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At least 163 records · Page 9

Experimental partitioning studies near the Fe-FeS eutectic, with an emphasis on elements important to iron meteorite chronologies (Pb, Ag, Pd, and Tl)

Partitioning coefficients for metal/sulfide liquid, troilite/sulfide liquid, and schreibersite/sulfide liquid were determined for Ag, Au, Mo, Ni, Pd, and Tl (using EMPA and proton-induced X-ray microprobe and ion microprobe analyses) in order to understand the chronometer systems of iron meteorites. In general, the obtained schreibersite/metal and troilite/metal partition coefficients for 'compatible' elements were quite similar to those inferred from natural assemblages, reinforcing an earlier made conclusion that there is a class of elements for which experimental troilite/metal and schreibersite/metal partition coefficients approximate those inferred from natural samples. The consistency between experimental and natural assemblages, however, was not observed for Ag, Pb, and Tl, indicating that the abundances of these elements determined in 'metal' and 'troilite' separates from iron meteorites are influenced by trace minerals that concentrate incompatible elements.

Jones, J. H.↗

An experimental study of trace element partitioning between perovskite, hibonite and melt: Equilibrium values

The presence of perovskite (CATiO3) and hibonite (Ca Al12O19) within different regions of Calcium-, Aluminum-rich Inclusions (CAI) and the trace element concentrations of these minerals in each circumstance, constrain models of precursor formation, nebular condensation, the thermal history of inclusions with relict perovskite and hibonite, and the formation of the Wark-Lovering rim. At present mineral/melt partition coefficient data for hibonite are limited to a few elements in simple experimental systems, or to those derived from hibonite-glass pairs in hibonite/glass microspherules. Similarly, there is only limited data on perovskite D that are applicable to meteorite compositions. Apart from the importance of partitioning studies to meteorite research, D values also are invaluable in the development of thermodynamic models, especially when data is available for a large number of elements that have different ionic charge and radii. In addition, study of the effect of rapid cooling on partitioning is crucial to our understanding of meteorite inclusions. To expand our knowledge of mineral/melt D for perovskite and hibonite, a study was instituted where D values are obtained in both equilibrium and dynamic cooling experiments. As an initial phase of this study mineral/melt D was measured for major elements (Ca, Mg, Al, Ti, and Si), 15 rare earth elements (La-Lu) and 8 other elements (Ba, Sr, U, Th, Nb, Zr, Hf, and Ge) in perovskite and hibonite grown under equilibrium conditions, in bulk compositions that are respectively similar to Compact Type A (CTA) CAI and to a hibonite/glass microspherule. Experimental mixes were doped with REE at 20-50x chondritic (ch) abundances, Ba at 50 ppm, Sr, Hf, Nb, and Zr at 100 ppm and, U and Th at 200 ppm. Trace element abundances were measured with the PANURGE ion microprobe. Major element compositions were obtained by electron microprobe analysis.

Kennedy, A. K.↗

Partition coefficients for Al, Ca, Ti, Cr, and Ni in olivine obtained by melting experiment on an LL6 chondrite

We report the partition coefficients for Ca, Al, Ti, Cr, and Ni in olivine obtained through a series of melting experiments on an LL6 chondrite under varying conditions of temperature and oxygen fugacity. It is necessary to examine the variation of partition coefficients up to extremely reducing conditions in order to study meteoritic olivines. For Ca, Al, and Cr, the partition coefficients tend to decrease as temperature increases, but do not change even under extremely reducing conditions.

Miyamoto, M.↗

Automatic partitioning of unstructured grids into connected components

This paper presents two partitioning schemes that guarantee connected components given a connected initial grid. Connected components are important for convergence of methods such as domain decomposition or multigrid. For many of the grids tested, the schemes produce partitions as good (in terms of number of cut edges) or better than spectral partitioning and require only modest computational resources. This paper describes the two schemes in detail and presents comparison results from a number of two and three dimensional unstructured grids.

Dagum, Leonardo↗

Fractional crystallization of iron meteorites: Constant versus changing partition coefficients

Analyses of magmatic iron meteorites, plotted on LogC(sub i) vs LogC(sub Ni) diagrams, often form linear arrays. Traditionally, this linearity has been ascribed to fractional crystallization under the assumption of constant partition coefficients (i.e., Rayleigh fractionation). Paradoxically, however, partition coefficients in the Fe-Ni-S-P system are decidedly not constant. This contribution provides a rationale for understanding how trends on LogC(sub i) vs LogC(sub Ni) diagrams can be linear, even when partition coefficients are changing rapidly.

Jones, J. H.↗

Knowledge base rule partitioning design for CLIPS

This describes a knowledge base (KB) partitioning approach to solve the problem of real-time performance using the CLIPS AI shell when containing large numbers of rules and facts. This work is funded under the joint USAF/NASA Advanced Launch System (ALS) Program as applied research in expert systems to perform vehicle checkout for real-time controller and diagnostic monitoring tasks. The Expert System advanced development project (ADP-2302) main objective is to provide robust systems responding to new data frames of 0.1 to 1.0 second intervals. The intelligent system control must be performed within the specified real-time window, in order to meet the demands of the given application. Partitioning the KB reduces the complexity of the inferencing Rete net at any given time. This reduced complexity improves performance but without undo impacts during load and unload cycles. The second objective is to produce highly reliable intelligent systems. This requires simple and automated approaches to the KB verification & validation task. Partitioning the KB reduces rule interaction complexity overall. Reduced interaction simplifies the V&V testing necessary by focusing attention only on individual areas of interest. Many systems require a robustness that involves a large number of rules, most of which are mutually exclusive under different phases or conditions. The ideal solution is to control the knowledge base by loading rules that directly apply for that condition, while stripping out all rules and facts that are not used during that cycle. The practical approach is to cluster rules and facts into associated 'blocks'. A simple approach has been designed to control the addition and deletion of 'blocks' of rules and facts, while allowing real-time operations to run freely. Timing tests for real-time performance for specific machines under R/T operating systems have not been completed but are planned as part of the analysis process to validate the design.

Mainardi, Joseph D.↗

Site Partitioning for Redundant Arrays of Distributed Disks

Redundant arrays of distributed disks (RADD) can be used in a distributed computing system or database system to provide recovery in the presence of disk crashes and temporary and permanent failures of single sites. In this paper, we look at the problem of partitioning the sites of a distributed storage system into redundant arrays in such a way that the communication costs for maintaining the parity information are minimized. We show that the partitioning problem is NP-hard. We then propose and evaluate several heuristic algorithms for finding approximate solutions. Simulation results show that significant reduction in remote parity update costs can be achieved by optimizing the site partitioning scheme.

Mourad, Antoine N.↗

The Perils of Partition: Difficulties in Retrieving Magma Compositions from Chemically Equilibrated Basaltic Meteorites

The chemical compositions of magmas can be derived from the compositions of their equilibrium minerals through mineral/magma partition coefficients. This method cannot be applied safely to basaltic rocks, either solidified lavas or cumulates, which have chemically equilibrated or partially equilibrated at subsolidus temperatures, i.e., in the absence of magma. Applying mineral/ melt partition coefficients to mineral compositions from such rocks will typically yield 'magma compositions' that are strongly fractionated and unreasonably enriched in incompatible elements (e.g., REE's). In the absence of magma, incompatible elements must go somewhere; they are forced into minerals (e.g., pyroxenes, plagioclase) at abundance levels far beyond those established during normal mineral/magma equilibria. Further, using mineral/magma partition coefficients with such rocks may suggest that different minerals equilibrated with different magmas, and the fractionation sequence of those melts (i.e., enrichment in incompatible elements) may not be consistent with independent constraints on the order of crystallization. Subsolidus equilibration is a reasonable cause for incompatible- element-enriched minerals in some eucrites, diogenites, and martian meteorites and offers a simple alternative to petrogenetic schemes involving highly fractionated magmas or magma infiltration metasomatism.

Treiman, Allan H.↗

REE Partition Coefficients from Synthetic Diogenite-Like Enstatite and the Implications of Petrogenetic Modeling

Determining the petrogenesis of eucrites (basaltic achondrites) and diogenites (orthopyroxenites) and the possible links between the meteorite types was initiated 30 years ago by Mason. Since then, most investigators have worked on this question. A few contrasting theories have emerged, with the important distinction being whether or not there is a direct genetic link between eucrites and diogenites. One theory suggests that diogenites are cumulates resulting from the fractional crystallization of a parent magma with the eucrites crystallizing, from the residual magma after separation from the diogenite cumulates. Another model proposes that diogenites are cumulates formed from partial melts derived from a source region depleted by the prior generation of eucrite melts. It has also been proposed that the diogenites may not be directly linked to the eucrites and that they are cumulates derived from melts that are more orthopyroxene normative than the eucrites. This last theory has recently received more analytical and experimental support. One of the difficulties with petrogenetic modeling is that it requires appropriate partition coefficients for modeling because they are dependent on temperature, pressure, and composition. For this reason, we set out to determine minor- and trace-element partition coefficients for diogenite-like orthopyroxene. We have accomplished this task and now have enstatite/melt partition coefficients for Al, Cr, Ti, La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Dy, Er, Yb, and La.

Schwandt, C. S.↗

Oxygen Fugacity of the Martian Mantle From Pyroxene/Melt Partitioning of REE

This study is part of an ongoing effort to calibrate the pyroxene/melt REE oxybarometer for conditions relevant to the martian meteorites. Redox variations have been reported among the shergottites. Wadhwa used the Eu and Gd augite/melt partitioning experiments of McKay, designed for the LEW86010 angrite, to infer a range of fo2 for the shergottites. Others inferred fo2 using equilibria between Fe-Ti oxides. There is fairly good agreement between the Fe-Ti oxide determinations and the estimates from Eu anomalies in terms of which meteorites are more or less oxidized. The Eu anomaly technique and the Fe-Ti oxide technique both essentially show the same trend, with Shergotty and Zagami being the most oxidized and QUE94201 and DaG 476 being the most reduced. Thus, the variation in fo2 appears to be both real and substantive. However, although the redox trends indicated by the two techniques are similar, there is as much as two log unit offset between the results of three researchers. One explanation for this offset is that the Eu calibration used for the shergottites was actually designed for the LEW86010 angrite, a silica-undersaturated basalt whose pyroxene (diopside) compositions are rather extreme. To correct this, experiments have been conducted on the redox relationship of Eu partitioning relative to Sm and Gd for pyroxene/melt compositions more relevant to Martian meteorites. We report here preliminary results for experiments on pigeonite/melt partitioning as a function of fO2.

Musselwhite, D. S.↗

Metal/Silicate Partitioning of P, Ga, and W at High Pressures and Temperatures: Dependence on Silicate Melt Composition

The distinctive pattern of element concentrations in the upper mantle provides essential evidence in our attempts to understand the accretion and differentiation of the Earth (e.g., Drake and Righter, 2002; Jones and Drake, 1986; Righter et al., 1997; Wanke 1981). Core formation is best investigated through use of metal/silicate partition coefficients for siderophile elements. The variables influencing partition coefficients are temperature, pressure, the major element compositions of the silicate and metal phases, and oxygen fugacity. Examples of studies investigating the effects of these variables on partitioning behavior are: composition of the metal phase by Capobianco et al. (1999) and Righter et al. (1997); silicate melt composition by Watson (1976), Walter and Thibault (1995), Hillgren et al. (1996), Jana and Walker (1997), and Jaeger and Drake (2000); and oxygen fugacity by Capobianco et al. (1999), and Walter and Thibault (1995). Here we address the relative influences of silicate melt composition, pressure and temperature.

Bailey, Edward↗

Photosynthetic capacity and dry mass partitioning in dwarf and semi-dwarf wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Efficient use of space and high yields are critical for long-term food production aboard the International Space Station. The selection of a full dwarf wheat (less than 30 cm tall) with high photosynthetic and yield potential is a necessary prerequisite for growing wheat in the controlled, volume-limited environments available aboard long-term spaceflight missions. This study evaluated the photosynthetic capacity and carbon partitioning of a full-dwarf wheat cultivar, Super Dwarf, which is routinely used in spaceflight studies aboard U.S. space shuttle and NASA/Mir missions and made comparisons with other dwarf and semi-dwarf wheat cultivars utilized in other ground-based studies in plant space biology. Photosynthetic capacity of the flag leaf in two dwarf (Super Dwarf, BB-19), and three semi-dwarf (Veery-10, Yecora Rojo, IBWSN 199) wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum L.) was assessed by measuring: net maximum photosynthetic rate, RuBP carboxylation efficiency, chlorophyll concentration and flag leaf area. Dry mass partitioning of carbohydrates to the leaves, sheaths, stems and ear was also assessed. Plants were grown under controlled environmental conditions in three replicate studies: slightly enriched CO2 (370 micromoles mol-1), high photosynthetic photon flux (1000 micromoles m-2 s-1; 58 mol m-2 d-1) for a 16 h photoperiod, 22/15 degrees C day/night temperatures, ample nutrients and water provided by one-half strength Hoagland's nutrient solution (Hoagland and Arnon, 1950). Photosynthetic capacity of the flag leaf was determined at anthesis using net CO2 exchange rate versus internal CO2 concentration curves measured under saturating light (2000 micromoles m-2 s-1) and CO2 (1000 micromoles mol-1). Dwarf wheat cultivars had greater photosynthetic capacities than the taller semi-dwarfs, they averaged 20% higher maximum net photosynthetic rates compared to the taller semi-dwarfs, but these higher rates occurred only at anthesis, had slightly greater carboxylation efficiencies and significantly increased chlorophyll concentrations per unit leaf area. The reduced-height wheat had significantly less dry mass fraction in the stem but greater dry mass partitioned to the ear than the taller semi-dwarfs (Yecora rojo, IBWSN-199). Studies with detached heads confirm that the head is a significant sink in the shorter wheat cultivars.

Non-NASA Center↗

Alterations in internal partitioning of carbon in soybean plants in response to nitrogen stress

Alterations in internal partitioning of carbon were evaluated in plants exposed to limited nitrogen supply. Vegetative, nonnodulated soybean plants (Glycine max (L.) Merrill, 'Ransom') were grown for 21 days with 1.0 mM NO3- and then exposed to solutions containing 1.0, 0.1, or 0.0 mM NO3- for a 25-day treatment period. In nitrogen-limited plants, there were decreases in emergence of new leaves and in the expansion rate and final area at full expansion of individual leaves. As indicated by alterations in accumulation of dry weight, a larger proportion of available carbon in the plant was partitioned to the roots with decreased availability of nitrogen. Partitioning of reduced nitrogen to the root also was increased and, in plants devoid of an external supply, considerable redistribution of reduced nitrogen from leaves to the root occurred. The general decrease in growth potential and sink strength for nutrients in leaves of nitrogen-limited plants suggested that factors other than simply availability of nitrogen likely were involved in the restriction of growth in the leaf canopy and the associated increase in carbon allocation to the roots.

Soybeans/growth & development/metabolism↗

Experimental Partitioning of Cr(3+) and Sc(3+) into Olivine: Mechanisms and Implications

Olivine (Mg, Fe)Si2O4 does not, by stoichiometry, accept cations such as Sc(3+) or Cr(3+). However, the partition coefficients of Sc and Cr between olivine and liquid are significant 0.2-1.0. We have measured Cr(3+) partition coefficients of near unity and have grown olivines with nearly 3 wt.% Sc2O3. Therefore, there must be a simple means of charge balancing 3+ ions in a crystal structure that was obviously not designed to receive other than 2+ ions on the olivine M sites. The simplest explanation is that two 3+ ions enter the olivine structure by displacing three 2+ ions and creating an M site vacancy. Even this explanation has difficulties. For minor elements in our experiments (~1 wt.%) the odds of a minor element 3+ ion finding a second 3+ for charge balance are of the order of 100:1 against. Because of the reducing conditions of our experiments, Fe(3+) will not suffice; and Al(3+) is not in sufficient quantity in olivine for charge balance. Therefore, Cr or Sc must, in effect, charge balance itself. For true trace elements, the problem is compounded many times. For an ion at the 10 ppm level the chances of finding a second (for example) Sc ion is approx.10(exp 5):1 against. Of course, any other 3+ ion would suffice but comparisons between percent level doping experiments and trace level partitioning indicate that Henry s law is obeyed. This implies that the same substitution mechanism occurs at both the percent and tens of ppm levels. There are two simple solutions to this problem: (i) The electrical conductivity of olivine is such that charge balance need not be local. This requires substantial domains within the olivine crystal in electrical contact by migration of vacancies or electronic defects. (ii) The 3+ cation brings along its own charge-balancing ion because it existed as a dimer in the silicate liquid. Olivine is not a true insulator but is actually a p-type semiconductor. Even so, electrical communication by this means is unlikely over the tens or hundreds of unit cells that would be required for charge balance to be local. Therefore, we cautiously favor the idea that melt speciation is the means by which 3+ ions enter the olivine structure. Possibly this model might be tested by in situ XAFS measurements or by molecular dynamical calculations.

Jones, John↗

Experimental Constraints on the Partitioning and Valence of V and Cr in Garnet and Coexisting Glass

A series of experiments with garnet and coexisting melt have been carried out across a range of oxygen fugacities (near hematite-magnetite (HM) to below the iron-wustite (IW) buffers) at 1.7 GPa to study the partitioning and valence of Cr and V in both phases. Experiments were carried out in a non end loaded piston cylinder apparatus, and the run products were analyzed with electron microprobe and xray absorption near edge structure (XANES) analysis at beamline 13-ID at the Advanced Photon Source of Argonne National Lab. The valence of vanadium and chromium were determined using the position and intensity of the Ka pre-edge peaks, calibrated on a series of Cr and Vbearing standard glasses. This technique has been applied to V and Cr in glasses and V in spinels previously, and in these isotropic phases there are no orientational effects on the XANES spectra (Righter et al., 2006, Amer. Mineral. 91, 1643-1656). We also now demonstrate this to be true for V and Cr in garnet. Also, previous work has shown that V has a higher valence in the glass (or melt) than in the coexisting spinel. This is also true for V in garnet-glass pairs in this study. Vanadium valence in garnets varies from 2.7 below the IW buffer to 3.7 near HM, and for coexisting glass it varies from 3.2 to 4.3. Vanadium valence measured in some natural garnets from mantle localities indicates V in the more reduced range at 2.5. Comparisons will be made between fO2 estimated from V valence and other methods for garnet-bearing mantle samples. In contrast, Cr valence measured in garnet and coexisting glass for all experimental and natural samples is 2.9- 3.0, suggesting that the valence of Cr does not vary within either phase across a large fO2 range. These results demonstrate that while V varies from 2+ to 3+ to 4+ in garnet-melt systems, Cr does not, and this will ultimately affect the partitioning behavior of these two elements in natural systems. Garnet/melt D(Cr) are between 12 and 17 across this range of fO2, whereas D(V) has the highest partition coefficient approx.3, near the IW buffer where the valence of V is almost entirely 3+.

Righter, K.↗

Partitioning the LIS/OTD Lightning Climatological Dataset into Separate Ground and Cloud Flash Distributions

Presently, it is not well understood how to best model nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from lightning because lightning is highly variable. Peak current, channel length, channel altitude, stroke multiplicity, and the number of flashes that occur in a particular region (i.e., flash density) all influence the amount of lightning NOx produced. Moreover, these 5 variables are not the same for ground and cloud flashes; e.g., cloud flashes normally have lower peak currents, higher altitudes, and higher flash densities than ground flashes [see (Koshak, 2009) for additional details]. Because the existing satellite observations of lightning (Fig. 1) from the Lightning Imaging Sensor/Optical Transient Detector (LIS/OTD) do not distinguish between ground and cloud fashes, which produce different amounts of NOx, it is very difficult to accurately account for the regional/global production of lightning NOx. Hence, the ability to partition the LIS/OTD lightning climatology into separate ground and cloud flash distributions would substantially benefit the atmospheric chemistry modeling community. NOx indirectly influences climate because it controls the concentration of ozone and hydroxyl radicals in the atmosphere. The importance of lightning-produced NOx is empasized throughout the scientific literature (see for example, Huntrieser et al. 1998). In fact, lightning is the most important NOx source in the upper troposphere with a global production rate estimated to vary between 2 and 20 Tg (N)yr(sup -1) (Lee et al., 1997), with more recent estimates of about 6 Tg(N)yr(sup -1) (Martin et al., 2007). In order to make accurate predictions, global chemistry/climate models (as well as regional air quality modells) must more accurately account for the effects of lightning NOx. In particular, the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) Model E (Schmidt et al., 2005) and the GEOS-CHEM global chemical transport model (Bey et al., 2001) would each benefit from a partitioning of the LIS/OTD lightning climatology. In this study, we introduce a new technique for retrieving the ground flash fraction in a set of N lightning observed from space and that occur within a specific latitude/longitude bin. The method is briefly described and applied to CONUS lightning that have already been partitioned into ground and cloud flashes using independent ground-based observations, in order to assess the accuracy of the retrieval method. The retrieval errors are encouragingly small.

Koshak, W. J.↗

Re-Evaluation of HSE DATA in Light of High P-T Partitioning Data: Late Chondritic Addition to Inner Solar System Bodies Not Always Required for HSE

Studies of terrestrial peridotite and martian and achondritic meteorites have led to the conclusion that addition of chondritic material to growing planets or planetesimals, after core formation, occurred on Earth, Moon, Mars, asteroid 4 Vesta, and the parent body of the angritic meteorites. One study even proposed that this was a common process in the final stages of growth. These conclusions are based al-most entirely on the 8 highly siderophile elements (HSE; Re, Au, Pt, Pd, Rh, Ru, Ir, Os), which have been used to argue for late accretion of chondritic material to the Earth after core formation was complete. This idea was originally proposed because the D(metal/silicate) values for the HSE are very high (greater than 10,000), yet their concentration in the terrestrial mantle is too high to be consistent with such high Ds. The HSE in the terrestrial mantle also are present in chondritic relative abundances and hence require similar Ds if this was the result of core-mantle equilibration. The conclusion that late chondritic additions are required for all five of these bodies is based on the chondritic relative abundances of the HSE, as well as their elevated concentrations in the samples. An easy solution is to call upon addition of chondritic material to the mantle of each body, just after core formation; however, in practice this means similar additions of chondritic materials to each body just after core formation which ranges from approximately 4-5 Ma after T(sub 0) for 4 Vesta and the angrites, to 10-25 Ma for Mars, to 35 to 60 Ma for Moon and perhaps the Earth. Since the work of there has been a realization that high PT conditions can lower the partition coefficients of many siderophile elements, indicating that high PT conditions (magma ocean stage) can potentially explain elevated siderophile element abundances. However, detailed high PT partitioning data have been lacking for many of the HSE to evaluate whether such ideas are viable for all four bodies. Re-cent partitioning studies have covered P, T, fO2, and compositional ranges that allow values to be predicted at conditions relevant to these five inner solar system bodies. Because the D(HSE) metal/silicate are lowered substantially at higher PT conditions and natural com-positions (FeNi metallic liquids and peridotites) it is natural to re-examine the role of core formation on the HSE patterns in a variety of inner solar system bodies. Here I will discuss other processes (including high PT core formation for Mars, Moon and Earth) that can produce the observed HSE patterns, and demonstrate that there are viable hypotheses other than the "one size fits all" hypothesis of late chondritic additions.

Righter, K.↗

Platinum Partitioning at Low Oxygen Fugacity: Implications for Core Formation Processes

Highly siderophile elements (HSE = Au, Re, and the Pt-group elements) are tracers of silicate / metal interactions during planetary processes. Since most core-formation models involve some state of equilibrium between liquid silicate and liquid metal, understanding the partioning of highly siderophile elements (HSE) between silicate and metallic melts is a key issue for models of core / mantle equilibria and for core formation scenarios. However, partitioning models for HSE are still inaccurate due to the lack of sufficient experimental constraints to describe the variations of partitioning with key variable like temperature, pressure, and oxygen fugacity. In this abstract, we describe a self-consistent set of experiments aimed at determining the valence of platinum, one of the HSE, in silicate melts. This is a key information required to parameterize the evolution of platinum partitioning with oxygen fugacity.

Medard, E.↗