archival data to built a pilot study of a sample of the 16 CSO sources observed in X-rays to date. All the sources are nearby, z<1, and the age of their radio structures (<3000 yr) has been derived from the expansion velocity of their hot spots. Our results show the heterogeneous nature of the CSOs’ X-ray emission, indicating a complex environment associated with young radio sources. The sample covers a range in X-ray luminosity, L{sub 2--10keV}∼10{sup 41}–10{sup 45} erg s{sup −1}, and intrinsic absorbing column density of N{sub H}≃10{sup 21}–10{sup 22} cm{sup −2}. In particular, we detected extended X-ray emission in 1718−649; a hard photon index of Γ≃1 in 2021+614 and 1511+0518 consistent with either a Compton-thick absorber or non-thermal emission from compact radio lobes, and in 0710+439 an ionized iron emission line at E{sub rest}=(6.62±0.04) keV and EW ∼0.15–1.4 keV, and a decrease by an order of magnitude in the 2–10 keV flux since the 2008 XMM-Newton observation in 1607+26. We conclude that our pilot study of CSOs provides a variety of exceptional diagnostics and highlights the importance of deep X-ray observations of large samples of young sources. This is necessary in order to constrain theoretical models for the earliest stage of radio source evolution and to study the interactions of young radio sources with the interstellar environment of their host galaxies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

NEW PHOTOMETRICALLY VARIABLE MAGNETIC CHEMICALLY PECULIAR STARS IN THE ASAS-3 ARCHIVE

The magnetic Ap or CP2 stars are natural atomic and magnetic laboratories. Strictly periodic changes are observed in the spectra and brightness of these stars, which allow the derivation of rotational periods. Related to this group of objects are the He-weak (CP4) and He-rich stars, some of which also undergo brightness changes due to rotational modulation. Increasing the sample size of known rotational periods among CP2/4 stars is important and will contribute to our understanding of these objects and their evolution in time. We have compiled an extensive target list of CP2/4 stars from the General Catalog of Ap, HgMn, and Am stars, including several early-type (spectral types B/A) variables of undetermined type from the International Variable Star Index. We investigated our sample stars using publicly available observations from the ASAS-3 archive. Our previous efforts in this respect led to the discovery of 323 variable stars. Using a refined analysis approach, we were able to identify another 360 stars exhibiting photometric variability in ASAS-3 data. Summary data, folded light curves and, if available, information from the literature are presented for our final sample, which is composed of 334 bona-fide α{sup 2} Canum Venaticorum (ACV) variables, 23 ACV candidates, and 3 eclipsing binary systems. Interesting and unusual objects are discussed in detail. In particular, we call attention to HD 66051 (V414 Pup), which is an eclipsing binary system showing obvious rotational modulation of the light curve due to the presence of an ACV variable in the system.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Enhanced Sampling Aided Design of Molecular Photoswitches

Advances in the evolving field of atomistic simulations promise important insights for the design and fundamental understanding of novel molecular photoswitches. Here, in this study, we use state-of-the-art enhanced simulation techniques to unravel the complex, multistep chemistry of donor–acceptor Stenhouse adducts (DASAs). Our reaction discovery workflow consists of enhanced sampling for efficient chemical space exploration, refinement of newly observed pathways with more accurate ab initio electronic structure calculations, and structural modifications to introduce design principles within future generations of DASAs. We showcase our discovery workflow by not only recovering the full photoswitching mechanism of DASA but also predicting a plethora of new plausible thermal pathways and suggesting a way for their experimental validation. Furthermore, we illustrate the tunability of these newly discovered reactions, leading to a potential avenue for controlling DASA dynamics through multiple external stimuli. Overall, these insights could offer alternative routes to increase the efficiency and control of DASA’s photoswitching mechanism, providing new elements to design more complex light-responsive materials.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Max-Compound Cox Processes. I

Extreme values are considered in samples with random size that have a mixed Poisson distribution that is generated by a doubly stochastic Poisson process. Some inequalities are proved relating the distributions and moments of extrema with those of the leading process (the mixing distribution). Limit theorems are proved for the distributions of max-compound Cox processes, and limit distributions are described. An important particular case of the negative binomial distribution of a sample size corresponding to the case where the Cox process is led by a gamma Lévy process is considered, explaining a possible genesis of tempered asymptotic models.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2016

Conformational Sub-states and Populations in Enzyme Catalysis

reactants in the active site, chemical turnover, and release of products. In addition to formation of crucial structural interactions between enzyme and substrate(s), coordinated motions within the enzyme substrate complex allow reaction to proceed at a much faster rate, compared to the reaction in solution and in the absence of enzyme. An increasing number of enzyme systems show the presence of conserved protein motions that are important for function. A wide variety of motions are naturally sampled (over femtosecond to millisecond time-scales) as the enzyme complex moves along the energetic landscape, driven by temperature and dynamical events from the surrounding environment. Areas of low energy along the landscape form conformational sub-states, which show higher conformational populations than surrounding areas. A small number of these protein conformational sub-states contain functionally important structural and dynamical features, which assist the enzyme mechanism along the catalytic cycle. Identification and characterization of these higher-energy (also called excited) sub-states and the associated populations are challenging, as these sub-states are very short-lived and therefore rarely populated. Specialized techniques based on computer simulations, theoretical modeling, and nuclear magnetic resonance have been developed for quantitative characterization of these sub-states and populations. This chapter discusses these techniques and provides examples of their applications to enzyme systems.

Agarwal, Pratul K↗
DOE OSTI2016

Connecting massive galaxies to dark matter haloes in BOSS – I. Is galaxy colour a stochastic process in high-mass haloes?

In this work, we use subhalo abundance matching (SHAM) to model the stellar mass function (SMF) and clustering of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) 'CMASS' sample at z ~ 0.5. We introduce a novel method which accounts for the stellar mass incompleteness of CMASS as a function of redshift, and produce CMASS mock catalogues which include selection effects, reproduce the overall SMF, the projected two-point correlation function w p , the CMASS dn/dz, and are made publicly available. We study the effects of assembly bias above collapse mass in the context of 'age matching' and show that these effects are markedly different compared to the ones explored by Hearin et al. at lower stellar masses. We construct two models, one in which galaxy colour is stochastic ('AbM' model) as well as a model which contains assembly bias effects ('AgM' model). By confronting the redshift dependent clustering of CMASS with the predictions from our model, we argue that that galaxy colours are not a stochastic process in high-mass haloes. Lastly, our results suggest that the colours of galaxies in high-mass haloes are determined by other halo properties besides halo peak velocity and that assembly bias effects play an important role in determining the clustering properties of this sample.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

High temperature oxidation of PCD coated Zr alloy

Polycrystalline diamond (PCD) coating is a promising possibility for prevention, or reduction of high temperature oxidation of zirconium alloys and decrease corrosion rate of zirconium alloy during standard operation. Zirconium alloys are widely used as cladding and construction material in almost all types of nuclear reactors, where usually creates a barrier between nuclear fuel and cooling water in the primary circuit. Hydrogen and considerable amount of heat is released during steam oxidation that may occur in an eventual accident. In this paper zirconium alloy was covered by polycrystalline diamond layer using Plasma Enhanced Linear Antennas Microwave Chemical Vapor Deposition system reactor. X-Ray Diffraction and Raman spectroscopy measurements confirmed coverage of the surface area with crystalline and amorphous carbon layer. Characterizations (Raman spectroscopy) were done for zirconium alloy covered with polycrystalline diamond layer before and after high temperature steam exposure. Weight increase and hydrogen release were measured during steam exposure. The results show that the oxidation kinetics of PCD coated samples is similar to kinetics of uncoated samples at almost all temperatures, but with lower hydrogen production and lower weight gains. Most important difference is in later beginning of breakaway oxidation at 1000 Celsius degrees, when breakaway oxidation starts on PCD coated sample 15 minutes later. Raman spectroscopy revealed graphitization of the PCD layer and the diamond sp{sup 3} bounds are lost and the Raman signal consists only from the two graphite-related D bounds. It implies conversion of PCD layer to the homogeneous non-crystalline carbon layer with a large content of graphitic phase. Overall hydrogen production and weight gain values are generally lower then for uncoated samples.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis of Reactivity Insertion Accidents using BISON Fuel Performance Code

The development of Accident Tolerant Fuels (ATF) has expanded into a considerable research program in the wake of the events at the Japanese Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011. The ATF goal is to insert a test assembly into a commercial reactor by 2022. To support this, testing of the ATF design under off-normal conditions is needed to assess the 'enhanced accident tolerance' capability of the fuel rod design over standard UO{sub 2}-Zircaloy concepts. Transient testing capabilities are necessary for off-normal testing of events such as loss of coolant accidents (LOCA) and reactivity insertion accidents (RIA). A transient testing program has been developed to support the testing of ATF designs. The Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) facility has been chosen as the site to perform the transient testing of the ATF designs. TREAT is a versatile test facility capable of subjecting fuel specimens to various off-normal conditions. Historic TREAT experiments were performed in a variety of experimental test vehicles including static environment capsules, once-through flowing systems, and also recirculating flowing systems. The planned TREAT experiments will be operated under PWR conditions. Therefore, a static capsule vehicle is under development to handle required temperatures and pressures. The static capsule, termed the Static Environment Rodlet Transient Test Apparatus (SERTTA), will be used for irradiation tests in TREAT to subject ATF fuel rodlets to a range of power pulse conditions and environments. To aid in the design and analysis of future tests in TREAT, the fuel performance code BISON is being used. Fuel performance codes capable of accident modeling have been developed for some time and they have shown an ability to reproduce experimental results with some degree of adequacy, but they still require extensive verification and validation. Future experiments in TREAT will add to a limited database of past transient tests performed in transient reactors to support LWR systems. These tests can be used for future verification and validation of fuel performance codes. Understanding the impact of the uncertainty of influential parameters is critical for not only analyzing the results of the experiment but also for modeling and validation of codes. For example, uncertainties associated with the initial manufactured state of the sample, instrument measurements, material property models, and planned experiment conditions can provide important insight into model performance, experimental data, and play an important role in experimental design. The objective of this work is to perform an uncertainty and sensitivity analysis on a simplified RIA case of a standard UO{sub 2}-Zircaloy sample using expected nominal conditions in the SERTTA capsule in TREAT. The BISON fuel performance code is used in conjunction with DAKOTA (Design Analysis Kit for Optimization and Tera-scale Applications) to perform the uncertainty and sensitivity analysis. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Radiation Effects on High Thermal Conductivity Fuels (Final Scientific Report)

High thermal conductivity nuclear fuels offer important potential advantages over traditional oxide-based fuels such as higher burnup, reduction in fission gas release, and better overall safety of the reactor system. One interesting approach to high thermal conductivity fuels utilizes high thermal conductivity nonfissile additives to UO 2 fuel to lower the fuel operating temperature and thereby take advantage of the highly favorable radiation resistance of UO 2 at lower operating temperatures. However, differential swelling between the matrix and high conductivity additive phases during high dose irradiation could lead to internal cracking and poor performance. In the current study, ceria (CeO 2 ) and zirconia (ZrO 2 ) surrogate matrices were used to model UO 2 behavior. Al 2 O 3 or SiC in the form of nanoscale powder or platelets, respectively, were used for the high conductivity second phase. The nuclear fuel surrogates were sintered to achieve densities greater than 93% of the ideal values. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging and X-ray diffraction confirmed the uniform distribution of the second phase and that no intermetallic second phase was formed during sintering. The thermal conductivity of the sintered samples was measured from 50°C to 900°C and revealed an important increase compared to pure CeO2 and ZrO2 pellets. Samples were irradiated with 20 MeV Ni6+ ions at midrange doses ranging from 1 to 15 displacements per atom (dpa) and temperatures from 300°C to 700°C. Post irradiation characterization revealed a good stability of the samples at low to medium doses (1 to 5 dpa) but showed a significant microstructural deterioration and decrease of the mechanical properties at 15 dpa. Although microcracking is not observed at the interface between the matrix and high conductivity phase for any investigated irradiation condition, the strength degradation at 15 dpa suggests that these high thermal conductivity fuel forms may not be suitable for high burnup applications in current or proposed fission reactors.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Oscillatory reaction cross sections caused by normal mode sampling in quasiclassical trajectory calculations

The quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) method is an efficient and important tool for studying the dynamics of bimolecular reactions. In this method, the motion of the atoms is simulated classically, and the only quantum effect considered is that the initial vibrational states of reactant molecules are semiclassically quantized. A sensible expectation is that the initial ensemble of classical molecular states generated this way should be stationary, similarly to the quantum state it is supposed to represent. The most widely used method for sampling the vibrational phase space of polyatomic molecules is based on the normal mode approximation. In the present work, it is demonstrated that normal mode sampling provides a nonstationary ensemble even for a simple molecule like methane, because real potential energy surfaces are anharmonic in the reactant domain. The consequences were investigated for reaction CH{sub 4} + H → CH{sub 3} + H{sub 2} and its various isotopologs and were found to be dramatic. Reaction probabilities and cross sections obtained from QCT calculations oscillate periodically as a function of the initial distance of the colliding partners and the excitation functions are erratic. The reason is that in the nonstationary ensemble of initial states, the mean bond length of the breaking C–H bond oscillates in time with the frequency of the symmetric stretch mode. We propose a simple method, one-period averaging, in which reactivity parameters are calculated by averaging over an entire period of the mean C–H bond length oscillation, which removes the observed artifacts and provides the physically most reasonable reaction probabilities and cross sections when the initial conditions for QCT calculations are generated by normal mode sampling.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS1974

Analytical techniques for identification and study of organic matter in returned lunar samples

The results of geochemical research are reviewed. Emphasis is placed on the contribution of mass spectrometric data to the solution of specific structural problems. Information on the mass spectrometric behavior of compounds of geochemical interest is reviewed and currently available techniques of particular importance to geochemistry, such as gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer coupling, modern sample introduction methods, and computer application in high resolution mass spectrometry, receive particular attention.

Burlingame, A. L.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Comparison of the sensitivity of 236 U measurements in environmental samples by MC-ICP-MS and ATONA based high precision U TIMS measurements

The ATONA project is focused upon exploring the improvements in uranium isotope ratio measurements by thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) provided by a new, capacitor-based, amplifier technology. These “ATONA” Faraday amplifiers (Isotopx Ltd, UK) promise accurate, low-noise measurements of very small signals (< 1 femto-amp) in a traditional Faraday cup, which was only previously possible using an ion counter. This report outlines a series of experiments that were performed to assess the performance of the system in samples that test our rapid analysis procedures, and then compare the results against other mass spectrometry techniques currently available for environmental analyses. The following major goals were achieved: (1) illustrated the importance of 236 U measurements for the screening and analysis of environmental samples; (2) improved sensitivity for 236 U, and then identified 236 U in the 4350B standard at ultra-trace levels (3) Provided comparison of the 236 U sensitivity to multi-collector inductively coupled mass spectrometry techniques (4) Illustrated high TRL for the ATONA based measurement technique. This completes the reporting requirements for task 4 in the project LCP and highlights the utility of the system to make highly sensitive 236 U measurements in programmatically relevant sample matrices and at relevant uranium concentrations.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
NASA NTRS1992

The distribution and modes of occurrence of impact melt at lunar craters

Numerous studies of the returned lunar samples as well as geologic and remote-sensing investigations have emphasized the importance of impact melts on the surface of the Moon. Information concerning the distribution and relative volumes is important for (1) an improved understanding of cratering processes, (2) kinetic energy estimates and energy partitioning studies, (3) the proper interpretation of melt-bearing lunar samples, and (4) comparative planetology studies. The identification of major flows of fluidized material associated with impact craters on the surface of Venus has increased interest in impact melt flows on the other terrestrial planets. For a number of years, we have been investigating the distribution, modes of occurrence, and relative and absolute amounts of impact melt associated with lunar craters as well as the manner in which melt volumes vary as a function of crater size, morphology, and target characteristics. The results of this effort are presented.

Hawke, B. Ray↗