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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 109 records · Page 6

Directed self-assembly of block copolymers for high-precision patterning in the era of extreme ultraviolet lithography

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography enables unprecedented resolution in semiconductor patterning but faces critical challenges in developing resist materials that achieve high-precision at economically viable throughput. Directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCPs) offers a promising solution for pattern rectification by leveraging thermodynamically determined domain structures to decouple BCP pattern quality from the imperfect original lithographic pattern. This prospective presents an overview of recent progress on the EUV + DSA strategy, covering advances in BCP material design, processing, metrology, and pattern transfer. We highlight recent advances in high-χ BCPs with perpendicular orientation and domain spacings compatible with EUV dimensions, leveraging A-b-(B-r-C) architectures. We also discuss progress in chemical pre-pattern fabrication using both positive- and negative tone resists, along with processing strategies to minimize defects and roughness based on BCP thermodynamics and assembly kinetics. We further examine metrology platforms for characterizing the thermodynamics of BCP materials and quantifying the size and shape of BCP domains. Lastly, we review pattern transfer strategies for generating functional inorganic masks suitable for semiconductor manufacturing. Together, these advances highlight the potential of DSA to complement EUV lithography, offering a pathway to address critical challenges in achieving high-precision patterning for the semiconductor industry.

Lee, Kyunghyeon [Univ. of Chicago, IL (United Stat↗

Achieving performance portability in Gaussian basis set density functional theory on accelerator based architectures in NWChemEx

The numerical integration of the exchange–correlation (XC) potential is one of the primary computational bottlenecks in Gaussian basis set Kohn–Sham density functional theory (KS-DFT). To achieve optimal performance and accuracy, care must be taken in this numerical integration to preserve local sparsity as to allow for near linear weak scaling with system size. This leads to an integration scheme with several performance critical kernels which must be hand optimized for each architecture of interest. As the set of available accelerator hardware goes more diverse, a key challenge for developers of KS-DFT software is to maintain performance portability across a wide range of computational architectures. In this article, we examine a modular software design pattern which decouples the implementation details of performance critical kernels from the expression of high-level algorithmic workflows in a device-agnostic language such as C++; thus allowing for developers to target existing and emerging accelerator hardware within a single code base. We consider the efficacy of such a design pattern in the numerical integration of the XC potential by demonstrating its ability to achieve performance portability across a set of accelerator architectures which are representative of those on current and future U.S. Department of Energy Leadership Computing Facilities.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Interfacial engineering via laser ablation for high-performing PEM water electrolysis

A rationalized interfacial design strategy was applied to tailor the porous transport layer (PTL)-catalyst layer (CL) contact and the PTL bulk-phase architecture. Particularly, at the PTL-CL interface, our results reveal that laser ablated sintered titanium power-based PTLs improve electrolyzer performance at both the H2NEW Consortium baseline catalyst loading of 0.4 mgIr cm -2 as well as at the ultra-low catalyst loading of 0.055 mgIr cm -2 . Under ultra-low catalyst loadings, the laser ablated PTL demonstrates maximum reduction of 230 mV compared to the commercial PTL at 4 A cm -2 , and reduces by 68 mV at 3.2 A cm -2 under H2NEW baseline loading. Laser ablation alters the titanium phase at the interface, so it forms more uniform structure like a microporous layer or a backing layer, leading to an increase in the surface area in contact with the catalyst layer while preventing the membrane from deforming into the PTL. Moreover, we reveal that bulk-phase architecture modification of the PTL by ablating patterned pores at the flow field-PTL interface improves mass transport without sacrificing contact at the CL-PTL interface. Overall, laser ablation of the PTL is an effective method to customize interfacial design to enhance proton exchange membrane electrolyzer performance.

08 HYDROGEN↗

Long-term compost amendment modulates wheat genotype differences in belowground carbon allocation, microbial rhizosphere recruitment and nitrogen acquisition

The implementation of soil health-promoting practices, such as cover cropping and compost application, has important implications for nutrient cycling and management in agroecosystems. At the same time, plant belowground carbon (C) allocation patterns can influence nutrient cycling and availability in soil through changes to the microbial community, but the effects may depend on the crop genotype and management practices in place. We evaluated belowground C allocation patterns using 13 C labeling and root architecture in two genotypes of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) with different levels of exudation and belowground allocation strategies in soils with contrasting compost amendment legacy (108.7 Mg ha -1 every 2 years over 10 years vs. no compost). We also measured microbial community structure and function in the rhizosphere and quantified uptake of residue-derived N from 15 N-labelled cover crop residues. We found an interactive effect between soil management and genotype, where in the no-compost soil, the high-exudation genotype (Snowmass) increased exudation by over 4-fold, while the low-exudate genotype (Byrd) increased only 2-fold. While we did not observe genotype differences in rhizosphere enzyme activity or dissolved N pools, residue N uptake was 1.8 times greater for Snowmass in the compost-amended soil. There were more rhizosphere microbial taxa associated with the high-exudate genotype (Snowmass); nine bacterial and seven fungal families were indicative of Snowmass, versus one bacterial and four fungal families for Byrd. Our results suggest that the high-exudation strategy can influence the rhizosphere microbial community, and lead to greater short-term residue N uptake in high SOM soil. By directly linking root architecture, exudation, microbial communities, and N mineralization and uptake dynamics, this work demonstrates that plasticity in root C allocation is genotype-specific and influences microbial communities and nutrient cycling depending on the soil health context.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Self-assembled reconfigurable pump architectures via magnetic colloidal swarms

Self-assembled swarms of interactive active units, which are adaptive and dynamically reconfigurable to accommodate different functionalities, represent a promising platform for the development of next-generation robotics. Here, we utilize the emergent collective behavior of active magnetic colloids confined in quasi-two-dimensional arrays of overlapping wells to demonstrate the self-organization of a colloidal swarm into a dynamic pump architecture capable of controlled transport of passive cargo particles. This dynamic architecture provides a global unidirectional looping flow pattern along the entire length of the system. We show that the flow direction of the dynamic swarm-based pump can be externally controlled by a phase shift of a driving magnetic field energizing the swarm. The experimental observations are supported by computational modeling based on phenomenological coarse-grained particle dynamics coupled to shallow-water Navier-Stokes hydrodynamics. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate how the emergent collective behavior of a swarm can be orchestrated into a desired functionality by exploiting the interplay between activity and confinement potentials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Partial gravity habitat study: With application to lunar base design

Comprehensive design requirements associated with designing habitats for humans in a partial gravity environment were investigated and then applied to a lunar base design. Other potential sites for application include planetary surfaces such as Mars, variable gravity research facilities, or a rotating spacecraft. Design requirements for partial gravity environments include: (1) locomotion changes in less than normal Earth gravity; (2) facility design issues, such as interior configuration, module diameter and geometry; and (3) volumetric requirements based on the previous as well as psychological issues involved in prolonged isolation. For application to a Lunar Base, it was necessary to study the exterior architecture and configuration to insure optimum circulation patterns while providing dual egress. Radiation protection issues were addressed to provide a safe and healthy environment for the crew, and finally, the overall site was studied to locate all associated facilities in context with the habitat. Mission planning was not the purpose of this study; therefore, a Lockheed scenario was used as an outline for the Lunar Base application, which was then modified to meet the project needs.

Capps, Stephen↗

LEADER - An integrated engine behavior and design analyses based real-time fault diagnostic expert system for Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME)

The LEADER expert system has been developed for automatic learning tasks encompassing real-time detection, identification, verification, and correction of anomalous propulsion system operations, using a set of sensors to monitor engine component performance to ascertain anomalies in engine dynamics and behavior. Two diagnostic approaches are embodied in LEADER's architecture: (1) learning and identifying engine behavior patterns to generate novel hypotheses about possible abnormalities, and (2) the direction of engine sensor data processing to perform resoning based on engine design and functional knowledge, as well as the principles of the relevant mechanics and physics.

Gupta, U. K.↗

On the use of ANN interconnection weights in optimal structural design

The present paper describes the use of interconnection weights of a multilayer, feedforward network, to extract information pertinent to the mapping space that the network is assumed to represent. In particular, these weights can be used to determine an appropriate network architecture, and an adequate number of training patterns (input-output pairs) have been used for network training. The weight analysis also provides an approach to assess the influence of each input parameter on a selected output component. The paper shows the significance of this information in decomposition driven optimal design.

Hajela, P.↗

Partial gravity habitat study

The purpose of this study is to investigate comprehensive design requirements associated with designing habitats for humans in a partial gravity environment, then to apply them to a lunar base design. Other potential sites for application include planetary surfaces such as Mars, variable-gravity research facilities, and a rotating spacecraft. Design requirements for partial gravity environments include locomotion changes in less than normal earth gravity; facility design issues, such as interior configuration, module diameter, and geometry; and volumetric requirements based on the previous as well as psychological issues involved in prolonged isolation. For application to a lunar base, it is necessary to study the exterior architecture and configuration to insure optimum circulation patterns while providing dual egress; radiation protection issues are addressed to provide a safe and healthy environment for the crew; and finally, the overall site is studied to locate all associated facilities in context with the habitat. Mission planning is not the purpose of this study; therefore, a Lockheed scenario is used as an outline for the lunar base application, which is then modified to meet the project needs. The goal of this report is to formulate facts on human reactions to partial gravity environments, derive design requirements based on these facts, and apply the requirements to a partial gravity situation which, for this study, was a lunar base.

Capps, Stephen↗

Model-based Systems Engineering: Creation and Implementation of Model Validation Rules for MOS 2.0

Model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is an emerging modeling application that is used to enhance the system development process. MBSE allows for the centralization of project and system information that would otherwise be stored in extraneous locations, yielding better communication, expedited document generation and increased knowledge capture. Based on MBSE concepts and the employment of the Systems Modeling Language (SysML), extremely large and complex systems can be modeled from conceptual design through all system lifecycles. The Operations Revitalization Initiative (OpsRev) seeks to leverage MBSE to modernize the aging Advanced Multi-Mission Operations Systems (AMMOS) into the Mission Operations System 2.0 (MOS 2.0). The MOS 2.0 will be delivered in a series of conceptual and design models and documents built using the modeling tool MagicDraw. To ensure model completeness and cohesiveness, it is imperative that the MOS 2.0 models adhere to the specifications, patterns and profiles of the Mission Service Architecture Framework, thus leading to the use of validation rules. This paper outlines the process by which validation rules are identified, designed, implemented and tested. Ultimately, these rules provide the ability to maintain model correctness and synchronization in a simple, quick and effective manner, thus allowing the continuation of project and system progress.

Model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE)↗

Experimental Observations of Damage States in Unnotched and Notched 3D Orthogonal Woven Coupons Loaded in Tension

This paper describes a series of unnotched and notched tensile tests on two 3D orthogonal woven architectures loaded in the warp direction. Dogbone specimens were used for the unnotched tests, and open-hole specimens were used for the notched tests. For each architecture and test type, two specimens were loaded under monotonic displacement control to failure, and two specimens were incrementally loaded to failure in five steps. X-ray computed tomography (CT) was used to characterize the woven architecture and defects on each specimen prior to testing. Digital image correlation (DIC) images were obtained from both sides of the specimen throughout the loading and unloading. For the incremental tests, X-ray CT was used to document the damage progression after each load increment. The results for both architectures and test specimens followed a similar pattern where matrix cracks formed perpendicular to the load direction and were primarily located between the stacks of warp tows. Two-piece failure path always occurred perpendicular to the loading direction, along the through-thickness segments of the Z-tows. The combination of stress concentrations due to the specimen geometry, weave geometry, and cut tows created stress concentrations that appear to initiate failure.

Woven materials↗

Time Series Foundation Models and Deep Learning Architectures for Earthquake Temporal and Spatial Nowcasting

Advancing the capabilities of earthquake nowcasting, the real-time forecasting of seismic activities, remains crucial for reducing casualties. This multifaceted challenge has recently gained attention within the deep learning domain, facilitated by the availability of extensive earthquake datasets. Despite significant advancements, the existing literature on earthquake nowcasting lacks comprehensive evaluations of pre-trained foundation models and modern deep learning architectures; each focuses on a different aspect of data, such as spatial relationships, temporal patterns, and multi-scale dependencies. This paper addresses the mentioned gap by analyzing different architectures and introducing two innovative approaches called Multi Foundation Quake and GNNCoder. We formulate earthquake nowcasting as a time series forecasting problem for the next 14 days within 0.1-degree spatial bins in Southern California. Earthquake time series are generated using the logarithm energy released by quakes, spanning 1986 to 2024. Our comprehensive evaluations demonstrate that our introduced models outperform other custom architectures by effectively capturing temporal-spatial relationships inherent in seismic data. The performance of existing foundation models varies significantly based on the pre-training datasets, emphasizing the need for careful dataset selection. However, we introduce a novel method, Multi Foundation Quake, that achieves the best overall performance by combining a bespoke pattern with Foundation model results handled as auxiliary streams.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

A Feasibility Study for Perioperative Ventricular Tachycardia Prognosis and Detection and Noise Detection Using a Neural Network and Predictive Linear Operators

To locate the accessory pathway(s) in preexicitation syndromes, epicardial and endocardial ventricular mapping is performed during anterograde ventricular activation via accessory pathway(s) from data originally received in signal form. As the number of channels increases, it is pertinent that more automated detection of coherent/incoherent signals is achieved as well as the prediction and prognosis of ventricular tachywardia (VT). Today's computers and computer program algorithms are not good in simple perceptual tasks such as recognizing a pattern or identifying a sound. This discrepancy, among other things, has been a major motivating factor in developing brain-based, massively parallel computing architectures. Neural net paradigms have proven to be effective at pattern recognition tasks. In signal processing, the picking of coherent/incoherent signals represents a pattern recognition task for computer systems. The picking of signals representing the onset ot VT also represents such a computer task. We attacked this problem by defining four signal attributes for each potential first maximal arrival peak and one signal attribute over the entire signal as input to a back propagation neural network. One attribute was the predicted amplitude value after the maximum amplitude over a data window. Then, by using a set of known (user selected) coherent/incoherent signals, and signals representing the onset of VT, we trained the back propagation network to recognize coherent/incoherent signals, and signals indicating the onset of VT. Since our output scheme involves a true or false decision, and since the output unit computes values between 0 and 1, we used a Fuzzy Arithmetic approach to classify data as coherent/incoherent signals. Furthermore, a Mean-Square Error Analysis was used to determine system stability. The neural net based picking coherent/incoherent signal system achieved high accuracy on picking coherent/incoherent signals on different patients. The system also achieved a high accuracy of picking signals which represent the onset of VT, that is, VT immediately followed these signals. A special binary representation of the input and output data allowed the neural network to train very rapidly as compared to another standard decimal or normalized representations of the data.

Moebes, T. A.↗

Understanding and Leveraging the I/O Patterns of Emerging Machine Learning Analytics

The scientific community is currently experiencing unprecedented amounts of data generated by cutting-edge science facilities. Soon facilities will be producing up to 1 PB/s which will force scientist to use more autonomous techniques to learn from the data. The adoption of machine learning methods, like deep learning techniques, in large-scale workflows comes with a shift in the workflow’s computational and I/O patterns. These changes often include iterative processes and model architecture searches, in which datasets are analyzed multiple times in different formats with different model configurations in order to find accurate, reliable and efficient learning models. This shift in behavior brings changes in I/O patterns at the application level as well at the system level. These changes also bring new challenges for the HPC I/O teams, since these patterns contain more complex I/O workloads. In this paper we discuss the I/O patterns experienced by emerging analytical codes that rely on machine learning algorithms and highlight the challenges in designing efficient I/O transfers for such workflows. We comment on how to leverage the data access patterns in order to fetch in a more efficient way the required input data in the format and order given by the needs of the application and how to optimize the data path between collaborative processes. We will motivate our work and show performance gains with a study case of medical applications.

Gainaru, Ana↗

HARMONY: Large-Scale Architecture Search for Efficient Hybrid Language Models

As large language models scale to trillions of parameters, their computational and memory requirements present critical challenges for efficient training and deployment. While Mixture of Experts (MoE) architectures enable efficient scaling through sparse parameter activation, and state-space models like Mamba offer linear-time complexity, principled methods for combining these paradigms remain undeveloped. We introduce HARMONY (Hybrid Architecture Research for Mamba, Optimized with Neural efficiencY), a multi-objective evolutionary neural architecture search framework for discovering efficient hybrid language models that integrate Transformer attention mechanisms, Mixture-of-Experts routing, and Mamba state-space components. Through large-scale distributed search using 16,384 MI250X GPUs on the Frontier supercomputer, HARMONY explores a comprehensive design space encompassing six attention variants (MHA, MQA, GQA, MLA, SWA, and Mamba-2), variable MoE configurations with both routed and shared experts, and extensive Mamba hyperparameters. Our framework discovers heterogeneous architectures that balance training performance with computational efficiency through multi-objective optimization incorporating latency penalties and fitness-based selection. Analysis of discovered architectures reveals that optimal hybrid designs favor heterogeneous component mixing rather than homogeneous patterns, with Mamba-2 and Multi-Head Latent Attention (MLA) emerging as preferred mechanisms. Discovered architectures demonstrate superior training efficiency: our best configuration achieves a final perplexity of 1.0874 with 2.38B parameters while processing 4,320 tokens/second, outperforming significantly larger manually designed models. Full-scale evaluation shows HARMONY's top architectures achieve better loss trajectories than equivalently-sized models using state-of-the-art configurations including Mixtral, Jamba, and Samba. Additionally, we demonstrate 91% weak scaling efficiency when training discovered 36B-parameter models across 1,024 GPUs. HARMONY is released as an open framework with comprehensive tools for building and training hybrid models using expert-data-pipeline parallelism, democratizing access to automated architecture design for next-generation language models.

Herron, Emily [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000273008172)↗

An improved architecture for video rate image transformations

Geometric image transformations are of interest to pattern recognition algorithms for their use in simplifying some aspects of the pattern recognition process. Examples include reducing sensitivity to rotation, scale, and perspective of the object being recognized. The NASA Programmable Remapper can perform a wide variety of geometric transforms at full video rate. An architecture is proposed that extends its abilities and alleviates many of the first version's shortcomings. The need for the improvements are discussed in the context of the initial Programmable Remapper and the benefits and limitations it has delivered. The implementation and capabilities of the proposed architecture are discussed.

Fisher, Timothy E.↗

Effects of fabric architectures on mechanical and damage behaviors in carbon/epoxy woven composites under multiaxial stress states

The mechanical properties and damage evolutions of carbon/epoxy woven fabric composites with three different fabric architectures, including one plain weave and two twill weave patterns, are experimentally investigated under multiaxial stress states. In particular, the effects of weave patterns are investigated by monotonic and cyclic off-axis tension tests. Both elastic modulus and strength degrade remarkably with increasing off-axis loading angle, while Poisson's ratio is much higher than that measured from on-axis tests and increases with loading strain gradually. Different fabric architectures show limited effects on the modulus and strength under multiaxial stress states, and they are well predicted by transformation equation and Tsai-Wu failure criteria, respectively. However, significantly different failure behaviors are observed in three fabric composites, and microstructure observation shows that fabric architecture affects the stress concentration and the damage development. Smaller crimp ratio and compacted structure postpone the damage development but result in more abrupt failure under multiaxial stress states.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Polymeric multimaterials by photochemical patterning of crystallinity

An organized combination of stiff and elastic domains within a single material can synergistically tailor bulk mechanical properties. However, synthetic methods to achieve such sophisticated architectures remain elusive. We report a rapid, facile, and environmentally benign method to pattern strong and stiff semicrystalline phases within soft and elastic matrices using stereo-controlled ring-opening metathesis polymerization of an industrial monomer, cis -cyclooctene. Dual polymerization catalysis dictates polyolefin backbone chemistry, which enables patterning of compositionally uniform materials with seamless stiff and elastic interfaces. Visible light–induced activation of a metathesis catalyst results in the formation of semicrystalline trans polyoctenamer rubber, outcompeting the formation of cis polyoctenamer rubber, which occurs at room temperature. This bottom-up approach provides a method for manufacturing polymeric materials with promising applications in soft optoelectronics and robotics.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗