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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 1,045 records · Page 58

Corrosion Inhibition of Cold-rolled Low Carbon Steel with Pulse Fiber Laser Ablation in Water

This study aims at the use of a fiber laser for modifying the surface properties of cold-rolled low carbon steel via a pulse laser ablation technique in water. The effect on the corrosion behavior of the fiber laser-treated metal surface was investigated in NaCl and HCl environments. Electrochemical tests showed significant improvement in the corrosion resistance of the laser-treated sample in NaCl, with an increase in open-circuit potential (OCP) from − 0.65 to − 0.60 V and an inhibition efficiency of 89.22% as obtained from the impedance study. Such improvement was less significant in an acidic environment. Lower corrosion rates of 20.9 mpy and 5.819 × 10{sup 3} mpy were obtained for the laser-treated samples in neutral and acidic electrolytes, respectively, than the corrosion rates obtained for the as-received samples (33.2 mpy and 11.98 × 10{sup 3} mpy). Morphological analysis indicated a passive film built by spherical grains of regular size on the metal surface after laser treatment. The corrosion inhibition effects in NaCl were evident by the nonexistence of the common corrosion products of lepidocrocite and crystalline structures that were seen on as-received samples; only polyhedral crystals with micrograins grown on them were seen covering the laser-treated surface. Therefore, the laser treatment using a fiber laser source improved the corrosion resistance of cold-rolled low carbon steel.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

pyGWBSE: a high throughput workflow package for GW-BSE calculations

Abstract We develop an open-source python workflow package, py GWBSE to perform automated first-principles calculations within the GW-BSE (Bethe-Salpeter) framework. GW-BSE is a many body perturbation theory based approach to explore the quasiparticle (QP) and excitonic properties of materials. GW approximation accurately predicts bandgaps of materials by overcoming the bandgap underestimation issue of the more widely used density functional theory (DFT). BSE formalism produces absorption spectra directly comparable with experimental observations. py GWBSE package achieves complete automation of the entire multi-step GW-BSE computation, including the convergence tests of several parameters that are crucial for the accuracy of these calculations. py GWBSE is integrated with Wannier90 , to generate QP bandstructures, interpolated using the maximally-localized wannier functions. py GWBSE also enables the automated creation of databases of metadata and data, including QP and excitonic properties, which can be extremely useful for future material discovery studies in the field of ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors, electronics, photovoltaics, and photocatalysis.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

KG-Hub—building and exchanging biological knowledge graphs

Knowledge graphs (KGs) are a powerful approach for integrating heterogeneous data and making inferences in biology and many other domains, but a coherent solution for constructing, exchanging, and facilitating the downstream use of KGs is lacking. Here we present KG-Hub, a platform that enables standardized construction, exchange, and reuse of KGs. Features include a simple, modular extract–transform–load pattern for producing graphs compliant with Biolink Model (a high-level data model for standardizing biological data), easy integration of any OBO (Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies) ontology, cached downloads of upstream data sources, versioned and automatically updated builds with stable URLs, web-browsable storage of KG artifacts on cloud infrastructure, and easy reuse of transformed subgraphs across projects. Current KG-Hub projects span use cases including COVID-19 research, drug repurposing, microbial–environmental interactions, and rare disease research. KG-Hub is equipped with tooling to easily analyze and manipulate KGs. KG-Hub is also tightly integrated with graph machine learning (ML) tools which allow automated graph ML, including node embeddings and training of models for link prediction and node classification.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

SU-F-T-670: From the OR to the Radiobiology Lab: The Journey of a Small X-Ray Source

Purpose: Irradiation of small animal tumor models within laboratories is vital to radiobiological experiments. Often the animals are not able to be brought back into the lab after being taken out for irradiation. Cell biology laboratories benefit from irradiation capability available around the clock without regard to patient load in an associated radiotherapy clinic. Commercial systems are available, but bulky and expensive. Methods: An intraoperative kV irradiation system (IntraBeam™) designed to deliver spherical dose distributions to surgical cavities has been repurposed for the irradiation of cell plates and small laboratory animals. An applicator has been altered to allow for simple, open fields. Special collimators are being developed. BEAMnrc Monte Carlo simulations with the “NRC swept BEAM” source model have been performed to characterize the dose distributions, to develop optimal collimators and as basis for dose prescription. Measurements with radiochromic film and with an ionization chamber were performed to characterize the beam and to validate the simulations. Results: Using its highest setting (50 kV and 40 µA) the x-ray unit is capable of delivering dose rates over 1 Gy/min homogeneously to standard cell plates even without an optimized collimator. Smaller areas (tumors in animals) can be irradiated with significantly higher dose rates (> 20 Gy/min) depending on distance of the source to the tumor. The HVL was found to be 0.21 mm Al which means the shielding requirements for the device are easily achievable in the lab. Conclusion: A mobile irradiation facility is feasible. It will allow easier access to radiation for radiobiology experiments. The modified system is versatile in that for cell plates homogenous irradiations can be achieved through distance from the source, while for high dose rate small field irradiations the source can be brought in close proximity to the target.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Bioinformatic Teaching Resources – For Educators, by Educators – Using KBase, a Free, User-Friendly, Open Source Platform

Over the past year, biology educators and staff at the U.S. Department of Energy Systems Biology Knowledgebase (KBase) initiated a collaborative effort to develop a curriculum for bioinformatics education. KBase is a free web-based platform where anyone can conduct sophisticated and reproducible bioinformatic analyses via a graphical user interface. Here, we demonstrate the utility of KBase as a platform for bioinformatics education, and present a set of modular, adaptable, and customizable instructional units for teaching concepts in Genomics, Metagenomics, Pangenomics, and Phylogenetics. Each module contains teaching resources, publicly available data, analysis tools, and Markdown capability, enabling instructors to modify the lesson as appropriate for their specific course. We present initial student survey data on the effectiveness of using KBase for teaching bioinformatic concepts, provide an example case study, and detail the utility of the platform from an instructor’s perspective. Even as in-person teaching returns, KBase will continue to work with instructors, supporting the development of new active learning curriculum modules. For anyone utilizing the platform, the growing KBase Educators Organization provides an educators network, accompanied by community-sourced guidelines, instructional templates, and peer support, for instructors wishing to use KBase within a classroom at any educational level–whether virtual or in-person.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Updating the U.S. Life Cycle GHG Petroleum Baseline to 2014 with Projections to 2040 Using Open-Source Engineering-Based Models

Here, the National Energy Technology Laboratory produced a well-to-wheels (WTW) life cycle greenhouse gas analysis of petroleum-based fuels consumed in the U.S. in 2005, known as the NETL 2005 Petroleum Baseline. This study uses a set of engineering-based, open-source models combined with publicly available data to calculate baseline results for 2014. An increase between the 2005 baseline and the 2014 results presented here (e.g., 92.4 vs 96.2 g CO 2 e/MJ gasoline, + 4.1%) are due to changes both in modeling platform and in the U.S. petroleum sector. An updated result for 2005 was calculated to minimize the effect of the change in modeling platform, and emissions for gasoline in 2014 were about 2% lower than in 2005 (98.1 vs 96.2 g CO 2 e/MJ gasoline). The same methods were utilized to forecast emissions from fuels out to 2040, indicating maximum changes from the 2014 gasoline result between +2.1% and –1.4%. The changing baseline values lead to potential compliance challenges with frameworks such as the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) Section 526, which states that Federal agencies should not purchase alternative fuels unless their life cycle GHG emissions are less than those of conventionally produced, petroleum-derived fuels.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

PyFLEXTRKR: a flexible feature tracking Python software for convective cloud analysis

Abstract. This paper describes the new open-source framework PyFLEXTRKR (Python FLEXible object TRacKeR), a flexible atmospheric feature tracking software package with specific capabilities to track convective clouds from a variety of observations and model simulations. This software can track any atmospheric 2D objects and handle merging and splitting explicitly. The package has a collection of multi-object identification algorithms, scalable parallelization options, and has been optimized for large datasets including global high-resolution data. We demonstrate applications of PyFLEXTRKR on tracking individual deep convective cells and mesoscale convective systems from observations and model simulations ranging from large-eddy resolving (∼100s m) to mesoscale (∼10s km) resolutions. Visualization, post-processing, and statistical analysis tools are included in the package. New Lagrangian analyses of convective clouds produced by PyFLEXTRKR applicable to a wide range of datasets and scales facilitate advanced model evaluation and development efforts as well as scientific discovery.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Mass Spectrometry Imaging of Biological Tissue: An Approach for Multicenter Studies

Mass spectrometry imaging has become a popular tool for probing the chemical complexity of biological surfaces. This led to the development of a wide range of instrumentation and preparation protocols. It is thus desirable to evaluate and compare the data output from different methodologies and mass spectrometers. Here, we present an approach for the comparison of mass spectrometry imaging data from different laboratories (often referred to as multicenter studies). This is exemplified by the analysis of mouse brain sections in five laboratories in Europe and the USA. The instrumentation includes matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)-time-of-flight (TOF), MALDI-QTOF, MALDIFourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR), atmospheric-pressure (AP)-MALDI-Orbitrap, and cluster TOF-secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Experimental parameters such as measurement speed, imaging bin width, and mass spectrometric parameters are discussed. All datasets were converted to the standard data format imzML and displayed in a common open-source software with identical parameters for visualization, which facilitates direct comparison of MS images. The imzML conversion also allowed exchange of fully functional MS imaging datasets between the different laboratories. The experiments ranged from overview measurements of the full mouse brain to detailed analysis of smaller features (depending on spatial resolution settings), but common histological features such as the corpus callosum were visible in all measurements. High spatial resolution measurements of AP-MALDI-Orbitrap and TOF-SIMS showed comparable structures in the low-micrometer range. We discuss general considerations for planning and performing multicenter studies in mass spectrometry imaging. This includes details on the selection, distribution, and preparation of tissue samples as well as on data handling. Such multicenter studies in combination with ongoing activities for reporting guidelines, a common data format (imzML) and a public data repository can contribute to more reliability and transparency of MS imaging studies.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗

EEL: A MOOSE-based Application for 3D Electro-Chemo-Thermo-Mechanical Modeling of Solid-State Batteries

This report describes a tool for three dimensional, high fidelity, coupled electro-chemo-thermo-mechanical modeling of solid-state batteries. A complete version of the tool is available as open source software at https://github.com/hugary1995/eel.git. The theoretical framework of the tool revolves around an inf-sup statement on a total potential, comprising the Helmholtz free energy, the electrical kinetic potential, the chemical potential, the Fourier potential, the chemical reaction potential, and the external power expenditure. The tool uses the finite element framework of Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) and a variational formulation to solve the boundary value problem for solid-state battery incorporating the full set of multiphysics couplings. The variational formulation also enables a modular software architecture for the tool so additional physics can be easily included by specifying the new contribution to the total potential. The report discusses several method of manufactured solutions that were used to verify the implementation of different physics and the Butler-Volmer reaction kinetics at the electrolyte-electrode interface. Finally, the report discusses results from complete charge/discharge simulations of a quasi-1D and a 3D solid-state battery.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Correlation between Geometrically Induced Oxygen Octahedral Tilts and Multiferroic Behaviors in BiFeO 3 Films

The equilibrium position of atoms in a unit cell is directly connected to crystal functionalities, e.g., ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism, and piezoelectricity. The artificial tuning of the energy landscape can involve repositioning atoms as well as manipulating the functionalities of perovskites (ABO 3 ), which are good model systems to test this legacy. Mechanical energy from external sources accommodating various clamping substrates is utilized to perturb the energy state of perovskite materials fabricated on the substrates and consequently change their functionalities; however, this approach yields undesired complex behaviors of perovskite crystals, such as lattice distortion, displacement of B atoms, and/or tilting of oxygen octahedra. Owing to complimentary collaborations between experimental and theoretical studies, the effects of both lattice distortion and displacement of B atoms are well understood so far, which leaves us a simple question: Can we exclusively control the positions of oxygen atoms in perovskites for functionality manipulation? Here the artificial manipulation of oxygen octahedral tilt angles within multiferroic BiFeO 3 thin films using strong oxygen octahedral coupling with bottom SrRuO 3 layers is reported, which opens up new possibilities of oxygen octahedral engineering.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

An efficient three-dimensional rhizosphere modeling capability to study the effect of root system architecture on soil water and reactive transport

This research was to develop a rhizosphere modeling capability for plant-soil interactions by integrating water and ion uptake and release from three dimensional (3D) root systems and 3D variably saturated flow and multicomponent reactive transport in soil. We combined open source software for simulating plant and soil interactions with parallel processing computational technologies to address highly-resolved root system architecture and soil hydrobiogeochemical processes. Simulation capability was demonstrated on Brachypodium distachyon . Our demonstration problem showed that availability of water and plant nutrients is controlled by the interplay between 1) transpiration-driven cycles of water uptake, root zone saturation and desaturation; 2) sorption and desorption via competitive ion exchange; 3) buildup of ions not taken up during kinetic uptake of nutrients/ions from pore water; and 4) advection, dispersion, and diffusion of ions in the soil. The uptake of water and ions by individual roots leads to dynamic, local gradients in ion concentrations. The resulting higher solution ionic strength can lead to increasing sorption of K+ and NH4+ on the soil exchange sites, despite their preferential absorption by roots. The modeling framework makes it possible to explore alternative conceptual models and improve the understanding of the biogeochemical and physical environment within the rhizosphere.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Best practices in software development for robust and reproducible geoscientific models based on insights from the Global Carbon Budget's dynamic vegetation models

Computational models play an increasingly vital role in scientific research by enabling the numerical simulation of complex processes. Such models are also fundamental in geosciences. For instance, they offer critical insights into the impacts of global change on the Earth system today and in the future. Beyond their value as research tools, models are also software products and should therefore adhere to certain established software engineering standards. However, scientists are rarely trained as software developers, which can lead to potential deficiencies in software quality like unreadable, inefficient, or erroneous code. The complexity of models, coupled with their integration into broader workflows, also often makes it challenging to reproduce results, evaluate processes, and build upon them. In this paper, we review the state and current practices of the development processes of the state-of-the-art land surface models used by the Global Carbon Budget. We combine the experience of modelers from the respective research groups with the expertise of software engineers from tech companies to outline key principles and tools for improving software quality in research. We explore four main areas: (1) model testing and validation, (2) scientific, technical, and user documentation, (3) version control, continuous integration, and code review, and (4) the portability and reproducibility of workflows. Our review reveals that while modeling communities are incorporating many best practices, significant room for improvement remains in areas such as automated testing, automated documentation, and reproducibility. Therefore, we here identify and promote essential software engineering practices, including numerous examples of practices from within the community that can serve as guidelines for other models and could help streamline processes across the entire community. We conclude with an open-source example implementation of these principles, demonstrating portable and reproducible data flows, a continuous integration setup, and web-based visualizations. This example may serve as a practical resource for model developers, users, and all scientists engaged in scientific programming.

Gregor, Konstantin [Technical Univ. of Munich (Ger↗

CT Scans of Cores Metadata, Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska, 2015

Individual ice cores were collected from Barrow Environmental Observatory in Barrow, Alaska, throughout 2013 and 2014. Cores were drilled along different transects to sample polygonal features (i.e. the trough, center and rim of high, transitional and low center polygons). Most cores were drilled around 1 meter in depth and a few deep cores were drilled around 3 meters in depth. Three-dimensional images of the frozen cores were constructed using a medical X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanner. TIFF files can be uploaded to ImageJ (an open-source imaging software) to examine soil structure and soil densities within each core.The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments: Arctic (NGEE Arctic), was a 15-year research effort (2012-2027) to reduce uncertainty in Earth System Models by developing a predictive understanding of carbon-rich Arctic ecosystems and feedbacks to climate. NGEE Arctic was supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research.The NGEE Arctic project had two field research sites: 1) located within the Arctic polygonal tundra coastal region on the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) and the North Slope near Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska and 2) multiple areas on the discontinuous permafrost region of the Seward Peninsula north of Nome, Alaska.Through observations, experiments, and synthesis with existing datasets, NGEE Arctic provided an enhanced knowledge base for multi-scale modeling and contributed to improved process representation at global pan-Arctic scales within the Department of Energy's Earth system Model (the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, or E3SM), and specifically within the E3SM Land Model component (ELM).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Development of Single Photon Sources in GaN

The recent discovery of bright, room-temperature, single photon emitters in GaN leads to an appealing alternative to diamond best single photon emitters given the widespread use and technological maturity of III-nitrides for optoelectronics (e.g. blue LEDs, lasers) and high-speed, high-power electronics. This discovery opens the door to on-chip and on-demand single photon sources integrated with detectors and electronics. Currently, little is known about the underlying defect structure nor is there a sense of how such an emitter might be controllably created. A detailed understanding of the origin of the SPEs in GaN and a path to deterministically introduce them is required. In this project, we develop new experimental capabilities to then investigate single photon emission from GaN nanowires and both GAN and AlN wafers. We ion implant our wafers with the ion implanted with our focused ion beam nanoimplantation capabilities at Sandia, to go beyond typical broad beam implantation and create single photon emitting defects with nanometer precision. We've created light emitting sources using Li + and He + , but single photon emission has yet to be demonstrated. In parallel, we calculate the energy levels of defects and transition metal substitutions in GaN to gain a better understanding of the sources of single photon emission in GaN and AlN. The combined experimental and theoretical capabilities developed throughout this project will enable further investigation into the origins of single photon emission from defects in GaN, AlN, and other wide bandgap semiconductors.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Matter in Extreme Conditions Upgrade (Conceptual Design Report)

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) is an open-access user facility that delivers ultrashort X-ray pulses that are nine orders of magnitude brighter than any prior source, able to probe the characteristics of matter with unprecedented spatial and temporal precision. The Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC) instrument at LCLS combines the XFEL with high-power, short-pulse lasers to produce and study high energy density (HED) plasmas to develop the fundamental understanding of plasmas and matter in extreme environments. This has driven a remarkably rich array of high-profile scientific results with applications in fusion energy, isotope production, advanced materials, and medical and nuclear technology. The Matter in Extreme Conditions Upgrade (MEC-U) Project proposes a major upgrade to MEC that would significantly increase the power and repetition rate of the high intensity laser system to the petawatt level (PW, 10 15 Watts) at 10 Hz, increase the energy of the shock-driver laser to the kilojoule level (kJ), and expand the capabilities of the MEC instrument to support groundbreaking experiments enabled by the combination of high-power lasers with the world’s brightest X-ray source.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Identifying Band Inversions in Topological Materials Using Diffusion Monte Carlo

Topological insulators are characterized by insulating bulk states and robust metallic surface states. Band inversion is a hallmark of topological insulators. At time-reversal invariant points in the Brillouin zone, spin–orbit coupling (SOC) induces a swapping of orbital character at the bulk band edges. Reliably detecting band inversion in solid-state systems with many-body methods would aid in identifying possible candidates for spintronics and quantum computing applications and improve our understanding of the physics behind topologically nontrivial systems. Density functional theory (DFT) methods are a well-established means of investigating these interesting materials due to their favorable balance of computational cost and accuracy but often struggle to accurately model the electron–electron correlations present in the many materials containing heavier elements. In this work, we develop a novel method to detect band inversion within continuum quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods that can accurately treat the electron correlation and spin–orbit coupling that are crucial to the physics of topological insulators. Our approach applies a momentum-space-resolved atomic population analysis throughout the first Brillouin zone utilizing the Löwdin method and the one-body reduced density matrix produced with diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC). We integrate this method into QMCPACK, an open source ab initio QMC package, so that these ground-state methods can be used to complement experimental studies and validate prior DFT work on predicting the band structures of correlated topological insulators. Here, we demonstrate this new technique on the topological insulator bismuth telluride, which displays band inversion between its Bi-p and Te-p states at the Γ-point. We show an increase in charge on the bismuth-p orbital and a decrease in charge on the tellurium-p orbital when comparing band structures with and without SOC. Additionally, we use our method to compare the degree of band inversion present in monolayer Bi 2 Te 3 , which has no interlayer van der Waals interactions, to that seen in the bilayer and bulk. The method presented here will enable future many-body studies of band inversion that can shed light on the delicate interplay between correlation and topology in correlated topological materials.

Band structure↗

TU-H-CAMPUS-IeP1-01: Bias and Computational Efficiency of Variance Reduction Methods for the Monte Carlo Simulation of Imaging Detectors

Purpose: Variance reduction techniques (VRTs) are employed in Monte Carlo simulations to obtain estimates with reduced statistical uncertainty for a given simulation time. In this work, we study the bias and efficiency of a VRT for estimating the response of imaging detectors. Methods: We implemented Directed Sampling (DS), preferentially directing a fraction of emitted optical photons directly towards the detector by altering the isotropic model. The weight of each optical photon is appropriately modified to maintain simulation estimates unbiased. We use a Monte Carlo tool called fastDETECT2 (part of the hybridMANTIS open-source package) for optical transport, modified for VRT. The weight of each photon is calculated as the ratio of original probability (no VRT) and the new probability for a particular direction. For our analysis of bias and efficiency, we use pulse height spectra, point response functions, and Swank factors. We obtain results for a variety of cases including analog (no VRT, isotropic distribution), and DS with 0.2 and 0.8 optical photons directed towards the sensor plane. We used 10,000, 25-keV primaries. Results: The Swank factor for all cases in our simplified model converged fast (within the first 100 primaries) to a stable value of 0.9. The root mean square error per pixel for DS VRT for the point response function between analog and VRT cases was approximately 5e-4. Conclusion: Our preliminary results suggest that DS VRT does not affect the estimate of the mean for the Swank factor. Our findings indicate that it may be possible to design VRTs for imaging detector simulations to increase computational efficiency without introducing bias.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Neutron Instruments for Research in Coordination Chemistry

Here, neutron diffraction and spectroscopies offer unique insight into structures and properties of solids and molecular materials. All neutron instruments located at the various neutron sources are distinct, even if their designs are based on similar principles, and thus, are usually less familiar to the community than commercial X–ray diffractometers and optical spectrometers. Major neutron instruments in the USA, which are open to scientists around the world, and examples of their use in coordination chemistry research are presented here, along with a list of similar instruments at main neutron facilities in other countries. The reader may easily and quickly find from this mini–review an appropriate neutron instrument for research. The instruments include single–crystal and powder diffractometers to determine structures, inelastic neutron scattering (INS) spectrometers to probe magnetic and vibrational excitations, and quasielastic neutron scattering (QENS) spectrometers to study molecular dynamics such as methyl rotation on ligands. Key and unique features of the diffraction and neutron spectroscopies that are relevant to inorganic chemistry are reviewed.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗