Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “total correlation”

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 1,387 records · Page 77

Shifting mineral and redox controls on carbon cycling in seasonally flooded mineral soils

Although wetland soils represent a relatively small portion of the terrestrial landscape, they account for an estimated 20%–30% of the global soil carbon (C) reservoir. C stored in wetland soils that experience seasonal flooding is likely the most vulnerable to increased severity and duration of droughts in response to climate change. Redox conditions, plant root dynamics, and the abundance of protective mineral phases are well-established controls on soil C persistence, but their relative influence in seasonally flooded mineral soils is largely unknown. To address this knowledge gap, we assessed the relative importance of environmental (temperature, soil moisture, and redox potential) and biogeochemical (mineral composition and root biomass) factors in controlling CO 2 efflux, C quantity, and organic matter composition along replicated upland–lowland transitions in seasonally flooded mineral soils. Specifically, we contrasted mineral soils under temperature deciduous forests in lowland positions that undergo seasonal flooding with adjacent upland soils that do not, considering both surface (A) and subsurface (B and C) horizons. We found the lowland soils had lower total annual CO 2 efflux than the upland soils, with monthly CO 2 efflux in lowlands most strongly correlated with redox potential (E h ). Lower CO 2 efflux as compared to the uplands corresponded to greater C content and abundance of lignin-rich, higher-molecular-weight, chemically reduced organic compounds in the lowland surface soils (A horizons). In contrast, subsurface soils in the lowland position (C g horizons) showed lower C content than the upland positions (C horizons), coinciding with lower abundance of root biomass and oxalate-extractable Fe (Fe o , a proxy for protective Fe phases). Our linear mixed-effects model showed that Fe o served as the strongest measured predictor of C content in upland soils, yet Fe o had no predictive power in lowland soils. Instead, our model showed that E h and oxalate-extractable Al (Al o , a proxy of protective Al phases) became significantly stronger predictors in the lowland soils. Combined, our results suggest that low redox potentials are the primary cause for C accumulation in seasonally flooded surface soils, likely due to selective preservation of organic compounds under anaerobic conditions. In seasonally flooded subsurface soils, however, C accumulation is limited due to lower C inputs through root biomass and the removal of reactive Fe phases under reducing conditions. Our findings demonstrate that C accrual in seasonally flooded mineral soil is primarily due to low redox potential in the surface soil and that the lack of protective metal phases leaves these C stocks highly vulnerable to climate change.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Evaluation of the dual differential radiometer for remote sensing of sediment and chlorophyll in turbid waters

The dual differential radiometer (DDR) was tested to determine its capability for measuring suspended sediment and chlorophyll in turbid waters. Measurements were obtained from a boat dock and from a helicopter with combinations of sample and reference filters with peak transmissions at various wavelengths. Water samples were taken concurrently and were analyzed for light scattering, particle count, and total chlorophyll. Least-squares estimates of the linear relationship between DDR output and the water parameters yielded correlation coefficients of less than 0.7. Under the turbid water conditions of the present tests, the DDR did not accurately measure either suspended sediment or chlorophyll. A precise knowledge of the spectral signatures of various pollutants might enable appropriate filters to be selected for tuning the DDR to monitor a particular pollutant.

Witte, W. G.↗

Variations including possible solar cycle variations of stratospheric ozone over central Switzerland

The annual variation of the total amount of ozone over central Switzerland and the partial pressures in each of 7 layers from the surface to 7.8 m zeta shows the pattern representative of mid-latitude ozone: summer maximum in the troposphere, spring maximum in the lower stratosphere up to 30 mb and summer maximum in the middle stratosphere up to approx. mb. It was also shown that at the level of the ozone maximum the ozone partial pressure has a pronounced period of about 26 months. Total ozone and the ozone concentration in the different layers have marginally significant (at plus or minus sigma) correlations with relative sunspot number. The time lag for these correlations is long in the troposphere (about 36 months) but decreases with height to the level of ozone maximum (to about 2 months). A similar analysis of the data derived from the ozonesonde program at Hohenpeissenberg, Germany (GFR) gave completely consistent results with those discussed above.

London, J.↗

Pauli correlations in heavy-ion collisions at high energies

We calculate the effects of short-range correlations on the Glauber expansion for nucleus-nucleus collisions using the Fermi gas model for nuclei. When we neglect the Pauli principle for collisions between heavy nuclei, calculation of the optical phase-shift function leads to non-unitary results and we cannot obtain cross sections. When we include Pauli correlations we find important cancellations in the optical phase-shift function, which make possible the calculation of total and differential cross sections for heavy nuclei.

Franco, V.↗

A decision model applied to alcohol effects on driver signal light behavior

A decision model including perceptual noise or inconsistency is developed from expected value theory to explain driver stop and go decisions at signaled intersections. The model is applied to behavior in a car simulation and instrumented vehicle. Objective and subjective changes in driver decision making were measured with changes in blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Treatment levels averaged 0.00, 0.10 and 0.14 BAC for a total of 26 male subjects. Data were taken for drivers approaching signal lights at three timing configurations. The correlation between model predictions and behavior was highly significant. In contrast to previous research, analysis indicates that increased BAC results in increased perceptual inconsistency, which is the primary cause of increased risk taking at low probability of success signal lights.

Schwartz, S. H.↗

A menu of self-administered microcomputer-based neurotoxicology tests

This study examined the feasibility of repeated self-administration of a newly developed battery of mental acuity tests. Researchers developed this battery to be used to screen the fitness for duty of persons in at-risk occupations (astronauts, race car drivers), or those who may be exposed to environmental stress, toxic agents, or disease. The menu under study contained cognitive and motor tests implemented on a portable microcomputer including: a five-test core battery, lasting six minutes, which had demonstrable reliabilities and stability from several previous repeated-measures studies, and also 13 new tests, lasting 42 minutes, which had appeared in other batteries but had not yet been evaluated for repeated-measures implementation in this medium. Sixteen subjects self-administered the battery over 10 repeated sessions. The hardware performed well throughout the study and the tests appeared to be easily self-administered. Stabilities and reliabilities of the test from the core battery were comparable to those obtained previously under more controlled experimental conditions. Analyses of metric properties of the remaining 13 tests produced eight additional tests with satisfactory properties. Although the average retest reliability was high, cross-correlations between tests were low, indicating factorial richness. The menu can be used to form batteries of flexible total testing time which are likely to tap different mental processes and functions.

Kennedy, Robert S.↗

Forcing of Climate Variations by Mev-gev Particles

Changes in ionization production in the lower stratosphere by a few percent during Forbush decreases have been shown to correlate well with changes in winter tropospheric dynamics by a similar relatively small amount. Changes in ionization production by tens of percent on the decadal time scale have been shown to be correlated with changes in winter storm frequencies by tens of percent in the western North Atlantic. Changes in total solar irradiance or solar UV do not have time variations to match the tropospheric variations on the day to day time scales discussed here. Forcing related to magnetic activity is not supported. Thus solar wind/MeV-GeV particle changes appear to be the only viable forcing function for these day to day variations. If solar wind/particle forcing of a few percent amplitude can produce short term weather responses, then observed changes by tens of percent on the decadal and centennial time scale could produce climate changes on these longer time scales. The changes in circulation involved would produce regional climate changes, as observed. At present the relations between stratospheric ionization, electric fields and chemistry and aerosol and cloud microphysics are as poorly known as the relations between the latter and storm feedback processes. However, the capability for investigating these relationships now exists and has recently been most successfully used for elucidating the stratospheric chemistry and cloud microphysics associated with the Antarctic ozone hole. The economic benefits of being able to predict winter severity on an interannual basis, and the extent to which climate change related to solar variability will add to or substract from the greenhouse effect, should be more than adequate to justify support for research in this area.

Tinsley, Brian A.↗

A quantitative comparison of simultaneous BOLD fMRI and NIRS recordings during functional brain activation

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been used to noninvasively monitor adult human brain function in a wide variety of tasks. While rough spatial correspondences with maps generated from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have been found in such experiments, the amplitude correspondences between the two recording modalities have not been fully characterized. To do so, we simultaneously acquired NIRS and blood-oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI data and compared Delta(1/BOLD) (approximately R(2)(*)) to changes in oxyhemoglobin, deoxyhemoglobin, and total hemoglobin concentrations derived from the NIRS data from subjects performing a simple motor task. We expected the correlation with deoxyhemoglobin to be strongest, due to the causal relation between changes in deoxyhemoglobin concentrations and BOLD signal. Instead we found highly variable correlations, suggesting the need to account for individual subject differences in our NIRS calculations. We argue that the variability resulted from systematic errors associated with each of the signals, including: (1) partial volume errors due to focal concentration changes, (2) wavelength dependence of this partial volume effect, (3) tissue model errors, and (4) possible spatial incongruence between oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin concentration changes. After such effects were accounted for, strong correlations were found between fMRI changes and all optical measures, with oxyhemoglobin providing the strongest correlation. Importantly, this finding held even when including scalp, skull, and inactive brain tissue in the average BOLD signal. This may reflect, at least in part, the superior contrast-to-noise ratio for oxyhemoglobin relative to deoxyhemoglobin (from optical measurements), rather than physiology related to BOLD signal interpretation.

Non-NASA Center↗

Glycine betaine accumulation, ionic and water relations of red-beet at contrasting levels of sodium supply

Exposure of plants to sodium (Na) and salinity may increase glycine betaine accumulation in tissues. To study this, red-beet cvs. Scarlet Supreme and Ruby Queen, were grown for 42 days in a growth chamber using a re-circulating nutrient film technique with 0.25 mmol/L K and either 4.75 mmol/L (control) or 54.75 mmol/L (saline) Na (as NaCl). Plants were harvested at weekly intervals and measurements were taken on leaf water relations, leaf photosynthetic rates, chlorophyll fluorescence, chlorophyll levels, glycine betaine levels, and tissue elemental composition. Glycine betaine accumulation increased under salinity and this accumulation correlated with higher tissue levels of Na in both cultivars. Na accounted for 80 to 90% of the total cation uptake under the saline treatment. At final harvest (42 days), K concentrations in laminae ranged from approximately 65-95 micromoles g-1 dry matter (DM), whereas Na in shoot tissue ranged from approximately 3000-4000 micromoles g-1. Leaf sap osmotic potential at full turgor [psi(s100)] increased as lamina Na content increased. Glycine betaine levels of leaf laminae showed a linear relationship with leaf sap [psi(s100)]. Chlorophyll levels, leaf photosynthetic rates, and chlorophyll fluorescence were not affected by Na levels. These results suggest that the metabolic tolerance to high levels of tissue Na in red-beet could be due to its ability to synthesize and regulate glycine betaine production, and to control partitioning of Na and glycine betaine between the vacuole and the cytoplasm.

NASA Center KSC↗

Psychology of computer use: IX. A menu of self-administered microcomputer-based neurotoxicology tests

This study examined the feasibility of repeated self-administration of a newly developed battery of mental acuity tests which may have application in screening for fitness-for-duty or for persons who may be exposed to environmental stress, toxic agents, or disease. 16 subjects self-administered 18 microcomputer-based tests (13 new, 5 "core"), without proctors, over 10 sessions. The hardware performed well throughout the study and the tests appeared to be easily self-administered. Stabilities and reliabilities of the tests from the "core" battery were comparable to those obtained previously under more controlled experimental conditions. Eight of the new tests exceeded minimum criteria for metric and practical requirements and can be recommended as additions to the menu. Although the average retest reliability was high, cross-correlations between tests were low, implying factorial diversity. The menu can be used to form batteries with flexible total testing time which are likely to tap different mental processes and functions.

NASA Discipline Neuroscience↗

Influence of the Gas Pressure on Single-wall Carbon Nanotubes Formation

Experiments and modeling have been performed to predict the effect of gas pressure on species distribution and nanotube growth rate under specific conditions of synthesis of singlewall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) by arc discharge. Numerical results were compared with experiments in order to find a consistent correlation between the nanotube growth and the pressure. We used argon and helium as buffer gases with a total pressure varied between 0.1 and 1 bar. We experimentally observed that both the anode erosion rate and the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of the as produced nanotube soot material are very sensitive to the total gas pressure in the reactor

Hinkov, I.↗

Configural Scoring of Simulator Sickness, Cybersickness and Space Adaptation Syndrome: Similarities and Differences?

From a survey of ten U.S. Navy flight simulators a large number (N > 1,600 exposures) of self-reports of motion sickness symptomatology were obtained. Using these data, scoring algorithms were derived, which permit examination of groups of individuals that can be scored either for 1) their total sickness experience in a particular device; or, 2) according to three separable symptom clusters which emerged from a Factor Analysis. Scores from this total score are found to be proportional to other global motion sickness symptom checklist scores with which they correlate (r = 0.82). The factors that surfaced from the analysis include clusters of symptoms referable as nausea, oculomotor disturbances, and disorientation (N, 0, and D). The factor scores may have utility in differentiating the source of symptoms in different devices. The present chapter describes our experience with the use of both of these types of scores and illustrates their use with examples from flight simulators, space sickness and virtual environments.

Kennedy, Robert S.↗

Direct Feed Low Activity Waste Test Platform - Pretreatment Unit Operations - 18613

The Low-Activity Waste Pretreatment System (LAWPS) facility is planned to pretreat Hanford tank waste supernate by filtering solids and processing through ion exchange columns to remove cesium. Note that cesium ion exchange is not discussed in this paper. The filtration process is achieved through cross flow filtration using a stainless steel Mott filter with a 0.1-micron grade. The goal of this effort was to assess whether a batch, or dead end, filtration (DEF) device replicating the LAWPS cross flow filter could be employed to qualify each feed campaign prior to delivery to LAWPS. The objective for filtration feed qualification is to determine whether the cross flow filters deployed in LAWPS will remove solids while maintaining a de minimis flow rate of permeate. To that end, the DEF was tested with simulants and the results compared with those obtained from cross flow filtration tests. In addition, actual waste samples were retrieved from Hanford Site Tank AP-105 and were composited for testing. These composited samples were first tested with cross flow filtration to determine the filter flux under typical LAWPS conditions. The same material was subsequently tested with DEF to determine a filter flux. While the DEF correctly predicted the cross flow filter's ability to filter solids from the feed, there was limited correlation between DEF and cross flow filtration flux results. This lack of correlation suggests a fundamental difference between cross flow filtration and DEF as used in these tests. Taken in total, these results indicate that DEF is not a good candidate to provide qualification of feed for LAWPS cross flow filtration. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

A Fast, Two-dimensional Gaussian Process Method Based on Celerite: Applications to Transiting Exoplanet Discovery and Characterization

Gaussian processes (GPs) are commonly used as a model of stochastic variability in astrophysical time series. In particular, GPs are frequently employed to account for correlated stellar variability in planetary transit light curves. The efficient application of GPs to light curves containing thousands to tens of thousands of data points has been made possible by recent advances in GP methods, including the celerite method. Here we present an extension of the celerite method to two input dimensions where, typically, the second dimension is small. This method scales linearly with the total number of data points when the noise in each large dimension is proportional to the same celerite kernel and only the amplitude of the correlated noise varies in the second dimension. We demonstrate the application of this method to the problem of measuring precise transit parameters from multiwavelength light curves and show that it has the potential to improve transit parameters measurements by orders of magnitude. Applications of this method include transit spectroscopy and exomoon detection, as well a broader set of astronomical problems.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Energetic Correlation Between Solar Flares and Coronal Mass Ejections

We find a strong correlation between the kinetic energies (KEs) of the coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and the radiated energies of the associated solar flares for the events that occurred during the period of intense solar activity between 18 October and 08 November 2003. CME start times, speeds, mass and KEs were taken from Gopalswamy et al. (2005), who used SOHO/LASCO observations. The GOES observations of the associated flares were analyzed to find the peak soft X-ray (SXR) flux, the radiated energy in SXRs (L(sub sxR)), and the radiated energy from the emitting plasma across all wavelengths (L(sub hot)). RHESSI observations were also used to find the energy in non-thermal electrons, ions, and the plasma thermal energy for some events. For two events, SORCE/TIM observations of the total solar irradiance during a flare were also available to give the total radiated flare energy (L(sub total)).W e find that the total flare energies of the larger events are of the same order of magnitude as the CME KE with a stronger correlation than has been found in the past for other time intervals.

Dennis, Brian R.↗

Ionizing Radiation Effects on Hole Collection Backside-Illuminated P-Type Deep-Trench Pinned Photo-MOS Pixels under Image Acquisition

Dark current degradation, origins, and annealing behavior after x-ray irradiation are studied in a P-type, hole collecting, backside-illuminated image sensor currently being developed at STMicroelectronics and based on deep-trenched photo-MOS pixels. Different biasing conditions during irradiation, i.e. grounded or biased and sequenced, are compared. The dark current increase with total ionizing dose (TID) and the dark current annealing behavior seem to be driven by the backside interface between the P-epitaxy of the pixels and the ONO stack. Despite still being under development, this pixel architecture already exhibits both very good electro-optical performance and a better radiation hardness than pinned photodiode-based CMOS Image sensors that benefit from the same advanced CIS processing technologies. At high total dose range, the photogate challenges custom Radiation-Hardened-by-Design photodiodes by exhibiting a comparable radiation tolerance while bringing new features such as high-resolution or Correlated Double Sampling.

CMOS Image Sensor (CIS)↗

Structural, electronic and elastic properties of RERu{sub 2} (RE=Pr and Nd) Laves phase intermetallic compounds

We have performed the first-principles calculations to study the structural, electronic and elastic properties of RERu{sub 2} (RE = Pr and Nd) Laves phase intermetallic compounds using full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method based on density functional theory (DFT) within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) for exchange and correlation potential. The optimized lattices constant are in reasonable agreement with available experimental data. The electronic properties are analyzed in terms of band structures, total and partial density of states, which confirm their metallic character. The calculated elastic constants infer that these compounds are mechanically stable in C15 (MgCu{sub 2} type) structure and found to be ductile in nature.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Angular correlations of photons from solution diffraction at a free-electron laser encode molecular structure

During X-ray exposure of a molecular solution, photons scattered from the same molecule are correlated. If molecular motion is insignificant during exposure, then differences in momentum transfer between correlated photons are direct measurements of the molecular structure. In conventional small- and wide-angle solution scattering, photon correlations are ignored. This report presents advances in a new biomolecular structural analysis technique, correlated X-ray scattering (CXS), which uses angular intensity correlations to recover hidden structural details from molecules in solution. Due to its intense rapid pulses, an X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) is an excellent tool for CXS experiments. A protocol is outlined for analysis of a CXS data set comprising a total of half a million X-ray exposures of solutions of small gold nanoparticles recorded at the Spring-8 Ångström Compact XFEL facility (SACLA). From the scattered intensities and their correlations, two populations of nanoparticle domains within the solution are distinguished: small twinned, and large probably non-twinned domains. Finally, it is shown analytically how, in a solution measurement, twinning information is only accessible via intensity correlations, demonstrating how CXS reveals atomic-level information from a disordered solution of like molecules.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗