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DOE OSTI2024

Data Science Shows that Entropy Correlates with Accelerated Zeolite Crystallization in Monte Carlo Simulations

We have performed a data science study of Monte Carlo simulation trajectories to understand factors that can accelerate formation of zeolite nanoporous crystals, a process that can take days or even weeks. In previous work, Monte Carlo simulations predicted and experiments confirmed that using a secondary organic structure-directing agent (OSDA) accelerates crystallization of all-silica LTA zeolite, with experiments finding a three-fold speedup [PCCP 24, 142-148 (2022)]. However, it remains unclear what physical factors cause the speed-up. Here, we apply data science to analyze the simulation trajectories to discover what drives accelerated zeolite crystallization in Monte Carlo going from a one-OSDA synthesis (1OSDA) to a two-OSDA version (2OSDA). We encoded simulation snapshots using the Smooth Overlap of Atomic Positions approach, which represents all 2- and 3-body correlations within a given cutoff distance. Principal component analyses failed to discriminate datasets of structures from 1OSDA and 2OSDA simulations, while the Support Vector Machine (SVM) approach succeeded at classifying such structures with an area-under-curve (AUC) score of 0.99 (where AUC = 1 is a perfect classification) with all 3-body correlations, and as high as 0.94 with only 2-body correlations. SVM decision functions reveal relatively broad / narrow histograms for 1OSDA / 2OSDA datasets, suggesting that the two simulations differ strongly in information heterogeneity. Informed by these results, we performed pair (2-body) entropy calculations during crystallization, resulting in entropy differences that semi-quantitatively account for the speedup observed in the previous Monte Carlo simulations. We conclude that altering synthesis conditions in ways that substantially changes the entropy of labile silica networks may accelerate zeolite crystallization, and we discuss possible approaches for achieving such acceleration.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

NASA NTRS2001

Using Model-Based Reasoning for Autonomous Instrument Operation - Lessons Learned From IMAGE/LENA

Model-based reasoning has been applied as an autonomous control strategy on the Low Energy Neutral Atom (LENA) instrument currently flying on board the Imager for Magnetosphere-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) spacecraft. Explicit models of instrument subsystem responses have been constructed and are used to dynamically adapt the instrument to the spacecraft's environment. These functions are cast as part of a Virtual Principal Investigator (VPI) that autonomously monitors and controls the instrument. In the VPI's current implementation, LENA's command uplink volume has been decreased significantly from its previous volume; typically, no uplinks are required for operations. This work demonstrates that a model-based approach can be used to enhance science instrument effectiveness. The components of LENA are common in space science instrumentation, and lessons learned by modeling this system may be applied to other instruments. Future work involves the extension of these methods to cover more aspects of LENA operation and the generalization to other space science instrumentation.

Johnson, Michael A.↗

NASA NTRS2003

CMEs, the Tail of the Solar Wind Magnetic Field Distribution, and 11-yr Cosmic Ray Modulation at 1 AU

Using a recent classification of the solar wind at 1 AU into its principal components (slow solar wind, high-speed streams, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) for 1972-2000, we show that the monthly-averaged galactic cosmic ray intensity is anti-correlated with the percentage of time that the Earth is imbedded in CME flows. We suggest that this correlation results primarily from a CME related change in the tail of the distribution function of hourly-averaged values of the solar wind magnetic field (B) between solar minimum and solar maximum. The number of high-B (square proper subset 10 nT) values increases by a factor of approx. 3 from minimum to maximum (from 5% of all hours to 17%), with about two-thirds of this increase due to CMEs. On an hour-to-hour basis, average changes of cosmic ray intensity at Earth become negative for solar wind magnetic field values square proper subset 10 nT.

Cliver, E. W.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Full-Scale Turbofan-Engine Turbine-Transfer Function Determination Using Three Internal Sensors

Existing NASA/Honeywell EVNERT full-scale static engine test data is analyzed by using source-separation techniques in order to determine the turbine transfer of the currently sub-dominant combustor noise. The results are used to assess the combustor-noise prediction capability of the Aircraft Noise Prediction Program (ANOPP). Time-series data from three sensors internal to the Honeywell TECH977 research engine is used in the analysis. The true combustor-noise turbine-transfer function is educed by utilizing a new three-signal approach. The resulting narrowband gain factors are compared with the corresponding constant values obtained from two empirical acoustic-turbine-loss formulas. It is found that a simplified Pratt & Whitney formula agrees better with the experimental results for frequencies of practical importance. The 130 deg downstream-direction far-field 1/3-octave sound-pressure levels (SPL) results of Hultgren & Miles are reexamined using a post-correction of their ANOPP predictions for both the total noise signature and the combustion-noise component. It is found that replacing the standard ANOPP turbine-attenuation function for combustion noise with the simplified Pratt & Whitney formula clearly improves the predictions. It is recommended that the GECOR combustion-noise module in ANOPP be updated to allow for a user-selectable switch between the current transmission-loss model and the simplified Pratt & Whitney formula. The NASA Fundamental Aeronautics Program has the principal objective of overcoming today's national challenges in air transportation. The Subsonic Fixed Wing Project's Reduce-Perceived-Noise Technical Challenge aims to develop concepts and technologies to dramatically reduce the perceived aircraft noise outside of airport boundaries. The reduction of aircraft noise is critical to enabling the anticipated large increase in future air traffic.

Hultgren, Lennart S.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Fundamental flow characterization for LiCl–KCl molten salt natural circulation closed loop

Molten salt flow characterization presents numerous challenges due to the hostile environments that cause corrosion and erosion of instrumentation and structural components. To support future molten salt flow characterization under natural convection conditions, a LiCl–KCl eutectic molten salt loop was designed and constructed. The primary objective of this loop is to facilitate natural convection as the principal cooling mechanism, enabling insights into the physics behind natural convection in closed loops and serving as a baseline for loop dimensional and non-dimensional analyses. Here, this study summarizes the fundamental functions employed for flow characterization and introduces a model to estimate flow rate when intrusive instrumentation is unavailable. The approach relies solely on structural surface measurements to avoid flow disturbances. Furthermore, a comprehensive thermal–hydraulic analysis is included to deepen understanding of the system’s behavior.

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

NASA NTRS1993

Embryonic lung morphogenesis in organ culture: experimental evidence for a proteoglycan function in the extracellular matrix

The lung rudiment, isolated from mid-gestation (11 day) mouse embryos, can undergo morphogenesis in organ culture. Observation of living rudiments, in culture, reveals both growth and ongoing bronchiolar branching activity. To detect proteoglycan (PG) biosynthesis, and deposition in the extracellular matrix, rudiments were metabolically labeled with radioactive sulfate, then fixed, embedded, sectioned and processed for autoradiography. The sulfated glycosaminoglycan (GAG) types, composing the carbohydrate component of the proteoglycans, were evaluated by selective GAG degradative approaches that showed chondroitin sulfate PG principally associated with the interstitial matrix, and heparan sulfate PG principally associated with the basement membrane. Experiments using the proteoglycan biosynthesis disrupter, beta-xyloside, suggest that when chondroitin sulfate PG deposition into the ECM is perturbed, branching morphogenesis is compromised.

NASA Discipline Number 93-10↗

DOE OSTI2024

Model orthogonalization and Bayesian forecast mixing via principal component analysis

One can improve predictability in the unknown domain by combining forecasts of imperfect complex computational models using a Bayesian statistical machine learning framework. In many cases, however, the models used in the mixing process are similar. In addition to contaminating the model space, the existence of such similar, or even redundant, models during the multimodeling process can result in misinterpretation of results and deterioration of predictive performance. In this paper we describe a method based on the principal component analysis that eliminates model redundancy. We show that by adding model orthogonalization to the proposed Bayesian model combination framework, one can arrive at better prediction accuracy and reach excellent uncertainty quantification performance.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

NASA NTRS2010

Forced and Unforced Variability of Twentieth Century North American Droughts and Pluvials

Research on the forcing of drought and pluvial events over North America is dominated by general circulation model experiments that often have operational limitations (e.g., computational expense, ability to simulate relevant processes, etc). We use a statistically based modeling approach to investigate sea surface temperature (SST) forcing of the twentieth century pluvial (1905-1917) and drought (1932-1939, 1948-1957, 1998-2002) events. A principal component (PC) analysis of Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) from the North American Drought Atlas separates the drought variability into five leading modes accounting for 62% of the underlying variance. Over the full period spanning these events (1900-2005), the first three PCs significantly correlate with SSTs in the equatorial Pacific (PC 1), North Pacific (PC 2), and North Atlantic (PC 3), with spatial patterns (as defined by the empirical orthogonal functions) consistent with our understanding of North American drought responses to SST forcing. We use a large ensemble statistical modeling approach to determine how successfully we can reproduce these drought/pluvial events using these three modes of variability. Using Pacific forcing only (PCs 1-2), we are able to reproduce the 1948-1957 drought and 1905-1917 pluvial above a 95% random noise threshold in over 90% of the ensemble members; the addition of Atlantic forcing (PCs 1-2-3) provides only marginal improvement. For the 1998-2002 drought, Pacific forcing reproduces the drought above noise in over 65% of the ensemble members, with the addition of Atlantic forcing increasing the number passing to over 80%. The severity of the drought, however, is underestimated in the ensemble median, suggesting this drought intensity can only be achieved through internal variability or other processes. Pacific only forcing does a poor job of reproducing the 1932-1939 drought pattern in the ensemble median, and less than one third of ensemble members exceed the noise threshold (28%). Inclusion of Atlantic forcing improves the ensemble median drought pattern and nearly doubles the number of ensemble members passing the noise threshold (52%). Even with the inclusion of Atlantic forcing, the intensity of the simulated 1932-1939 drought is muted, and the drought itself extends too far into the southwest and southern Great Plains. To an even greater extent than the 1998-2002 drought, these results suggest much of the variance in the 1932-1939 drought is dependent on processes other than SST forcing. This study highlights the importance of internal noise and non SST processes for hydroclimatic variability over North America, complementing existing research using general circulation models.

Cook, Benjamin I.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) Engineering Test Facility (ETF) 200 MWe power plant. Conceptual Design Engineering Report (CDER). Volume 2: Engineering. Volume 3: Costs and schedules

Engineering design details for the principal systems, system operating modes, site facilities, and structures of an engineering test facility (ETF) of a 200 MWE power plant are presented. The ETF resembles a coal-fired steam power plant in many ways. It is analogous to a conventional plant which has had the coal combustor replaced with the MHD power train. Most of the ETF components are conventional. They can, however, be sized or configured differently or perform additional functions from those in a conventional coal power plant. The boiler not only generates steam, but also performs the functions of heating the MHD oxidant, recovering seed, and controlling emissions.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1984

Preliminary Evaluation of Thematic Mapper Image Data Quality

Thematic Mapper (TM) data from Mississippi County, Arkansas, and Webster County, Iowa, were examined for the purpose of evaluating the image data quality of the TM which was launched on board the LANDSAT-4 spacecraft. Preliminary clustering and principal component analysis indicates that the middle infrared and thermal infrared data of TM appear to add significant information over that of the near IR and visible bands of the multispectral scanner data. Moreover, the higher spatial resolution of TM appears to provide better definition of the edges and the within variability of agricultural fields. The geometric performance of TM data, without ground control correction, was found to exceed expectations. The modulation transfer function for the 1.65 m band was found to agree with prelaunch specifications when the effects of the GSFC cubic convolution and the atmosphere were removed. The band to band registration for the bands within the noncooled focal plane was found to be better than specified. However, the middle infrared and thermal infrared, which are on a separate cooled focal plane were found to be misregistered and were significantly worse than prelaunch specifications.

Macdonald, R. B.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Passive microwave observations of the Wedell Sea during austral winter and early spring

The results of multispectral passive microwave observations (6.7 to 90-GHz) are presented from the cruises of the FS Polarstern in the Weddell Sea from July to December 1986. This paper includes primarily the analysis of radiometric observations taken at ice station sites. Averaged emissivity spectra for first-year (FY) ice were relatively constant throughout the experiment and were not statistically different from FY ice signatures in the Arctic. Detailed ice characterization was carried out at each site to compare the microwave signatures of the ice with the physical properties. Absorption optical depths of FY ice were found to be sufficiently high that only the structure in the upper portions of the ice contributed significantly to interstation emissivity variations. The emissivities at 90-GHz, e(90), had the greatest variance. Both e(90) at vertical polarization and GR(sub e)(90, 18.7)(defined as (e(sub V)(90)-e(sub V)(18.7))/e(sub V)(90 + e(sub V)(18.7)) depended on the scattering optical depth which is a function of the snow grain diameter and layer thickness. The variance showed a latitude dependence and is probably due to an increase in the strength of snow metamorphism nearer the northern edge of the ice pack. The contribution of variations of near-surface brine volume to the emissivity was not significant over the range of values encountered at the station sites. Emissivity spectra are presented for a range of thin ice types. Unsupervised principal component analysis produced three significant eigenvectors and showed a separation among four different surface types: open water, thin ice, FY ice, and FY ice with a thick snow cover. A comparison with SMMR satellite data showed that average ice concentrations derived from the ship's ice watch log were consistent with the satellite concentrations. The surface based emissivities for FY ice were also compared with emissivities calculated from scanning multichannel microwave radiometer (SMMR) satellite radiances. Best agreement was found at 6.7 and 10-GHz, while at 18 and 37-GHz, SMMR emissivities were slightly lower than surface based results. For the three lower frequencies agreement was found within a confidence limit of 95% and for 37-GHz within about 90%.

Grenfell, T. C.↗

DOE OSTI2024

Lipid droplet-associated proteins in alcohol-associated fatty liver disease: A proteomic approach

The earliest manifestation of alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) is steatosis characterized by deposition of fat in specialized organelles called lipid droplets (LDs). While alcohol administration causes a rise in LD numbers in the hepatocytes, little is known regarding their characteristics that allow their accumulation and size to increase. The aim of the present study is to gain insights into underlying pathophysiological mechanisms by investigating the ethanol-induced changes in hepatic LD proteome as a function of LD size. Adult male Wistar rats (180–200 g BW) were fed with ethanol liquid diet for 6 weeks. At sacrifice, large-, medium-, and small-sized hepatic LD subpopulations (LD1, LD2, and LD3, respectively) were isolated and subjected to morphological and proteomic analyses. Morphological analysis of LD1-LD3 fractions of ethanol-fed rats clearly demonstrated that LD1 contained larger LDs compared with LD2 and LD3 fractions. Our preliminary results from principal component analysis showed that the proteome of different-sized hepatic LD fractions was distinctly different. Proteomic data analysis identified over 2000 proteins in each LD fraction with significant alterations in protein abundance among the three LD fractions. Among the altered proteins, several were related to fat metabolism, including synthesis, incorporation of fatty acid, and lipolysis. Ingenuity pathway analysis revealed increased fatty acid synthesis, fatty acid incorporation, LD fusion, and reduced lipolysis in LD1 compared to LD3. Overall, the proteomic findings indicate that the increased level of protein that facilitates fusion of LDs combined with an increased association of negative regulators of lipolysis dictates the generation of large-sized LDs during the development of alcohol-associated hepatic steatosis. Several significantly altered proteins were identified in different-sized LDs isolated from livers of ethanol-fed rats. Ethanol-induced increases in specific proteins that hinder LD lipid metabolism led to the accumulation and persistence of large-sized LDs in the liver.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1979

Galactic plane gamma-radiation

Analysis of the SAS 2 data together with the COS B results shows that the distribution of galactic gamma-radiation has several similarities to that of other large-scale tracers of galactic structure. The radiation is primarily confined to a thin disc which exhibits offsets from b = 0 degrees similar to warping at radio frequencies. The principal distinction of the gamma-radiation is a stronger contrast in intensity between the region from 310 to 45 degrees in longitude and the regions away from the center that can be attributed to a variation in cosmic-ray density as a function of position in Galaxy. The diffuse galactic gamma-ray energy spectrum shows no significant variation in direction, and the spectrum seen along the plane is the same as that for the galactic component of the gamma-radiation at high altitudes. The uniformity of the galactic gamma-ray spectrum, the smooth decrease in intensity as a function of altitude, and the absence of any galactic gamma-ray sources at high altitudes indicate a diffuse origin for bulk of the galactic gamma-radiation rather than a collection of localized sources.

Hartman, R. C.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Principal component analysis of solar flares in the soft X-ray flux

The paper considers principal component analysis of solar flares in the soft X-ray flux, a technique for extracting the salient features from a mass of data. The method applies particularly to the analysis of nonstationary ensembles, and its computations require the evaluation of eigenvalues of matrices. The Eispack matrix eigen system routines were used to analyze full-disk proportional-counter data from the X-ray event analyzer which was part of the Skylab experiment. Empirical orthogonal functions were derived for events in the soft X-ray spectrum between 2.5 and 20 A during different time periods, indicating that about 90% of the cumulative power of each analyzed flare is contained in the largest eigenvector. The first two largest eigenvectors are sufficient for an empirical curve fit through the raw data and a characterization of solar flares in the soft X-ray flux, and power spectra of two largest eigenvectors reveal a reported periodicity of about 5 min.

Teuber, D. L.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Optimal band selection for dimensionality reduction of hyperspectral imagery

Hyperspectral images have many bands requiring significant computational power for machine interpretation. During image pre-processing, regions of interest that warrant full examination need to be identified quickly. One technique for speeding up the processing is to use only a small subset of bands to determine the 'interesting' regions. The problem addressed here is how to determine the fewest bands required to achieve a specified performance goal for pixel classification. The band selection problem has been addressed previously Chen et al., Ghassemian et al., Henderson et al., and Kim et al.. Some popular techniques for reducing the dimensionality of a feature space, such as principal components analysis, reduce dimensionality by computing new features that are linear combinations of the original features. However, such approaches require measuring and processing all the available bands before the dimensionality is reduced. Our approach, adapted from previous multidimensional signal analysis research, is simpler and achieves dimensionality reduction by selecting bands. Feature selection algorithms are used to determine which combination of bands has the lowest probability of pixel misclassification. Two elements required by this approach are a choice of objective function and a choice of search strategy.

Stearns, Stephen D.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Uncovering Sequence and Structural Characteristics of Fungal Expansin‐Related Proteins With Potential to Drive Substrate Targeting

Expansins loosen plant cell wall networks through disrupting non-covalent bonds between cellulose microfibrils and matrix polysaccharides. Whereas expansins were first discovered in plants, expansin-related proteins have since been identified in bacteria and fungi. The biological function of microbial expansins remains unclear; however, several studies have shown distinct binding preferences toward different structural polysaccharides. Earlier studies of bacterial expansin-related proteins uncovered sequence and structural features that correlate to substrate binding. Herein, 20 fungal expansin-related sequences were recombinantly produced in Komagataella phaffii, and the purified proteins were compared in terms of substrate binding to cellulosic and chitinous substrates. The impact of pH on the zeta potential of prioritized substrates was also measured, and Principal Component Analysis was performed to uncover correlations between protein characteristics (e.g., pI, hydrophobicity, surface charge distribution) and measured substrate binding preferences. Whereas acidic proteins with a predicted pI less than 5.0 preferentially bound to chitin, basic proteins with pI greater than 8.0 preferentially bound to xylan and xylan-containing fiber. Similar to many cellulases, binding to cellulose was correlated to relatively high aromatic amino acid content in the protein sequence and presence of a carbohydrate binding module (CBM), which in the case of expansins is a C-terminal CBM63. Whereas overall sequence characteristics could be correlated to substrate binding preference, the identity of amino acids occupying conserved positions that impact protein activity was better correlated with loosenin versus expansin classifications.

chitin↗

NASA NTRS1985

Aspects of the 40-50 day oscillation during the northern winter as inferred from outgoing longwave radiation

One-point correlation statistics and extended empirical orthogonal function analysis are used to show the existence of a principal mode of oscillation in the intraseasonal variability (ISV) of tropical convection. The data analyzed were derived from NOAA Outgoing Longwave Radiation data covering seven 6 mo periods from 1974-83. The data is filtered to remove fluctuations on time scales under 5 days and by subtracting a least-squares parabola to eliminate seasonal means. The previously-known 40-50 day oscillation is found to be the most prevalent component of the ISV of tropical convection. An E-W dipole forms and propagates over the equatorial Indian Ocean, then stalls and intensifies over Indonesia and the equatorial Indian Ocean, then stalls and intensifies over Indonesia and the equatorial central Pacific. Various anomalies generated in association with the dipole and dependent on its exact location when stalled are discussed.

Lau, K.-M.↗

NASA NTRS1986

The Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment

The hardware and software of NASA's proposed Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE) are described. The OARE is to provide aerodynamic acceleration measurements along the Orbiter's principal axis in the free-molecular flow-flight regime at orbital attitude and in the transition regime during reentry. Models considering the effects of electromagnetic effects, solar radiation pressure, orbiter mass attraction, gravity gradient, orbital centripetal acceleration, out-of-orbital-plane effects, orbiter angular velocity, structural noise, mass expulsion signal sources, crew motion, and bias on acceleration are examined. The experiment contains an electrostatically balanced cylindrical proofmass accelerometer sensor with three orthogonal sensing axis outputs. The components and functions of the experimental calibration system and signal processor and control subsystem are analyzed. The development of the OARE software is discussed. The experimental equipment will be enclosed in a cover assembly that will be mounted in the Orbiter close to the center of gravity.

Blanchard, R. C.↗