Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “GROUP BEHAVIOR”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 109 records · Page 6

Astronaut Demographic Database: Everything You Want to Know About Astronauts and More

A wealth of information regarding the astronaut population is available that could be especially useful to researchers. However, until now, it has been difficult to obtain that information in a systematic way. Therefore, this "astronaut database" began as a way for researchers within the Behavioral Health and Performance Group to keep track of the ever growing astronaut corps population. Before our effort, compilation of such data could be found, but not in a way that was easily acquired or accessible. One would have to use internet search engines, read through lengthy and potentially inaccurate informational sites, or read through astronaut biographies compiled by NASA. Astronauts are a unique class of individuals and, by examining such information, which we dubbed "Demographics," we hoped to find some commonalities that may be useful for other research areas and future research topics. By organizing the information pertaining to astronauts1 in a formal, unified catalog, we believe we have made the information more easily accessible, readily useable, and user friendly. Our end goal is to provide this database to others as a highly functional resource within the research community. Perhaps the database can eventually be an official, published document for researchers to gain full access.

Keeton, Kathryn↗

Co-Operative Advances in Behavioral Health and Performance Research and Operations

In organizations that engage in both operations and applied research, with operational needs guiding research questions and research informing improved operations, the ideal goal is a synergy of ideas and information. In reality, this ideal synergy is often lacking. Real-time operational needs driving day-to-day decisions, lack of communication, lag time in getting research advances plugged into operations can cause both areas to suffer from this gap between operations and research. At Johnson Space Center, the Behavior Health and Performance group (BHP) strives to bridge this gap by following a Human Research Program framework: Expectations of future operational needs identify the knowledge gaps; the gaps in turn guide research leading to a product that is transitioned into operations. Thus, the direction those of us in research take is in direct response to current and future needs of operations. Likewise, those of us in operations actively seek knowledge that is supported by evidence-based research. We make an ongoing effort to communicate across the research and operations gap by working closely with each other and making a conscious effort to keep each other informed. The objective of the proposed panel discussion is to demonstrate through the following presentations the results of a successful collaboration between research and operations and to provide ASMA members with more practical knowledge and strategies for building these bridges to serve our field of practice well. The panel will consist of six presenters from BHP operations, internal BHP research, and external research instigated by BHP who together represent the entire BHP Research Transition to Operations Framework

VanderArk, Stephen T.↗

NASA's Astronant Family Support Office

During the NASA‐Mir program of the 1990s and due to the challenges inherent in the International Space Station training schedule and operations tempo, it was clear that a special focus on supporting families was a key to overall mission success for the ISS crewmembers pre‐, in‐ and post‐flight. To that end, in January 2001 the first Family Services Coordinator was hired by the Behavioral Health and Performance group at NASA JSC and matrixed from Medical Operations into the Astronaut Office's organization. The initial roles and responsibilities were driven by critical needs, including facilitating family communication during training deployments, providing mission‐specific and other relevant trainings for spouses, serving as liaison for families with NASA organizations such as Medical Operations, NASA management and the Astronaut Office, and providing assistance to ensure success of an Astronaut Spouses Group. The role of the Family Support Office (FSO) has modified as the ISS Program matured and the needs of families changed. The FSO is currently an integral part of the Astronaut Office's ISS Operations Branch. It still serves the critical function of providing information to families, as well as being the primary contact for US and international partner families with resources at JSC. Since crews launch and return on Russian vehicles, the FSO has the added responsibility for coordinating with Flight Crew Operations, the families, and their guests for Soyuz launches, landings, and Direct Return to Houston post‐flight. This presentation will provide a summary of the family support services provided for astronauts, and how they have changed with the Program and families the FSO serves. Considerations for future FSO services will be discussed briefly as NASA proposes one year missions and beyond ISS missions. Learning Objective: 1) Obtain an understanding of the reasons a Family Support Office was important for NASA. 2) Become familiar with the services provided for astronauts and their families and how they changed with the Program and family needs.

Beven, Gary↗

High-Energy Pulsar Models: Developments and New Questions

The past few years have seen a major advance in observational knowledge of high-energy (HE) pulsars. The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) and AGILE have increased the number of known gamma-ray pulsars by an order of magnitude, its members being divided roughly equally among millisecond pulsars (MSPs), young radio-loud pulsars, and young radio-quiet pulsars. Many new and diverse emission characteristics are being measured, while radio and X-ray follow-up observations increase the pulsar detection rate and enrich our multiwavelength picture of these extreme sources. The wealth of new data has provided impetus for further development and improvement of existing theoretical pulsar models. Geometric light curve (LC) modelling has uncovered three broad classes into which HE pulsars fall: those where the radio profile leads, is aligned with, or lags the gamma-ray profile. For example, the original MSP and original black widow system are members of the second class, requiring co-located emission regions and thereby breaking with traditional notions of radio emission origin. These models imply narrow accelerator gaps in the outer magnetosphere, indicating copious pair production even in MSP magnetospheres that were previously thought to be pair-starved. The increased quality and variety of the LCs necessitate construction of ever more sophisticated models. We will review progress in global magnetosphere solutions which specify a finite conductivity on field lines above the stellar surface, filling the gap between the standard vacuum and force-free (FF; plasma-filled) models. The possibility of deriving phase-resolved spectra for the brightest pulsars, coupled with the fact that the HE pulsar population is sizable enough to allow sampling of various pulsar geometries, will enable much more stringent testing of future radiation models. Reproduction of the observed phase-resolved behavior of this disparate group will be one of the next frontiers in pulsar science, impacting on our understanding of particle acceleration, emission, and magnetosphere geometry. One may now also study evolutionary trends of the measured or inferred quantities, and probe pulsar visibility and population properties such as radiation beam sizes of different pulsar classes, as well as the distribution of spin-down power, gamma-ray luminosity, conversion efficiency, spectral index, and cutoff energy across the population. Lastly, the recent detection of very-high-energy (VHE) pulsations from the Crab pulsar generated quite a few ideas to explain this emission, leading to an extension of standard models and possibly even a bridge between the physics of pulsars and pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe).

gamma rays:↗

Re-187-Os-187, Pt-190-Os-186 Isotopic and Highly Siderophile Element Systematics of Group IVA Irons

We have recently completed Re-187-Os-187 and Pt-190-Os-186 isotopic and elemental studies of the two largest magmatic iron meteorite groups, IIAB and IIIAB [1]. These studies revealed closed-system behavior of both isotopic systems, but complex trace element behavior for Re, Pt and Os in group IIIAB. Here we examine isotopic and trace elemental systematics of group IVA irons. The IVA irons are not as extensively fractionated as IIAB and IIIAB and their apparently less complex crystallization history may make for more robust interpretation of the relative partitioning behavior of Re, Pt and Os, as well as the other highly siderophile elements (HSE) measured here; Pd, Ru and Ir [e.g. 2]. An additional goal of our continuing research plan for iron meteorites is to assess the possibility of relating certain ungrouped irons with major groups via trace element modeling. Here, the isotopic and trace element systematics of the ungrouped irons Nedagolla and EET 83230 are compared with the IVA irons.

Walker, R. J.↗

Performance Data Report: Space Medicine Division, Human Research Program, Behavioural Health and Performance Research Element

This report is the result of a collaborative effort between NASA?s Behavioral Health & Performance (BHP) Research and Operations Group to investigate and determine the availability of data pertaining to behavioral performance (and other pertinent variables) that have been collected by the laboratories at NASA?s Johnson Space Center. BHP?s Operations and Research groups collaborated to systematically identify what types of performance data are needed in relevant BHP performance domains and also to conduct structured interviews with NASA personnel to identify which data do or do not exist currently (and for instances where such data exist, to evaluate the type, quality, accessibility, and confidentiality of those data). The authors defined outcome categories of performance that encapsulate BHP performance domains, mapped BHP Research Risks and Gaps onto those performance outcome categories, and identified and prioritized indicators for each outcome category. The team identified key points of contact (subject matter experts [SMEs]) as potential interviewees, created a template for structured interview questions about sources and accessibility of performance data, and coordinated and conducted structured interviews with the SMEs. The methodology, results, and implications of this effort, as well as forward work needed, are discussed in this report.

Shea, Camille↗

Measuring Unique Contextual Factors: Group Living Skills

BACKGROUND The Human Factors and Behavioral Performance Exploration Measures (HFBP-EM) suite is a set of standardized measures used to assess behavioral health and performance risks related to future exploration-class space missions. During the HFBP-EM suite development, the importance of assessing unique contextual factors to understand the drivers of team dynamics was identified. Group living skills are a unique workplace skill which applies to those coworkers who live and work together. As mission lengths become longer, the line between work and non-work life may blur. Extreme living conditions such as spaceflight can result in increased stress over time, negatively impact mood and well-being, decrease team cohesion and increase conflict, deteriorate task performance, and potentially reduce mission success [1]. With no breaks in their isolated and confined environment possible, living with a messy, inconsiderate crewmember can add to the stress. Alternatively, crews with good group living skills may support one another, mitigating the negative effects of the extreme environment. There was no direct measure of group living skills. This work sought to fill this measurement gap and collect data related to group living in isolated, confined, extreme (ICE) environments. METHODS Group living skills as an astronaut competency area were developed with the input of experts familiar with ICE environments. Distinct aspects of this competency were reviewed and discussed by a NASA-invited group of spaceflight experts in 2015 to identify individual and team behavioral health and performance measures for operational environments. This work resulted in a 5-item measure focused on group living experiences with each crewmember (or the crew as a whole). A 6th item asks whether an individual would go on another mission with a particular crewmember or crew as a measure of future-oriented group living, or team viability. The measure was deployed in 24 teams living and working together in isolated and confined environments (e.g., International Space Station, space mission simulation analogs). RESULTS & DISCUSSION In this presentation, we will summarize results which indicate the Group Living Skills (GLS) Survey is a reliable, valid, and operationally feasible measure. Reliability was evaluated in several ways. Two-way multilevel mixed models revealed strong repeated measures reliability (ICC2 = .902, Omega between = .954). Reliability of change within teams was strong (Rc = .81). Factor analysis showed a consistent two-factor structure when individuals rated either the whole crew, all individuals, just peers, or a focal roommate. The latter used a sociometric approach to rating the GLS of the roommates. The two factors were tidiness and being considerate of others. We assessed the criterion-related validity of GLS, by examining GLS operationalized as the team-level aggregated GLS Survey scores as a predictor of team viability, team cohesion, and team performance. We used generalized mixed models to account for the repeated measures and longitudinal data. The marginal R2 change was used to determine the extent to which GLS were related to the team outcomes while controlling for mission day and campaign. Results suggested GLS was strongly related to team viability (marginal R2 change = .40), team cohesion (marginal R2 change = 0.28), social cohesion (marginal R2 change = 0.25), and moderately related to task cohesion (marginal R2 change = 0.18). GLS scores had a small relationship with team performance (marginal R2 change = .08). Results support GLS as a measure that can be used to capture group living skills of crews who live and work together in ICE. Because the items were written to be broadly applicable, less extreme environments with teams living and working together for some length of time also benefit from this measure (e.g., college roommates, camps). See Landon et al. (2024) for full results [2]. SUMMARY We report reliability and validity evidence for a new measure that assesses the Group Living Skills for teams that live and work in operational environments such as spaceflight.

J C W Miller↗

Annual Cycle of Planetary Boundary Layer Heights estimated from NOAA Profiler Network Data

The Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) height over the Unites States Great and Central Plains during 1992-2012 is examined here using a combination of Wind Profiler-derived (WP) PBL height estimates and reanalysis fields from the Modern Era Retrospective Reanalysis Version 2 (MERRA-2). The combined analysis allows process study of the reasons behind the monthly mean behavior of the observed PBL heights under clear-sky conditions as well as the PBL height variability. WP PBL height monthly mean annual cycles were grouped into general categories of behavior, each analyzed using MERRA-2 fields of sensible and latent heat flux, surface temperature, net radiation and soil moisture. In the ’canonical’ category the latent heat plays little role in the determination of the monthly mean PBL height, and it follows the annual cycle of the net radiation. In the other categories, precipitation and latent heat flux had more influence in setting the annual cycle. An analysis of variance revealed that the role of latent heat in determining the PBL height variations is large (explaining up to 40% of PBL height variability) even in the ’canonical’ category for which latent heat played no role in setting the monthly mean. In other categories the latent heat explained up to 80% of the PBL height variations. The amount of that influence is shown to be related to the variability of column soil moisture.

MERRA-2↗

Renormalization Group Tutorial

Complex physical systems sometimes have statistical behavior characterized by power- law dependence on the parameters of the system and spatial variability with no particular characteristic scale as the parameters approach critical values. The renormalization group (RG) approach was developed in the fields of statistical mechanics and quantum field theory to derive quantitative predictions of such behavior in cases where conventional methods of analysis fail. Techniques based on these ideas have since been extended to treat problems in many different fields, and in particular, the behavior of turbulent fluids. This lecture will describe a relatively simple but nontrivial example of the RG approach applied to the diffusion of photons out of a stellar medium when the photons have wavelengths near that of an emission line of atoms in the medium.

Bell, Thomas L.↗

Molecular Design of Al(II) Intermediates for Small Molecule Activation

Promoting societally important small molecule activation processes with earth-abundant metals is foundational for a sustainable chemistry future. In this context, mapping new reaction pathways that would enable abundant main-group elements to mimic the behaviors of d- and f-block elements is facilitated by exploring unusual oxidation states. The most abundant metal on earth, aluminum, has been well studied in the Lewis acidic +III and Lewis basic +I oxidation states but rarely in the potentially biphilic +II oxidation state until recently, when a renaissance of Al(II) chemistry emerged from a range of research groups. In this Perspective, we review the chemistry of mononuclear Al radicals, including both Al-centered radicals (i.e., Al(II) compounds) and redox non-innocent systems (i.e., formally Al(II) species that are physically Al(III) with ligand-centered radicals), with an emphasis on small molecule reactivity. We also provide a meta-analysis of the Al(II) literature to summarize how different design strategies (e.g., redox non-innocence, strained coordination geometries) have been shown to impart biphilic character to Al radicals and tune their behavior, thus allowing Al radicals to mimic the chemistry of certain d- and f-block metal ions such as Ti(III) and Sm(II). We expect these molecular design concepts to inform future Al(II) studies as the chemistry of this unusual oxidation state of Al continues to grow.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Behavioral analyses of killifish exposed to weightlessness in the Apollo-Soyuz test project

Two groups of killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus, which were flown aboard Apollo-Soyuz, were subjected to postflight behavioral testing. The first group examined consisted of a graded series of embryos representing key developmental stages at orbital insertion (32-h, 66-h, and 128-h stages; pre-liftoff fertilization times). The tests revealed that the young adults from the flight 32-h stage had a significantly decreased positive geotaxis and increased negative phototaxis when compared with ground controls. These findings suggested a greater sensitization of the least-developed flight stage to post-hatching environmental influences. The second group consisted of 21-d old juveniles which were subjected to light orientation tests soon after recovery. No significant differences were detected.

Hoffman, R. B.↗

Chemical Functional Groups Regulate Ion Concentrations and pHs in Nanopores

Understanding ion behaviors in functionalized nanopores is essential to deciphering reactions in both natural and engineered systems, such as sediments, biological ion channels, and membranes. While many efforts have shown the modified ion behaviors in the functionalized nanopores, a direct measurement and analysis to show how chemical functional groups affect ion concentrations in nanopores are critically needed. In this work, we present a plasmonic nanosensor that can measure the local concentrations of protons, anions (phosphate, nitrate, sulfate, and arsenate), and cations (mercury, lead, and copper) in functionalized nanopores, and we compare their concentrations in nanopores with the corresponding bulk concentrations. Notably, chemical functional groups induced ion concentrations differently in nanopores. In pristine nanopores and methyl- and phenyl-functionalized nanopores, we discovered an unexpected concurrence of an enhanced anion concentration and a suppressed cation concentration. In addition, the nanopore pH is dependent on bulk solution compositions and can be lower by 2.5 units, even when the bulk solution is well-buffered. In contrast, for hydrophilic (amine, thiol, and carboxyl) nanopores, pH depended on the p K a of the functional groups, and the heavy metal concentrations depended on chemical interactions with the functional groups. Our findings provide a better understanding of water chemistry in nanopores and can help precisely control ions in nanopores to benefit the design of membrane-based desalination techniques, CO 2 storage, and porous catalysts.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Bifurcations of relative equilibria

The characteristics of equivariant dynamical systems near relative equilibria (RE: group orbits which are invariant in the flow of an equivariant vector field) are investigated analytically, with a focus on the dynamics and bifurcation (B) behavior. The principles of Lie-group theory are reviewed; the decomposition of the vector field is explained; and particular attention is given to the Bs of RE occurring when an eigenvalue passes through zero, Hopf Bs of RE, the classification of generic secondary steady-state and Hopf Bs with symmetry group O(2), Bs of the zero solution of the Kuramoto-Shivashinsky equation, and possible generic steady-state Bs in the two-dimensional Benard problem. In the latter case, it is shown that the primary generic Bs are to two types of equilibria (hexagons and rolls), while the secondary Bs result in trajectories which are either equilibria or rotating waves.

Krupa, Martin↗

Coherency-Aware Learning Control of Inverter-Dominated Grids: A Distributed Risk-Constrained Approach

Here, this letter investigates the importance of integrating the coherency knowledge for designing controllers to dampen sustained oscillations in wide-area power networks with significant penetration of inverter-interfaced resources. Coherency is a fundamental property of power systems, where time-scale separation in frequency dynamics leads to clustered behavior among generators of different groups. Large-scale penetration of inverter-driven low inertia resources replacing conventional synchronous generators (SGs) can lead to perturbation in the coherent partitioning; hence, integrating such information is of utmost importance for oscillation control designs. We present the coherency-aware design of a distributed output feedback-based reinforcement learning method that additionally incorporates risk constraints to capture the uncertainties related to net-load fluctuations. The use of domain-aware coherency information has produced improved training and oscillation performance than the coherency-agnostic control design, hence proving to be effective in controller design. Finally, we validated the proposed method with numerical experiments on the benchmark IEEE 68-bus test system.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

BAMCensus (The Behavior and Advanced Mobility Census Dataset Aggregator) [SWR-25-120]

This software is a high-performance tool developed in Rust for downloading and processing large-scale geospatial datasets, specifically focusing on US Census data. It is designed to address scaling limitations found in existing tools, such as R's [tidycensus](https://walker-data.com/tidycensus/), by providing performant streaming dataset JOIN operations between various US Census datasets (like ACS and LEHD) and their corresponding geometries stored on the TIGER/Lines web server. The tool automates the process of joining these data sources, returning aggregated data to the user based on a specified census GEOID type. The tool automates the process of joining these data sources, returning aggregated data to the user based on a specified census GEOID type. Its primary motivation stems from the need for a high-performance solution to combine spatial datasets with graph traversals within the context of mobility analysis tooling being developed at NREL's Behavior and Advanced Mobility (BAM) group.

Fitzgerald, Robert [National Renewable Energy Labo↗

1994 SEMCOG Household-Based Person Trip Survey

The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments contracted with the Applied Management & Planning Group to conduct a travel behavior survey of 7,361 households from March 28, 1994, to June 10, 1994. The primary purpose of this study was to provide the council with a new database of travel behavior to assist in updating the region's transportation models. This data collection includes demographic, socioeconomic, travel, and mobile source emissions models for projecting future patterns of development, travel, congestion, and air pollution. Information about household characteristics and travel was collected using a one-day, activity-focused diary and a separate household survey. In an activity diary, respondents recorded 65,535 trips during the assigned the day.

1Hz data↗

STABILITY OF FILM BOILING TWO-PHASE FLOW IN CRYOGENIC SYSTEMS

The stability of film boiling two phase flow is investigated referring in particular to saturated cryogenic liquids. This type of fluid motion is unstable, such that a range of wave numbers will always be present in which disturbances are amplified. Further the mode of operation of the energy supply system may favour temperature fluctuations of large amplitude if the circuit does not provide feed-back compensation. The theoretically predicted stabilization due to capillarity is reduced considerably in liquefied gases with low surface tension, such as hydrogen. This effect causes the transition to turbulent flow to occur at low Reynolds numbers, and increases the heat transport in the turbulent regime. A comparison with experimental data, (horizontal cylinder), shows that the "critical" film Reynolds number ūδ/𝜈, at which instabilities become effective, is lowered from approximately 200, (O2), to about 30, (H2). Similar results have been found with other configurations. Therefore application of laminar film boiling solutions is restricted to small objects, entrance regions, or stagnation points. Turbulent correlations given so far are valid only for a certain group of substances with similar behavior.

LIQUID FLOW↗

A study comparing several isocyanate and isothiocyanate derivatives of Porasil C for the separation of lower hydrocarbons by GC

Several isocyanate and isothiocyanate derivatives of Porasil C were synthesized and evaluated for the separation of the low-molecular-weight saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons. It was shown that different functional groups significantly affect the retention behavior of the more polar unsaturated hydrocarbons, and that reproducible results can be obtained if dry carrier gas is used.

Pollock, G. E.↗