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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 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

An Extensible Software and Communication Platform for Distributed Energy Resource Management

This paper introduces a novel Distributed Extensible Grid Control (DEGC) software and communication platform to facilitate the control of distributed energy resources on electric grids. The DEGC software platform leverages state-of-the-art advances in secure, distributed communication and decentralized authorization and authentication. We discuss how these advances enable the kind of robust and secure communication required for a distributed grid control platform, and show how DEGC applies these technologies to the agile development and deployment of grid software through an extensible and flexible API. Here, we describe how DEGC can implement both Volt-VAR voltage magnitude control and Phasor-Based Control as sample applications and demonstrate the DEGC platform in hardware with the demanding Phasor-Based Control test case, and provide performance metrics.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Climate, food and humans predict communities of mammals in the United States

Abstract Aim The assembly of species into communities and ecoregions is the result of interacting factors that affect plant and animal distribution and abundance at biogeographic scales. Here, we empirically derive ecoregions for mammals to test whether human disturbance has become more important than climate and habitat resources in structuring communities. Location Conterminous United States. Time Period 2010–2021. Major Taxa Studied Twenty‐five species of mammals. Methods We analysed data from 25 mammal species recorded by camera traps at 6645 locations across the conterminous United States in a joint modelling framework to estimate relative abundance of each species. We then used a clustering analysis to describe 8 broad and 16 narrow mammal communities. Results Climate was the most important predictor of mammal abundance overall, while human population density and agriculture were less important, with mixed effects across species. Seed production by forests also predicted mammal abundance, especially hard‐mast tree species. The mammal community maps are similar to those of plants, with an east–west split driven by different dominant species of deer and squirrels. Communities vary along gradients of temperature in the east and precipitation in the west. Most fine‐scale mammal community boundaries aligned with established plant ecoregions and were distinguished by the presence of regional specialists or shifts in relative abundance of widespread species. Maps of potential ecosystem services provided by these communities suggest high herbivory in the Rocky Mountains and eastern forests, high invertebrate predation in the subtropical south and greater predation pressure on large vertebrates in the west. Main Conclusions Our results highlight the importance of climate to modern mammals and suggest that climate change will have strong impacts on these communities. Our new empirical approach to recognizing ecoregions has potential to be applied to expanded communities of mammals or other taxa.

Kays, Roland↗
DOE OSTI2020

Global root traits (GRooT) database

Motivation: Trait data are fundamental to the quantitative description of plant form and function. Although root traits capture key dimensions related to plant responses to changing environmental conditions and effects on ecosystem processes, they have rarely been included in large-scale comparative studies and global models. For instance, root traits remain absent from nearly all studies that define the global spectrum of plant form and function. Thus, to overcome conceptual and methodological roadblocks preventing a widespread integration of root trait data into large-scale analyses we created the Global Root Trait (GRooT) Database. GRooT provides readyto- use data by combining the expertise of root ecologists with data mobilization and curation. Specifically, we (a) determined a set of core root traits relevant to the description of plant form and function based on an assessment by experts, (b) maximized species coverage through data standardization within and among traits, and (c) implemented data quality checks. Main types of variables contained: GRooT contains 114,222 trait records on 38 continuous root traits. Spatial location and grain: Global coverage with data from arid, continental, polar, temperate and tropical biomes. Data on root traits were derived from experimental studies and field studies. Time period and grain: Data were recorded between 1911 and 2019. Major taxa and level of measurement: GRooT includes root trait data for which taxonomic information is available. Trait records vary in their taxonomic resolution, with subspecies or varieties being the highest and genera the lowest taxonomic resolution available. It contains information for 184 subspecies or varieties, 6,214 species, 1,967 genera and 254 families. Owing to variation in data sources, trait records in the database include both individual observations and mean values. Software format: GRooT includes two csv files. A GitHub repository contains the csv files and a script in R to query the database.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Hf‐W chronology of a macrochondrule from the L5/6 chondrite Northwest Africa 8192

Abstract A large, igneous‐textured, and 2 cm‐sized spherical object from the L5/6 chondrite NWA 8192 was investigated for its chemical composition, petrography, O isotopic composition, and Hf‐W chronology. The petrography and chemical data indicate that this object closely resembles commonly found chondrules in ordinary chondrites and is therefore classified as a “macrochondrule.* As a result of metal loss during its formation, the macrochondrule exhibits elevated Hf/W, which makes it possible to date this object using the short‐lived 182 Hf‐ 182 W system. The Hf‐W data provide a two‐stage model age for metal–silicate fractionation of 1.4 ± 0.6 Ma after Ca‐Al‐rich inclusion (CAI) formation, indicating that the macrochondrule formed coevally to normal‐sized chondrules from ordinary chondrites. By contrast, Hf‐W data for metal from the host chondrite yield a younger model age of ~11 Ma after CAIs. This younger age agrees with Hf‐W ages of other type 5–6 ordinary chondrites, and corresponds to the time of cooling below the Hf‐W closure temperature during thermal metamorphism on the parent body. The Hf‐W model age difference between the macrochondrule and the host metal demonstrates that the Hf‐W systematics of the bulk macrochondrule were not disturbed during thermal metamorphism, and therefore, that the formation age of such objects can still be determined even in strongly metamorphosed samples. Collectively, this study illustrates that chondrule formation was not limited to mm‐size objects, implying that the rarity of macrochondrules reflects either that this process was very inefficient, that subsequent nebular size‐sorting decimated large chondrules, or that large precursors were rare.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

An integrated framework of plant form and function: the belowground perspective

Summary Plant trait variation drives plant function, community composition and ecosystem processes. However, our current understanding of trait variation disproportionately relies on aboveground observations. Here we integrate root traits into the global framework of plant form and function. We developed and tested an overarching conceptual framework that integrates two recently identified root trait gradients with a well‐established aboveground plant trait framework. We confronted our novel framework with published relationships between above‐ and belowground trait analogues and with multivariate analyses of above‐ and belowground traits of 2510 species. Our traits represent the leaf and root conservation gradients (specific leaf area, leaf and root nitrogen concentration, and root tissue density), the root collaboration gradient (root diameter and specific root length) and the plant size gradient (plant height and rooting depth). We found that an integrated, whole‐plant trait space required as much as four axes. The two main axes represented the fast–slow ‘conservation’ gradient on which leaf and fine‐root traits were well aligned, and the ‘collaboration’ gradient in roots. The two additional axes were separate, orthogonal plant size axes for height and rooting depth. This perspective on the multidimensional nature of plant trait variation better encompasses plant function and influence on the surrounding environment.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Rooting for function: community‐level fine‐root traits relate to many ecosystem functions

Humans are driving biodiversity change, which also alters community functional traits. However, how changes in the functional traits of the community alter ecosystem functions—especially belowground—remains an important gap in our understanding of the consequences of biodiversity change. We test hypotheses for how the root traits of the root economics space (composed of the collaboration and conservation gradients) are associated with proxies for ecosystem functioning across grassland and forest ecosystems in both observational and experimental datasets from 810 plant communities. First, we assessed whether community-weighted means of the root economics space traits adhered to the same trade-offs as species-level root traits. Then, we examined the relationships between community-weighted mean root traits and aboveground biomass production, root standing biomass, soil fauna biomass, soil microbial biomass, decomposition of standard and plot-specific material, ammonification, nitrification, phosphatase activity, and drought resistance. We found evidence for a community collaboration gradient but not for a community conservation gradient. Yet, links between community root traits and ecosystem functions were more common than we expected, especially for aboveground biomass, microbial biomass, and decomposition. These findings suggest that changes in species composition, which alter root trait means, will in turn affect critical ecosystem functions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Melting and Ejecta Produced by High Velocity Microparticle Impacts of Steel on Tin

At sufficiently high velocities, a microparticle impacting a metal substrate can cause ejection of material from the substrate and impact-induced melting, both of which can result in erosion. Here, we directly image the impact of individual hard steel microparticles on soft tin substrates, at controlled impact velocities in the range of ~100 to 1000 m/s. By using scanning electron and laser scanning confocal microscopy, we characterize the surface morphology, depth, and volume of each impact crater. We observe a gradual onset of impact-induced melting in the craters, as well as the production of increasing amounts of ejecta from the target metal. By comparing measurements of impact and rebound velocity to an elastic-plastic model, we observe that at a high enough impact velocity, melting and ejection begin to consume additional kinetic energy beyond that expected by plastic deformation of the target material alone. By calculating the excess energy dissipation using this elastic-plastic model, we show that although this divergent behavior is associated with the onset of melting, the majority of the ejected volume must be solid rather than liquid.

Mechanics↗
DOE OSTI2020

The fungal collaboration gradient dominates the root economics space in plants

Plant economics run on carbon and nutrients instead of money. Leaf strategies aboveground span an economic spectrum from “live fast and die young” to “slow and steady,” but the economy defined by root strategies belowground remains unclear. Here, we take a holistic view of the belowground economy and show that root-mycorrhizal collaboration can short circuit a one-dimensional economic spectrum, providing an entire space of economic possibilities. Root trait data from 1810 species across the globe confirm a classical fast-slow “conservation” gradient but show that most variation is explained by an orthogonal “collaboration” gradient, ranging from “do-it-yourself” resource uptake to “outsourcing” of resource uptake to mycorrhizal fungi. This broadened “root economics space” provides a solid foundation for predictive understanding of belowground responses to changing environmental conditions.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Carbon isotope evidence for the global physiology of Proterozoic cyanobacteria

Ancestral cyanobacteria are assumed to be prominent primary producers after the Great Oxidation Event [≈2.4 to 2.0 billion years (Ga) ago], but carbon isotope fractionation by extant marine cyanobacteria (α-cyanobacteria) is inconsistent with isotopic records of carbon fixation by primary producers in the mid-Proterozoic eon (1.8 to 1.0 Ga ago). To resolve this disagreement, we quantified carbon isotope fractionation by a wild-type planktic β-cyanobacterium (Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002), an engineered Proterozoic analog lacking a CO 2 -concentrating mechanism, and cyanobacterial mats. At mid-Proterozoic pH and pCO 2 values, carbon isotope fractionation by the wild-type β-cyanobacterium is fully consistent with the Proterozoic carbon isotope record, suggesting that cyanobacteria with CO 2 -concentrating mechanisms were apparently the major primary producers in the pelagic Proterozoic ocean, despite atmospheric CO 2 levels up to 100 times modern. The selectively permeable microcompartments central to cyanobacterial CO 2 -concentrating mechanisms (“carboxysomes”) likely emerged to shield rubisco from O 2 during the Great Oxidation Event.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Serial-femtosecond crystallography reveals how a phytochrome variant couples chromophore and protein structural changes

The photoreaction and commensurate structural changes of a chromophore within biological photoreceptors elicit conformational transitions of the protein promoting the switch between deactivated and activated states. We investigated how this coupling is achieved in a bacterial phytochrome variant, Agp2-PAiRFP2. Contrary to classical protein crystallography, which only allows probing (cryo-trapped) stable states, we have used time-resolved serial femtosecond x-ray crystallography (tr-SFX) and pump-probe techniques with various illumination and delay times with respect to photoexcitation of the parent Pfr state. Thus, structural data for seven time frames were sorted into groups of molecular events along the reaction coordinate. They range from chromophore isomerization to the formation of Meta-F, the intermediate that precedes the functional relevant secondary structure transition of the tongue. Structural data for the early events were used to calculate the photoisomerization pathway to complement the experimental data. Late events allow identifying the molecular switch that is linked to the intramolecular proton transfer as a prerequisite for the following structural transitions.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Watching a hydroperoxyalkyl radical (•QOOH) dissociate

A prototypical hydroperoxyalkyl radical (•QOOH) intermediate, transiently formed in the oxidation of volatile organic compounds, was directly observed through its infrared fingerprint and energy-dependent unimolecular decay to hydroxyl radical and cyclic ether products. Direct time-domain measurements of •QOOH unimolecular dissociation rates over a wide range of energies were found to be in accord with those predicted theoretically using state-of-the-art electronic structure characterizations of the transition state barrier region. Unimolecular decay was enhanced by substantial heavy-atom tunneling involving O-O elongation and C-C-O angle contraction along the reaction pathway. Master equation modeling yielded a fully a priori prediction of the pressure-dependent thermal unimolecular dissociation rates for the •QOOH intermediate—again increased by heavy-atom tunneling—which are required for global models of atmospheric and combustion chemistry.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

An antibody class with a common CDRH3 motif broadly neutralizes sarbecoviruses

The devastation caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has made clear the importance of pandemic preparedness. To address future zoonotic outbreaks due to related viruses in the sarbecovirus subgenus, we identified a human monoclonal antibody, 10-40, that neutralized or bound all sarbecoviruses tested in vitro and protected against SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV in vivo. Comparative studies with other receptor-binding domain (RBD)–directed antibodies showed 10-40 to have the greatest breadth against sarbecoviruses, suggesting that 10-40 is a promising agent for pandemic preparedness. Moreover, structural analyses on 10-40 and similar antibodies not only defined an epitope cluster in the inner face of the RBD that is well conserved among sarbecoviruses but also uncovered a distinct antibody class with a common CDRH3 motif. Our analyses also suggested that elicitation of this class of antibodies may not be overly difficult, an observation that bodes well for the development of a pan-sarbecovirus vaccine.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Measurement of single-diffractive dijet production in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 8 TeV with the CMS and TOTEM experiments

Measurements are presented of the single-diffractive dijet cross section and the diffractive cross section as a function of the proton fractional momentum loss $\xi $ and the four-momentum transfer squared t. Both processes ${\text{ p }{}{}} {\text{ p }{}{}} \rightarrow {\text{ p }{}{}} {\text{ X }} $ and ${\text{ p }{}{}} {\text{ p }{}{}} \rightarrow {\text{ X }} {\text{ p }{}{}} $, i.e. with the proton scattering to either side of the interaction point, are measured, where ${\text{ X }} $ includes at least two jets; the results of the two processes are averaged. The analyses are based on data collected simultaneously with the CMS and TOTEM detectors at the LHC in proton–proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 8\,\text {Te}\text {V} $ during a dedicated run with $\beta ^{*} = 90\,\text {m} $ at low instantaneous luminosity and correspond to an integrated luminosity of $37.5{\,\text {nb}^{-1}} $. The single-diffractive dijet cross section $\sigma ^{{\text{ p }{}{}} {\text{ X }}}_{\mathrm {jj}}$, in the kinematic region $\xi < 0.1$, $0.03< |t | < 1\,\text {Ge}\text {V} ^2$, with at least two jets with transverse momentum $p_{\mathrm {T}} > 40\,\text {Ge}\text {V} $, and pseudorapidity $|\eta | < 4.4$, is $21.7 \pm 0.9\,\text {(stat)} \,^{+3.0}_{-3.3}\,\text {(syst)} \pm 0.9\,\text {(lumi)} \,\text {nb} $. The ratio of the single-diffractive to inclusive dijet yields, normalised per unit of $\xi $, is presented as a function of x, the longitudinal momentum fraction of the proton carried by the struck parton. The ratio in the kinematic region defined above, for x values in the range $-2.9 \le \log _{10} x \le -1.6$, is $R = (\sigma ^{{\text{ p }{}{}} {\text{ X }}}_{\mathrm {jj}}/\Delta \xi )/\sigma _{\mathrm {jj}} = 0.025 \pm 0.001\,\text {(stat)} \pm 0.003\,\text {(syst)} $, where $\sigma ^{{\text{ p }{}{}} {\text{ X }}}_{\mathrm {jj}}$ and $\sigma _{\mathrm {jj}}$ are the single-diffractive and inclusive dijet cross sections, respectively. The results are compared with predictions from models of diffractive and nondiffractive interactions. Monte Carlo predictions based on the HERA diffractive parton distribution functions agree well with the data when corrected for the effect of soft rescattering between the spectator partons.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Study of central exclusive $\pi^+\pi^-$ production in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 5.02 and 13 TeV

Central exclusive and semiexclusive production of pairs is measured with the CMS detector in proton-proton collisions at the LHC at center-of-mass energies of 5.02 and 13TeV. The theoretical description of these nonperturbative processes, which have not yet been measured in detail at the LHC, poses a significant challenge to models. The two pions are measured and identified in the CMS silicon tracker based on specific energy loss, whereas the absence of other particles is ensured by calorimeter information. The total and differential cross sections of exclusive and semiexclusive central production are measured as functions of invariant mass, transverse momentum, and rapidity of the system in the fiducial region defined as transverse momentum and pseudorapidity . The production cross sections for the four resonant channels [inline-graphic not available: see fulltext], , [inline-graphic not available: see fulltext], and [inline-graphic not available: see fulltext]are extracted using a simple model. These results represent the first measurement of this process at the LHC collision energies of 5.02 and 13TeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

ExactPack

A new version of the verification tool ExactPack, 1.7.0, includes three new solvers: A Radshocks solver, Riemann solver and an Elastic-Plastic Piston problem solver. The code has been refactored to work with Python 3. All Fortran code has been removed and solvers implemented in Fortran have been re-implemented in Python where necessary. All unit tests have been converted to use the Pytest format and all the GUI, CLI and verification analysis code has been removed.

Thrussell, Jasper↗
DOE OSTI2023

Wildfire smoke exposure and early childhood respiratory health: a study of prescription claims data

Abstract Wildfire smoke is associated with short-term respiratory outcomes including asthma exacerbation in children. As investigations into developmental wildfire smoke exposure on children’s longer-term respiratory health are sparse, we investigated associations between developmental wildfire smoke exposure and first use of respiratory medications. Prescription claims from IBM MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters database were linked with wildfire smoke plume data from NASA satellites based on Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). A retrospective cohort of live infants (2010–2016) born into MSAs in six western states (U.S.A.), having prescription insurance, and whose birthdate was estimable from claims data was constructed ( N = 184,703); of these, gestational age was estimated for 113,154 infants. The residential MSA, gestational age, and birthdate were used to estimate average weekly smoke exposure days ( smoke-day ) for each developmental period: three trimesters, and two sequential 12-week periods post-birth. Medications treating respiratory tract inflammation were classified using active ingredient and mode of administration into three categories:: 'upper respiratory', 'lower respiratory', 'systemic anti-inflammatory'. To evaluate associations between wildfire smoke exposure and medication usage, Cox models associating smoke-days with first observed prescription of each medication category were adjusted for infant sex, birth-season, and birthyear with a random intercept for MSA. Smoke exposure during postnatal periods was associated with earlier first use of upper respiratory medications (1–12 weeks: hazard ratio (HR) = 1.094 per 1-day increase in average weekly smoke-day, 95%CI: (1.005,1.191); 13–24 weeks: HR = 1.108, 95%CI: (1.016,1.209)). Protective associations were observed during gestational windows for both lower respiratory and systemic anti-inflammatory medications; it is possible that these associations may be a consequence of live-birth bias. These findings suggest wildfire smoke exposure during early postnatal developmental periods impact subsequent early life respiratory health.

Dhingra, Radhika↗
DOE OSTI2023

Serving Verifiable, Device-Independent Randomness to the Public

Device-independent random number generators can be certified unhackable simply by the impossibility of superluminal signaling. We demonstrate a novel protocol to transparently operationalize this security through a public randomness beacon service.

Kavuri, Gautam A.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Traceable Device-Independent Randomness as a Service

We implement a traceable protocol for device-independent random number generation. Our demonstration involves transparently integrating a device-independent RNG into a public randomness beacon, and feeding 7434 random number pulses into the beacon over 39 days.

Kavuri, Gautam A.↗