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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 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Computational models of direct and indirect X‐ray breast imaging detectors for in silico trials

Abstract Background To facilitate in silico studies that investigate digital mammography (DM) and breast tomosynthesis (DBT), models replicating the variety in imaging performance of the DM and DBT systems, observed across manufacturers are needed. Purpose The main purpose of this work is to develop generic physics models for direct and indirect detector technology used in commercially available systems, with the goal of making them available open source to manufacturers to further tweak and develop the exact in silico replicas of their systems. Methods We recently reported on an in silico version of the SIEMENS Mammomat Inspiration DM/DBT system using an open‐source GPU‐accelerated Monte Carlo x‐ray imaging simulation code (MC‐GPU). We build on the previous version of the MC‐GPU codes to mimic the imaging performances of two other Food and Drug Administration (FDA)‐approved DM/DBT systems, such as Hologic Selenia Dimensions (HSD) and the General Electric Senographe Pristina (GSP) systems. In this work, we developed a hybrid technique to model the optical spread and signal crosstalk observed in the GSP and HSD systems. MC simulations are used to track each x‐ray photon till its first interaction within the x‐ray detector. On the other hand, the signal spread in the x‐ray detectors is modeled using previously developed analytical equations. This approach allows us to preserve the modeling accuracy offered by MC methods in the patient body, while speeding up secondary carrier transport (either electron–hole pairs or optical photons) using analytical equations in the detector. The analytical optical spread model for the indirect detector includes the depth‐dependent spread and collection of optical photons and relies on a pre‐computed set of point response functions that describe the optical spread as a function of depth. To understand the capabilities of the computational x‐ray detector models, we compared image quality metrics like modulation transfer function (MTF), normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS), and detective quantum efficiency (DQE), simulated with our models against measured data. Please note that the purpose of these comparisons with measured data would be to gauge if the model developed as part of this work could replicate commercially used direct and indirect technology in general and not to achieve perfect fits with measured data. Results We found that the simulated image quality metrics such as MTF, NNPS, and DQE were in reasonable agreement with experimental data. To demonstrate the imaging performance of the three DM/DBT systems, we integrated the detector models with the VICTRE pipeline and simulated DM images of a fatty breast model containing a spiculated mass and a calcium oxalate cluster. In general, we found that the images generated using the indirect model appeared more blurred with a different noise texture and contrast as compared to the systems with direct detectors. Conclusions We have presented computational models of three commercially available FDA‐approved DM/DBT systems, which implement both direct and indirect detector technology. The updated versions of the MC‐GPU codes that can be used to replicate three systems are available in open source format through GitHub.

Sengupta, Aunnasha↗
DOE OSTI2025

A framework for challenges and solutions in biodesign research

The bioeconomy represents an advanced economic paradigm that builds upon previous agricultural, industrial, and digital economic models. It seeks to tackle critical global challenges such as resource scarcity, escalating healthcare demands, and environmental degradation. At the heart of the bioeconomy is biomanufacturing, which uses natural or engineered enzymes or cell factories built from ​biological components like promoters, terminators, regulatory sequences, reporters, and functional genes into various chassis hosts (including animal, microbial, plant, and de novo systems) to create products such as food, energy, medicine, materials, chemicals, and engineered tissue/organs. An enabler of biomanufacturing is biodesign – also known as biosystems design and closely related to synthetic biology or engineering biology. This interdisciplinary field aims to understand and predictably modify existing life forms or create entirely new biological entities/systems using rational engineering strategies and automated design tools. Through these capabilities, biodesign supports the discovery, optimization, and creation of efficient platforms for biomanufacturing.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Increasing phosphorus loss despite widespread concentration decline in US rivers

The loss of phosphorous (P) from the land to aquatic systems has polluted waters and threatened food production worldwide. Systematic trend analysis of P, a nonrenewable resource, has been challenging, primarily due to sparse and inconsistent historical data. Here, we leveraged intensive hydrometeorological data and the recent renaissance of deep learning approaches to fill data gaps and reconstruct temporal trends. We trained a multitask long short-term memory model for total P (TP) using data from 430 rivers across the contiguous United States (CONUS). Trend analysis of reconstructed daily records (1980–2019) shows widespread decline in concentrations, with declining, increasing, and insignificantly changing trends in 60%, 28%, and 12% of the rivers, respectively. Concentrations in urban rivers have declined the most despite rising urban population in the past decades; concentrations in agricultural rivers however have mostly increased, suggesting not-as-effective controls of nonpoint sources in agriculture lands compared to point sources in cities. TP loss, calculated as fluxes by multiplying concentration and discharge, however exhibited an overall increasing rate of 6.5% per decade at the CONUS scale over the past 40 y, largely due to increasing river discharge. Results highlight the challenge of reducing TP loss that is complicated by changing river discharge in a warming climate.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
DOE OSTI2021

Monitoring and Enhancing Plant Productivity

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory are developing extensive capabilities to improve plant drought tolerance; water and nutrient use efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and natural systems. By monitoring plant function, stress responses, water and nutrient use, greenhouse gas emissions, and analyzing rhizosphere and plant microbiomes, results have shown improved plant performance and stress tolerance, production of plant pro- and prebiotics, and ability to control greenhouse gas emissions from indoor and outdoor agricultural systems. We seek a commercialization partner to fund precision agriculture specific research & development (R&D) through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). Our goal is to further research and develop our laboratory scale capabilities with a collaborative partner to achieve two goals: 1) reduce the use of water and fertilization in agricultural systems; and 2) create carbon neutral food and energy technologies to support precision agriculture at commercial scale.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Identifying common stored product insects using automated deep learning methods

Monitoring stored product insect pests is a common practice for post-harvest management of stored grain and grain-based commodities, which helps ensure product quality from harvest to final consumer. Current methods of sampling and monitoring can be time-consuming, labor-intensive, expensive and require expertise in insect identification. Therefore, this study aims to develop an image-based automated identification system for common stored product insect species using deep-learning methods. Top-down images of the common stored product adult insect species of Rhyzopertha dominica, Cryptolestes ferrugineus, Tribolium castaneum, Sitophilus oryzae, and Oryzaephilus surinamensis were acquired and analyzed. Deep learning-based, state-of-the-art Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) models (ResNet-50, MobileNet-v2, DarkNet-53, and EfficientNet-b0) were fine-tuned with a transfer learning approach to classify the insect species. All models were able to correctly identify the insect species with at least 96% accuracy and with few misclassifications. One issue with trained CNNs is that they do not explain the reasoning for the classification and are often called a “black box”. Therefore, visualization methods called Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad-CAM) were implemented to explore the black box network. The Grad-CAM uses heat maps to highlight the major image features that the network focused on to make insect species predictions. The Grad-CAM verifies the network's prediction and also helps improve network performance. This study contributes to the overall goal of developing a camera-based system for monitoring stored grain insects. As a result, the developed system would empower warehouse, flour mills, and other food facilities with a tool to quickly and accurately identify insect species in stored product environments and could be implemented as part of a close to real-time monitoring system.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Simulating Marine Ecosystem Dynamics and Biogeochemical Cycling With Multiple Plankton Functional Types

Current representations of marine ecosystems in Earth System Models are greatly simplified, neglecting key interactions between dynamic food webs, biogeochemistry, and climate change. We use the Marine Biogeochemistry Library code base within the Community Earth System Model 2.2.2 to create an expanded ecosystem model with eight phytoplankton groups and four zooplankton size classes (MARBL-8P4Z). Incorporating more specific plankton types and size classes has the potential to capture a wider range of possible behaviors of the ecosystem, its complex interactions with biogeochemistry, and its feedback to climate change. It also permits stronger observational constraints, including in situ group-specific biomass and various observational estimates of plankton community composition. MARBL-8P4Z broadly captures observed global-scale patterns in biomass and community composition for both phytoplankton and zooplankton, with a good performance in simulating broad biogeochemistry fields. The model shows comparable spatial patterns and magnitudes to the observed picophytoplankton biomass (Prochlorococcus, Synechococcus, picoeukaryotes), and captures the seasonal cycle of mesozooplankton biomass. Picophytoplankton groups and microzooplankton dominate biomass and production in oligotrophic, subtropical regions, while nano-phytoplankton, diatoms and the larger zooplankton groups prevail at higher latitudes and within upwelling zones. The model simulates reasonable energy transfer efficiency through the food web, with tight linkages between the phytoplankton community composition, zooplankton grazing, and carbon export, with the potential to link to fisheries models. Thus, MARBL-8P4Z has the potential to account for key climate-driven ecological shifts in the plankton that will modify ocean biogeochemistry in the future.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Catalyst carbonylation: a hidden, but essential, step in reaction initiation

The proliferation of increasingly useful reactions for hydrogen transfer in organic synthesis has included the introduction of many new homogeneous catalysts into the organic synthesis lexicon. Unlike the proliferation of palladium-based cross-coupling reactions in which the mechanism is generally conserved, we are learning that these emerging hydrogen transfer catalysts have a rich diversity of mechanisms for catalyst activation, speciation, C–H bond cleavage and formation, and ultimately deactivation. We find that an underappreciated commonality in the catalytic activation for some of these systems is the generation of a (carbonyl)metal group, which dominates the downstream speciation of the catalyst system. In this mini-review we highlight a few well-documented cases of this phenomenon as food for thought for those who are designing new catalytic systems to introduce into this dynamic and impactful area.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

High-shade dryland agrivoltaic conditions enhanced carbon uptake and water-use efficiency in zucchini ( Cucurbita pepo )

Introduction: The increasing global demand for food and energy is intensifying land-use competition. Agrivoltaic systems are a multifunctional land-use approach that vertically integrates the production of agricultural crops and solar power on the same land area. Most food crops are adapted to full-sun conditions, and the physiological responses of these crops to the novel microclimate under solar panels remain poorly understood. We hypothesized that the microclimate beneath the high-density photovoltaic system would influence carbon uptake, water use, and yield outcomes of zucchini summer squash.Methods: We conducted a field experiment in a hot, semi-arid climate on zucchini (Cucurbita pepo). Plants were grown under an agrivoltaic system with a 75% ground cover ratio (GCR) and in a full-sun control plot, each with two irrigation regimes (100 and 50%). We measured leaf-level photosynthesis, microclimate variables, and fruit yield at plant maturity and throughout the growing season.Results: The agrivoltaic array reduced photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) by ~79%, resulting in a cooler (−1.1 °C), more humid environment with higher soil moisture. These microclimatic conditions enhanced midday photosynthesis and daily cumulative carbon uptake. However, fruit yield was consistently lower under the panels, indicating a shift in carbon allocation toward vegetative growth. Photosynthesis was primarily driven by PAR across treatments, while soil moisture significantly influenced photosynthesis only in the control plots, suggesting water limitation was alleviated under the panels.Discussion: These findings highlight a trade-off between improved physiological performance and reduced yield under high-density agrivoltaics. While the system buffered heat and drought stress and improved overall plant function, excessive shade reduced reproductive output. Optimizing panel density or selecting crops cultivated for non-fruit yields will be essential for balancing food production and energy generation in dryland agrivoltaic settings.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

FEW questions, many answers: using machine learning to assess how students connect food–energy–water (FEW) concepts

There is growing support and interest in postsecondary interdisciplinary environmental education which integrate concepts and disciplines in addition to providing varied perspectives. There is a need to assess student learning in these programs as well as rigorous evaluation of educational practices, especially of complex synthesis concepts. This work tests a text classification machine learning model as a tool to assess student systems thinking capabilities using two questions anchored by the Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Nexus phenomena by answering two questions (1) Can machine learning models be used to identify instructor-determined important concepts in student responses? (2) What do college students know about the interconnections between food, energy and water, and how have students assimilated systems thinking into their constructed responses about FEW? Reported here are a broad range of model performances across 26 text classification models associated with two different assessment items, with model accuracy ranging from 0.755 to 0.992. Expert-like responses were infrequent in our dataset compared to responses providing simpler, incomplete explanations of the systems presented in the question. For those students moving from describing individual effects to multiple effects, their reasoning about the mechanism behind the system indicates advanced systems thinking ability. Specifically, students exhibit higher expertise for explaining changing water usage than discussing tradeoffs for such changing usage. This research represents one of the first attempts to assess the links between foundational, discipline-specific concepts and systems thinking ability. These text classification approaches to scoring student FEW Nexus Constructed Responses (CR) indicate how these approaches can be used, in addition to several future research priorities for interdisciplinary, practice-based education research. Development of further complex question items using machine learning would allow evaluation of the relationship between foundational concept understanding and integration of those concepts as well as more nuanced understanding of student comprehension of complex interdisciplinary concepts.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗
DOE OSTI2020

Enhance indigenous agricultural systems to reduce migration

Changes in social and environmental conditions in the Western Highlands of Guatemala undermine food security and job opportunities. Here, we describe how targeted assistance can build upon traditional agricultural systems to increase adaptive capacity, improve nutrition, provide jobs and thereby reduce pressures to migrate.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Biotechnological advances in algae-based foods: applications in nutrition and microbiome health

Algae are a sustainable, nutrient-rich resource with growing potential in food biotechnology. Their ability to thrive in diverse environments makes them a promising alternative to conventional crops. Rich in proteins, essential fatty acids, and bioactive compounds, algae support the development of functional foods, including plant-based meat and seafood alternatives. Advances in synthetic biology and fermentation have enhanced algal nutrient profiles and enabled novel applications. Algae-derived polysaccharides, such as alginate, fucoidan, laminarin, and porphyran, exhibit prebiotic effects by modulating the gut microbiota and promoting SCFA production. Enzymatic hydrolysis efficiently produces bioactive oligosaccharides, while engineered microbial systems support scalable production. Algae also enable synbiotic food development by serving as both prebiotic substrates and probiotic carriers.

Yu, Sora↗
DOE OSTI2025

Integrating microbial communities into algal biotechnology: a pathway to enhanced commercialization

Microalgae are increasingly recognized for their potential in wastewater treatment and the sustainable production of feedstock for fuel, feed, food, and other bioproducts. Like conventional agricultural systems, algal cultivation involves complex microbial communities. However, despite their pivotal role in cultivation outcomes, especially at the commodity-scale, the critical interactions between microalgae and their microbiomes are often overlooked. Here we synthesize current knowledge on the taxonomic diversity, ecological roles, and biotechnological potential of algal microbiomes, with a focus on their interactions with algal hosts through nutrient exchange, growth modulation, pathogen defense, and environmental conditioning. We also examine how environmental factors such as nutrient availability, salinity, and temperature influence these interactions. Advances in microbiome engineering, including synthetic biology and ecological approaches, offer opportunities to enhance beneficial algal-microbiome interactions, thereby improving growth, resilience, and yield. These advancements could lead to more sustainable and economically viable microalgae cultivation, with far-reaching implications for environmental management and biotechnological innovation. By addressing key economic and environmental barriers, microbiome engineering holds transformative potential to revolutionize large-scale algae cultivation and provide sustainable solutions to global challenges.

Microbiology↗
DOE OSTI2022

New Directions for Chemical Engineering

Over the past century, the work of chemical engineers has helped transform societies and the lives of individuals, from the synthetic fertilizers that helped feed the world to the development of novel materials used in fuels, electronics, medical devices, and other products. Chemical engineers' ability to apply systems-level thinking from molecular to manufacturing scales uniquely positions them to address today’s most pressing problems, including climate change and the overuse of resources by a growing population. New Directions for Chemical Engineering details a vision to guide chemical engineering research, innovation, and education over the next few decades. This report calls for new investments in U.S. chemical engineering and the interdisciplinary, cross-sector collaborations necessary to advance the societal goals of transitioning to a low-carbon energy system, ensuring our production and use of food and water is sustainable, developing medical advances and engineering solutions to health equity, and manufacturing with less waste and pollution. The report also calls for changes in chemical engineering education to ensure the next generation of chemical engineers is more diverse and equipped with the skills necessary to address the challenges ahead.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and M↗
DOE OSTI2024

Integrating viruses into soil food web biogeochemistry

The soil microbiome is recognized as an essential component of healthy soils. Viruses are also diverse and abundant in soils, but their roles in soil systems remain unclear. Here we argue for the consideration of viruses in soil microbial food webs and describe the impact of viruses on soil biogeochemistry. The soil food web is an intricate series of trophic levels that span from autotrophic microorganisms to plants and animals. Each soil system encompasses contrasting and dynamic physicochemical conditions, with labyrinthine habitats composed of particles. Conditions are prone to shifts in space and time, and this variability can obstruct or facilitate interactions of microorganisms and viruses. Because viruses can infect all domains of life, they must be considered as key regulators of soil food web dynamics and biogeochemical cycling. Finally, we highlight future research avenues that will enable a more robust understanding of the roles of viruses in soil function and health.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Developing Non-Food Grade Brassica Biofuel Feedstock Cultivars with High Yield, Oil Content, and Oil Quality that are Suitable for Low Input Production Dryland Systems (Final Report)

The U.S. uses a substantial amount of fossil fuel as an energy source for a wide range for functions including home heating, agriculture and transportation. In the transportation sector, diesel and jet fuel are consumed at a rapid rate, and alternative liquid energy is being investigated globally and nationally to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel and reduce the impact of our carbon footprint on global climate change. Non-food Brassica crops have the potential of producing high oil yield (over 250 gal acre-1) and have oil quality highly desirable for use as biodiesel or bio jet fuel. Developing oilseed feedstock Brassica cultivars with higher seed and oil yield, with high oil quality and with resistance to pathogens, that can be grown with few chemical inputs will helping break our dependence on fossil fuels and reduce importation of fossil fuels. While some oilseed Brassicas have been grown on a small scale for many years in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), adoption has been limited, and the potential of the crops have not been realized or even fully investigated. This report summarizes the results of a study to develop superior non-food grade winter (B. napus) and spring (B. napus and B. juncea) oilseed cultivars suitable for a range of PNW, and other US environments with high resistance to the biotic and abiotic stresses suitable for high-quality biofuel feedstocks. In conducting this work, genome-wide association selection was used to dissect the genetic architecture of industrial Brassica oilseed germplasm for yield, quality, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. A genome-wide bioinformatics approach was used to identify putative PRR (pattern recognition receptor) - type resistance genes that confer durable resistance to blackleg. A novel transgenic approach was developed to generate resistant non-food oilseed lines using PPR genes Br1033 and Br8486. These genes were inserted into regionally adapted oilseed cultivars.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Do Agrivoltaics Improve Public Support for Solar Photovoltaic Development? Survey Says: Yes!

Agrivoltaic systems allow for the simultaneous production of solar-generated electricity and agriculture. As the climate change related impacts of conventional energy and food production intensify, finding strategies to increase the deployment of solar photovoltaic systems, preserve agricultural land, and minimize competing land uses is urgent. Given the proven technical, economic, and environmental advantages provided by agrivoltaic systems, increased proliferation is anticipated, which necessitates accounting for the nuances of community resistance to solar development on farmland. Minimizing siting conflict and addressing agricultural communities’ concerns will be key in promoting public support for agrivoltaics, as localized acceptance of solar is a critical determinant of project success. This survey study assessed if public support for solar development increases when energy and agricultural production are combined in an agrivoltaic system. Results show that 81.8% of respondents would be more likely to support solar development in their community if it combined the production of both energy and agriculture. This increase in support for solar given the agrivoltaic approach highlights a development strategy that can improve local social acceptance and the deployment rate of solar photovoltaics. Survey respondents prefer agrivoltaic projects that a) are designed to provide economic opportunities for farmers and the local community b) are located on private property or existing agricultural land c) do not threaten local interests and d) ensure fair distribution of economic benefits. Proactively identifying what the public perceives as opportunities and concerns related to agrivoltaic development can help improve the design, business model, and siting of systems in the U.S.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Environmental life cycle assessment of treatment and management strategies for food waste and sewage sludge

A consequential life cycle assessment (LCA) was utilized to compare the environmental impacts of food waste and sewage sludge management strategies. The strategies included a novel two-phase anaerobic digestion (AD) system and alternatives including landfill, waste-to-energy, composting, anaerobic membrane bioreactor, and conventional AD (wet continuous stirred-tank reactor [CSTR]). The co-management of food waste with sewage sludge was also considered for the two-phase AD system and for a conventional AD reactor. Further, a multidimensional LCA approach was taken, considering the five-midpoint impact categories of global warming, smog, human health particulate, acidification, and eutrophication estimated using the U.S. EPA Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and Other Environmental Impacts. Co-management of food waste and sewage sludge using the novel two-phase AD system was shown to maximize energy recovery and had a net global warming benefit while reducing other environmental impacts compared with the alternative management strategies. It had similar relative environmental advantages across all categories as conventional AD, with the advantage of a smaller physical footprint. However, both approaches featured net environmental burdens when the background electric grid intensity fell below 0.25 kg CO 2 -eq kWh -1 , as could be expected in a decarbonized electric future. Upgrading the biogas produced from AD to renewable natural gas can displace the use of fossil natural gas for other non-electricity energy requirements that are difficult to decarbonize and may extend the time period of significant environmental benefits of utilizing AD for organic waste management. Treatment of the nutrient-rich supernatant generated by the novel two-phase AD system could be an obstacle for utilities with stringent nutrient discharge limits. Future research and full-scale implementation are needed to demonstrate the benefits of the two-phase AD system predicted through this analysis.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Structure–function relationships for squid skin-inspired wearable thermoregulatory materials

Wearable thermoregulatory technologies have attracted widespread attention because of their potential for impacting individual physiological comfort and for reducing building energy consumption. Within this context, the study of materials and systems that can merge the advantageous characteristics of both active and passive operating modes has proven particularly attractive. Accordingly, our laboratory has drawn inspiration from the appearance-changing skin of Loliginidae (inshore squids) for the introduction of a unique class of dynamic thermoregulatory composite materials with outstanding figures of merit. Herein, we demonstrate a straightforward approach for experimentally controlling and computationally predicting the adaptive infrared properties of such bioinspired composites, thereby enabling the development and validation of robust structure–function relationships for the composites. Our findings may help unlock the potential of not only the described materials but also comparable systems for applications as varied as thermoregulatory wearables, food packaging, infrared camouflage, soft robotics, and biomedical sensing.

Liu, Panyiming (ORCID:0000000242223670)↗