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At least 1,243 records · Page 69

Chemical detection system and related methods

A chemical detection system includes a frame, an emitter coupled to the frame, and a detector coupled to the frame proximate the emitter. The system also includes a shielding system coupled to the frame and positioned at least partially between the emitter and the detector, wherein the frame positions a sensing surface of the detector in a direction substantially parallel to a plane extending along a front portion of the frame. A method of analyzing composition of a suspect object includes directing neutrons at the object, detecting gamma rays emitted from the object, and communicating spectrometer information regarding the gamma rays. The method also includes presenting a GUI to a user with a dynamic status of an ongoing neutron spectroscopy process. The dynamic status includes a present confidence for a plurality of compounds being present in the suspect object responsive to changes in the spectrometer information during the ongoing process.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Anisotropic Thermal and Mechanical Characteristics of Graphene: A Molecular Dynamics Study

In the present work, molecular dynamics simulation has been performed to characterize the thermal and mechanical behavior of graphene sheet. For this purpose, graphene sheet is subjected to dynamic heating process and its melting point has been predicted. Structural and thermal properties have been analyzed using radial distribution function and energy per atom. To analyze factors affecting melting temperature, four graphene sheets with different dimensions have been chosen for the dynamic heating process. The melting temperature of graphene decreases with increase in the sheet dimension, hence graphene sheet having smaller dimensions show relatively better thermal stability. To analyze the mechanical behavior, graphene sheet has been subjected to uniaxial tensile loading along zigzag and armchair directions respectively. It is observed that zigzag-oriented graphene sheet shows high fracture strength and stability as compared to armchair direction. Multilayer graphene sheets have been selected to investigate the effect of multilayers on the mechanical strength. It can be revealed from results that fracture strength decreases with increase in layers, however, brittleness of the sample relatively decreases with increase in a number of graphene layers.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Photoelectric Emission Measurements on the Analogs of Individual Cosmic Dust Grains

The photoelectric emission process is considered to be the dominant mechanism for charging of cosmic dust grains in many astrophysical environments. The grain charge and equilibrium potentials play an important role in the dynamical and physical processes that include heating of the neutral gas in the interstellar medium, coagulation processes in the dust clouds, and levitation and dynamical processes in the interplanetary medium and planetary surfaces and rings. An accurate evaluation of photoelectric emission processes requires knowledge of the photoelectric yields of individual dust grains of astrophysical composition as opposed to the values obtained from measurements on flat surfaces of bulk materials, as it is generally assumed on theoretical considerations that the yields for the small grains are much different from the bulk values. We present laboratory measurements of the photoelectric yields of individual dust grains of silica, olivine, and graphite of approx. 0.09-5 micrometer radii levitated in an electrodynamic balance and illuminated with ultraviolet radiation at 120-160 nm wavelengths. The measured yields are found to be substantially higher than the bulk values given in the literature and indicate a size dependence with larger particles having order-of-magnitude higher values than for submicron-size grains.

Abbas, M. M.↗

Phototelectric Emission Measurements on the Analogs of Individual Cosmic Dust Grains

The photoelectric emission process is considered to be the dominant mechanism for charging of cosmic dust grains in many astrophysical environments. The grain charge and the equilibrium potentials play an important role in the dynamical and physical processes that include heating of the neutral gas in the interstellar medium, coagulation processes in the dust clouds, and levitation and dynamical processes in the interplanetary medium and planetary surfaces and rings. An accurate evaluation of photoelectric emission processes requires knowledge of the photoelectric yields of individual dust grains of astrophysical composition as opposed to the values obtained from measurements on flat surfaces of bulk materials, as it is generally assumed on theoretical considerations that the yields for the small grains are much higher than the bulk values. We present laboratory measurements of the photoelectric yields of individual dust grains of silica, olivine, and graphite of approximately 0.09 to 8 microns radii levitated in an electrodynamic balance and illuminated with W radiation at 120 to 160 nm wavelengths. The measured values and the size dependence of the yields are found to be substantially different from the bulk values given in the literature.

Abbas, Mian M.↗

Extending Newtonian Dynamics to Include Stochastic Processes

A paper presents further results of continuing research reported in several previous NASA Tech Briefs articles, the two most recent being Stochastic Representations of Chaos Using Terminal Attractors (NPO-41519), [Vol. 30, No. 5 (May 2006), page 57] and Physical Principle for Generation of Randomness (NPO-43822) [Vol. 33, No. 5 (May 2009), page 56]. This research focuses upon a mathematical formalism for describing post-instability motions of a dynamical system characterized by exponential divergences of trajectories leading to chaos (including turbulence as a form of chaos). The formalism involves fictitious control forces that couple the equations of motion of the system with a Liouville equation that describes the evolution of the probability density of errors in initial conditions. These stabilizing forces create a powerful terminal attractor in probability space that corresponds to occurrence of a target trajectory with probability one. The effect in configuration space (ordinary three-dimensional space as commonly perceived) is to suppress exponential divergences of neighboring trajectories without affecting the target trajectory. As a result, the post-instability motion is represented by a set of functions describing the evolution of such statistical quantities as expectations and higher moments, and this representation is stable.

Zak, Michail↗

Hyporheic‐Zone Processes and Stream Oxygen Dynamics: Insights From a Multiscale Reactive Transport Model

Aquatic ecosystem metabolism encapsulates the daily fixation (gross primary production, GPP d ) and mineralization (ecosystem respiration, ER d ) of organic carbon. In fluvial systems, these are commonly estimated by inverse solutions to field observations using a model that describes oxygen concentrations varying in the water column in response to metabolic fluxes and air‐water gas exchange controlled by a rate coefficient (K 600 ). The most common conceptual model is the single‐station metabolism (SSM) model. The simplicity and flexibility of this conceptualization make it attractive; however, it implicitly assumes that all the processes that consume oxygen in fluvial systems can be lumped into a bulk estimate of respiration with poorly understood consequences for estimates of GPP d , ER d , and K 600 . Here, we focus on the implications of using SSM conceptualization when estimating metabolic fluxes from oxygen dynamics in channels where hyporheic exchange occurs. We use a new multiscale numerical model for reactive transport in streams that represents hyporheic exchange and streambed heterotrophic respiration. Nondimensionalization of this model reveals dimensionless groups that collectively control oxygen dynamics. Numerical experiments offer a mechanistic understanding of the impacts of hyporheic exchange on diel oxygen dynamics revealing that potential biases arise from neglecting mass transfer limitations. Specifically, we found that hyporheic exchange significantly affects diel oxygen dynamics, even for nonreactive streambed sediments. Moreover, while the SSM performs well in many situations, we find conditions where significant bias is produced by hyporheic exchange, even when oxygen data are well‐fitted. These situations pose a major challenge in the interpretation of metabolism assessment estimates.

Gomez‐Velez, Jesus D. [Oak Ridge National Laborato↗

Examination of the magnetism dynamics from intermixing effects in γ-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}/MnO core-shell nanoparticles

We have examined the effects of core-shell intermixing on the dynamical magnetism of γ-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}/MnO nanoparticles. The core and shell phases were identified using x-ray diffraction, and x-ray absorption spectroscopy identified Mn ions in both octahedral and tetrahedral sites, consistent with a significant amount of substitution at the core-shell interface to form an Fe/Mn-ferrite. The dynamical response was probed by Mössbauer spectroscopy, which decouples surface and core spins, and suggested a change in the relaxation behaviour among the spin populations within γ-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}/MnO relative to the γ-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} seed particles. Interestingly, the magnetic relaxation effects at the atomic scale, measured via Mössbauer spectroscopy, were enhanced, indicating that the addition of an MnO shell and intermixing affected the dynamical freezing process which altered the surface magnetism of the γ-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} core. Our results show that both the MnO shell and the interfacial intermixed layer are important in determining the core-shell nanoparticle magnetism.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Comparison of pitch rate history effects on dynamic stall

Dynamic stall of an airfoil is a classic case of forced unsteady separated flow. Flow separation is brought about by large incidences introduced by the large amplitude unsteady pitching motion of an airfoil. One of the parameters that affects the dynamic stall process is the history of the unsteady motion. In addition, the problem is complicated by the effects of compressibility that rapidly appear over the airfoil even at low Mach numbers at moderately high angles of attack. Consequently, it is of interest to know the effects of pitch rate history on the dynamic stall process. This abstract compares the results of a flow visualization study of the problem with two different pitch rate histories, namely, oscillating airfoil motion and a linear change in the angle of attack due to a transient pitching motion.

Chandrasekhara, M. S.↗

Nonlinear structural response using adaptive dynamic relaxation on a massively-parallel-processing system

A parallel adaptive dynamic relaxation (ADR) algorithm has been developed for nonlinear structural analysis. This algorithm has minimal memory requirements, is easily parallelizable and scalable to many processors, and is generally very reliable and efficient for highly nonlinear problems. Performance evaluations on single-processor computers have shown that the ADR algorithm is reliable and highly vectorizable, and that it is competitive with direct solution methods for the highly nonlinear problems considered. The present algorithm is implemented on the 512-processor Intel Touchstone DELTA system at Caltech, and it is designed to minimize the extent and frequency of interprocessor communication. The algorithm has been used to solve for the nonlinear static response of two and three dimensional hyperelastic systems involving contact. Impressive relative speedups have been achieved and demonstrate the high scalability of the ADR algorithm. For the class of problems addressed, the ADR algorithm represents a very promising approach for parallel-vector processing.

Oakley, David R.↗

Comprehensive experimental investigation on biomass-glass beads binary fluidization: A data set for CFD model validation

Fluidization behavior of biomass and glass beads binary mixtures in a bubbling fluidized bed was experimentally investigated. Mixtures containing different mass fraction of Loblolly Pine white wood and glass beads were fluidized at different fluidization velocities. The particle properties were characterized in a QICPIC that uses a dynamic image processing method to measure both particle size and sphericity. The minimum fluidization velocity was determined using the pressure drop method. An image processing method was developed to capture the dynamic expanded bed height at a very high frequency. The effect of biomass mass fraction and inlet gas velocity on mixing and segregation behavior was studied and analyzed through pressure drop measurements. Pressure drop fluctuations and expanded bed height fluctuations via fast Fourier transform were analyzed and compared. Here, the complete and accurate experimental data reported in this study could provide a benchmark data set for various computational fluid dynamics models validation, calibration, and identification.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Delineating magnetization dynamics in solution-processed doped yttrium iron garnet thin films

Here, in this work, thin films of ruthenium-doped and cerium-doped yttrium iron garnet were deposited on silicon using solgel chemistry. Doped YIG could be produced in phase pure form up to a precursor stoichiometry of Y 3 Ru 0.1 Fe 4.9 O 12 and Ce 0.7 Y 2.3 Fe 5 O 12 . Both dopants significantly increase the coercivity and anisotropy field of the materials either due to domain wall pinning or increased spin–orbit coupling from the dopant. To delineate these two effects, the dynamic magnetic properties were studied using strip line ferromagnetic resonance (FMR). The FMR linewidth was separated into intrinsic loss and inhomogeneous line broadening. Inhomogeneous line broadening was found to dominate the magnetic losses in all the films likely due to magnon scattering off grain boundaries, but the Gilbert damping remained fairly low. By comparing the two dopants, it was found that Gilbert damping increased more in Ce:YIG films than in Ru:YIG films. This finding was corroborated by changes in the anisotropy field of the films, indicating a larger contribution from spin–orbit coupling from cerium than from ruthenium. Surprisingly, while magnetic loss globally increased with higher substitution, adding a small amount of dopant actually reduced the inhomogeneous line broadening in both sets of films. This was corroborated by crystallite size. The damping in Ru:YIG also decreased with a small amount of the dopant, which has been predicted by Kittel for doped garnets. Thus, it follows that there is an ideal doping regime where solgel YIG can be doped at low levels without increasing magnetic loss.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

The effects of type of knowledge upon human problem solving in a process control task

The question of what the operator of a dynamic system needs to know was investigated in an experiment using PLANT, a simulation of a generic dynamic production process. Knowledge of PLANT was manipulated via different types of instruction, so that four different groups were created: (1) minimal instructions only; (2) minimal instructions and guidelines for operation (procedures); (3) minimal instructions and dynamic relationships (principles); and (4) minimal instructions, and procedures, and principles. Subjects controlled PLANT in a variety of situations which required maintaining production while also diagnosing familiar and unfamiliar failures. Despite the fact that these manipulations resulted in differences in subjects' Knowledge, as assessed via a written test at the end of the experiment, instructions had no effect upon achievement of the primary goal of production, or upon subjects' ability to diagnose unfamiliar failures. However, those groups receiving procedures controlled the system in a more stable manner. Possible reasons for the failure to find an effect of principles are presented, and the implications of these results for operator training and aiding are discussed.

Morris, N. M.↗

Parallel point defect identification in molecular dynamics simulations without post-processing: A compute and dump style for LAMMPS

Two classes for the molecular dynamics program LAMMPS – one compute style and one dump style – are presented that are designed to identify, count, and output point defects in cascade damage and related molecular dynamics simulations. The calculations are done in parallel across multiple MPI processes, and can be done at the same time as the original simulation. This drastically reduces storage requirements by eliminating the need to post-process every atom in the system. Non-cubic lattices, free surfaces, and large voids can be eliminated from the output by suitable choices of the reference lattice. The classes are derived from LAMMPS’s Dump and Compute classes, and pose no additional overhead to LAMMPS if they are not used.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Quantitative Mapping of Nanoscale Chemical Dynamics in Sub-sampled Operando (S)TEM Images Using Spatio-Temporal Analytics

One of the main limitations in the use of operando scanning transmission electron microscopes to study dynamic chemical processes is the effect of the electron beam on the kinetics of the reaction being observed. Here we demonstrate that a flexible Gaussian mixture model can be used to extract quantitative information directly from sub-sampled images, i.e.~images where not all the pixels in the image are illuminated with the beam. The use of this method is demonstrated for the charge/discharge cycle of a Li-battery, where the deposition and dissolution of Li at the anode can be accurately quantified for sub-sampling levels down to 1%. Performing operando imaging using a small fraction of the pixels means that the observations can significantly reduce the effect of the beam, automatically increase the imaging speed and decrease the total data transfer rate required. Such new software capabilities offer the potential to significantly widen the application of operando hardware approaches to study nanoscale dynamics in materials.

Stanfill, Bryan A.↗

Nonlinear dynamics of three-magnon process driven by ferromagnetic resonance in yttrium iron garnet

We report an investigation of the dynamics of the three-magnon splitting process associated with the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) in films of the insulating ferrimagnet yttrium iron garnet (YIG). The experiments are performed with a 6 μm thick YIG film close to a microstrip line fed by a microwave generator operating in the 2–6 GHz range. The magnetization precession is driven by the microwave rf magnetic field perpendicular to the static magnetic field, and its dynamics is observed by monitoring the amplitude of the FMR absorption peak. The time evolution of the amplitude reveals that if the frequency is lowered below a critical value of 3.3 GHz, the FMR mode pumps two magnons with opposite wave vectors that react back on the FMR, resulting in a nonlinear dynamics of the magnetization. The results are explained by a model with coupled nonlinear equations describing the time evolution of the magnon modes.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Laboratory and field studies of ice-nucleating particles from open-lot livestock facilities in Texas

Abstract. In this work, an abundance of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) from livestock facilities was studied through laboratory measurements from cloud-simulation chamber experiments and field investigation in the Texas Panhandle. Surface materials from two livestock facilities, one in the Texas Panhandle and another from McGregor, Texas, were selected as dust proxies for laboratory analyses. These two samples possessed different chemical and biological properties. A combination of aerosol interaction and dynamics in the atmosphere (AIDA) measurements and offline ice spectrometry was used to assess the immersion freezing mode ice nucleation ability and efficiency of these proxy samples at temperatures above −29 ∘C. A dynamic filter processing chamber was also used to complement the freezing efficiencies of submicron and supermicron particles collected from the AIDA chamber. For the field survey, periodic ambient particle sampling took place at four commercial livestock facilities from July 2017 to July 2019. INP concentrations of collected particles were measured using an offline freezing test system, and the data were acquired for temperatures between −5 and −25 ∘C. Our AIDA laboratory results showed that the freezing spectra of two livestock dust proxies exhibited higher freezing efficiency than previously studied soil dust samples at temperatures below −25 ∘C. Despite their differences in composition, the freezing efficiencies of both proxy livestock dust samples were comparable to each other. Our dynamic filter processing chamber results showed on average approximately 50 % supermicron size dominance in the INPs of both dust proxies. Thus, our laboratory findings suggest the importance of particle size in immersion freezing for these samples and that the size might be a more important factor for immersion freezing of livestock dust than the composition. From a 3-year field survey, we measured a high concentration of ambient INPs of 1171.6 ± 691.6 L−1 (average ± standard error) at −25 ∘C for aerosol particles collected at the downwind edges of livestock facilities. An obvious seasonal variation in INP concentration, peaking in summer, was observed, with the maximum at the same temperature exceeding 10 000 L−1 on 23 July 2018. The observed high INP concentrations suggest that a livestock facility is a substantial source of INPs. The INP concentration values from our field survey showed a strong correlation with measured particulate matter mass concentration, which supports the importance of size in ice nucleation of particles from livestock facilities.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Upconverting Nanoparticles as Optical Sensors of Nano- to Micro-Newton Forces

Mechanical forces affect a myriad of processes, from bone growth to material fracture to touch-responsive robotics. While nano- to micro-Newton forces are prevalent at the microscopic scale, few methods have the nanoscopic size and signal stability to measure them in vivo or in situ. Here, we develop an optical force-sensing platform based on sub-25 nm NaYF 4 nanoparticles (NPs) doped with Yb 3+ , Er 3+ , and Mn 2+ . The lanthanides Yb 3+ and Er 3+ enable both photoluminescence and upconversion, while the energetically coupled d-metal Mn 2+ adds force tunability through its crystal field sensitivity. IN using a diamond anvil cell to exert up to 3.5 GPa pressure or ~10 μN force per particle, we track stress-induced spectral responses. The red (660 nm) to green (520, 540 nm) emission ratio varies linearly with pressure, yielding an observed color change from orange to red for α-NaYF 4 and from yellow–green to green for d-metal optimized β-NaYF 4 when illuminated in the near infrared. We record consistent readouts over multiple pressure cycles and hours of illumination. With the nanoscopic size, a dynamic range of 100 nN to 10 μN, and photostability, these nanoparticles lay the foundation for visualizing dynamic mechanical processes, such as stress propagation in materials and force signaling in organisms.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗