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At least 163 records · Page 9

Modeling the Skills and Practices of Scientists through an “All-Inclusive” Comparative Planetology Student Research Investigation

To effectively prepare the nation's future Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce, students in today's classrooms need opportunities to engage in authentic experiences that model skills and practices used by STEM professionals. Relevant, real-world authentic research experiences allow students to behave as scientists as they model the process of science. This enables students to get a true sense of STEM-related professions and also allows them to develop the requisite knowledge, skills, curiosity, and creativity necessary for success in STEM careers. Providing professional development and opportunities to help teachers infuse research in the classroom is one of the primary goals of the Expedition Earth and Beyond (EEAB) program. EEAB, facilitated by the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Directorate at the NASA Johnson Space Center, is an Earth and planetary science education program designed to inspire, engage, and educate teachers and students in grades 5-12 by getting them actively involved with exploration, discovery, and the process of science. The program combines the expertise of scientists and educators to ensure the professional development provided to classroom teachers is scientifically valid and also recognizes classroom constraints. For many teachers, facilitating research in the classroom can be challenging. In addition to addressing required academic standards and dealing with time constraints, challenges include structuring a research investigation the entire class can successfully complete. To build educator confidence, foster positive classroom research experiences, and enable teachers to help students model the skills and practices of scientists, EEAB has created an "allinclusive" comparative planetology research investigation activity. This activity addresses academic standards while recognizing students (and teachers) potentially lack experience with scientific practices involved in conducting research. Designed as an entry level research engagement investigation, the activity introduces, illustrates, and teaches the skills involved in each step of the research process. Students use astronaut photos, provided through the ARES Crew Earth Observations (CEO) payload on the International Space Station (ISS) as well as remote sensing imagery of other planetary worlds. By including all the necessary tools to complete the investigation, students can focus on gaining experience in the process of science. Additionally, students are able to extend their experience of modeling the skills and practices of scientists through the opportunity to request new data of Earth from the ISS. Professional development offered through in-person and webinar trainings, along with the resources provided, enable educators to gain first-hand experience implementing a structured research investigation in the classroom. Through data and feedback collected from teachers, this type of "all-inclusive" investigation activity aims to become a model that can be utilized for other research topics and STEM disciplines.

Graff, Paige↗

Privacy-Preserving Knowledge Transfer with Bootstrap Aggregation of Teacher Ensembles

There is a need to transfer knowledge among institutions and organizations to save effort in annotation and labeling or in enhancing task performance. However, knowledge transfer is difficult because of restrictions that are in place to ensure data security and privacy. Institutions are not allowed to exchange data or perform any activity that may expose personal information. With the leverage of a differential privacy algorithm in a high-performance computing environment, we propose a new training protocol, Bootstrap Aggregation of Teacher Ensembles (BATE), which is applicable to various types of machine learning models. The BATE algorithm is based on and provides enhancements to the PATE algorithm, maintaining competitive task performance scores on complex datasets with underrepresented class labels.We conducted a proof-of-the-concept study of the information extraction from cancer pathology report data from four cancer registries and performed comparisons between four scenarios: no collaboration, no privacy-preserving collaboration, the PATE algorithm, and the proposed BATE algorithm. The results showed that the BATE algorithm maintained competitive macro-averaged F1 scores, demonstrating that the suggested algorithm is an effective yet privacy-preserving method for machine learning and deep learning solutions.

Yoon, Hong-Jun↗

Exploring the Utility-Privacy Trade-Off: Impacts of Semantic and Visit Types Ambiguities on Human Mobility Simulation

Humans are in perpetual movement, constantly traversing buildings, cities, waters, oceans, and countries. Mobility stands out as a major driving force shaping our modern societies. Capturing and explaining human behavior in a world of eight billion distinct mobility agendas is a complex challenge. With the rise of interconnected devices and platforms, such as smartphones, wearables, and point-of-interest data, largescale behavioral data has become more accessible, enabling rich insights into mobility patterns. However, the widespread availability of such data introduces significant ethical challenges. Detailed mobility data can inadvertently reveal sensitive personal information, including individuals' locations, habits, social interactions, and even political or religious affiliations. Beyond privacy breaches, the ethical implications of uncovering and potentially manipulating underlying behavioral patterns demand attention. Striking a balance between the utility of mobility models and the protection of individual privacy is therefore paramount. This paper explores the utility-privacy trade-offs in human mobility modeling, focusing on the impacts of introducing semantic and visit type ambiguities. By systematically examining how these ambiguities affect the fidelity of simulated trajectories and privacy risks, we provide a framework for evaluating ethical and privacy-conscious modeling practices. Our findings emphasize the need for methods that safeguard privacy without undermining the usefulness of mobility models, contributing to the responsible advancement of mobility science in alignment with ethical standards and societal expectations.

Amichi, Licia [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000177631394)↗

Circulating SARS-CoV-2 spike N439K variants maintain fitness while evading antibody-mediated immunity

SARS-CoV-2 can mutate and evade immunity, with consequences for efficacy of emerging vaccines and antibody therapeutics. Here, we demonstrate that the immunodominant SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) receptor binding motif (RBM) is a highly variable region of S and provide epidemiological, clinical, and molecular characterization of a prevalent, sentinel RBM mutation, N439K. We demonstrate N439K S protein has enhanced binding affinity to the hACE2 receptor, and N439K viruses have similar in vitro replication fitness and cause infections with similar clinical outcomes as compared to wild type. We show the N439K mutation confers resistance against several neutralizing monoclonal antibodies, including one authorized for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and reduces the activity of some polyclonal sera from persons recovered from infection. Immune evasion mutations that maintain virulence and fitness such as N439K can emerge within SARS-CoV-2 S, highlighting the need for ongoing molecular surveillance to guide development and usage of vaccines and therapeutics.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Comparison of All Solid Cancer Mortality and Incidence Dose-Response in the Life Span Study of Atomic Bomb Survivors, 1958–2009

Recent analysis of all solid cancer incidence (1958–2009) in the Life Span Study (LSS) revealed evidence of upward curvature in the radiation dose response among males but not females. Upward curvature in sex-averaged excess relative risk (ERR) for all solid cancer mortality (1950–2003) was also observed in the 0–2 Gy dose range. As reasons for non-linearity in the LSS are not completely understood, we conducted dose response analyses for all solid cancer mortality and incidence applying similar methods (1958–2009 follow-up, DS02R1 doses, including subjects notin-city (NIC) at the time of the bombing) and statistical models. Incident cancers were ascertained from Hiroshima and Nagasaki cancer registries, while cause of death was ascertained from death certificates over entire Japan. The study included 105,444 LSS subjects who were alive and not known to have cancer before Jan 1, 1958 (80,205 with dose estimates and 25,239 NIC subjects). Between 1958 and 2009, there were 3.1 million person-years (PY) and 22,538 solid cancers for incidence analysis and 3.8 million PY and 15,419 solid cancer deaths for mortality analysis. We fitted sex-specific ERR models adjusted for smoking to both types of data. Over the entire range of doses, solid cancer mortality dose response exhibited a borderline significant upward curvature among males (P=0.062) and significant upward curvature among females (P=0.010); for solid cancer incidence, as before, we found a significant upward curvature among males (P=0.001) but not among females (P=0.624). The sex difference in magnitude of dose response curvature was statistically significant for cancer incidence (P=0.017) but not for cancer mortality (P=0.781). The results of analyses in the 0–2 Gy range and restricted lower dose ranges generally supported inferences made about the sex-specific dose response shape over the entire range of doses for each outcome. Patterns of sex-specific curvature by calendar period (1958–1987 vs 1988–2009) and age at exposure (0–19 vs 20–83) varied between mortality and incidence data, particularly among females, although for each outcome there was an indication of curvature among 0–19 year old male survivors in both calendar periods and among 0–19 year old female survivors in the recent period. Collectively, our findings indicate that the upward curvature in all solid cancer dose response in the LSS is neither specific to males nor to incidence data; it appears to depend on composition of case series and age at exposure or time. Further follow-up and site-specific analyses of cancer mortality and incidence will be important to confirm the emerging trend in dose response curvature among young survivors and unveil the contributing factors and sites.

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTAN↗

Research software engineering: Professionalization, roles, and identity

This report summarizes the results of a study of research software professionals based on 17 interviews conducted at U.S. national laboratories and academic institutions. The study focuses on understanding the emerging professional role of research software engineer (RSE) and examining how the history of software engineering might be relevant to the emergence of research software engineering as a professional movement. The report first uses interview data to identify several models of professional identity for research software professionals. These include dominance models in which a person strongly identifies with a single professional identity (such as RSE), and multiplicity models in which an individual sees an identity like RSE as just one facet of their overall professional role. Next, it identifies three types of work situations for software professionals at national laboratories, covering those who work in dedicated RSE organizations, those who play an integral role in large multiphysics code projects, and those who work in a more isolated capacity to provide software development support for less computationally intensive research projects. It then reviews some key ideas from the sociology of professions in the context of the software engineering profession, suggesting parallels between the current RSE professional movement and aspects of the history of software engineering. It concludes by suggesting some potential practical implications of these findings for the RSE movement and professional organizations.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

A revolutionary approach to general aviation airplane design

The accumulation of such advanced technologies as digital guidance/display concepts, flow laminarization techniques, smart structures, and composite primary structures, is presently considered systematically with a view to such novel features' integration in a next-generation general aviation aircraft. This Advanced Personal Transport is conceived as a six-passenger aircraft with 1200 nautical mile range; a tractor and a pusher configuration were considered, with the pusher configuration being of twin-boom empennage, three-lifting-surface type. Attention is given to pilot-workload reductions achievable through the proposed Integrated GPS/Glonass system.

Roskam, Jan↗

The reuse of logistics carriers for the first lunar outpost alternative habitat study

The Systems Definition Branch deals with preliminary concepts/designs of various projects currently in progress at NASA. One of these projects is called the First Lunar Outpost. The First Lunar Outpost (FLO) is a proposed permanent lunar base to be located on the moon. In order to better understand the Lunar Habitat, a detailed analysis of the lunar environment as well as conceptual studies of the physical living arrangements for the support crew is necessary. The habitat will be inhabited for a period of 45 days followed by a six month dormant period. Requirements for the habitat include radiation protection, a safe haven for occasional solar flare storms, an airlock module and consumables to support a crew of 4 with a schedule of 34 extra vehicular activities. Consumables in order to sustain a crew of four for 45 days ranges from 430 kg of food to only 15 kg for personal hygiene items. These consumables must be brought to the moon with every mission. They are transported on logistics carriers. The logistics carrier must be pressurized in order to successfully transport the consumables. Refrigeration along with other types of thermal control and variation in pressure are defined by the list of necessary consumables. The objective of the proposed work was to collaborate the Habitat Team with their study on Logistic Carriers as possible alternatives for additional habitable volume. Options for possible reuses was also determined. From this analysis, a recommended design is proposed.

Vargas, Carolina↗

Logistics Needs for Potential Deep Space Mission Scenarios Post Asteroid Redirect Crewed Mission

The Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) is currently being explored as the next step towards deep space human exploration, with the ultimate goal of reaching Mars. NASA is currently investigating a number of potential human exploration missions, which will progressively increase the distance and duration that humans spend away from Earth. Missions include extended human exploration in cis-lunar space which, as conceived, would involve durations of around 60 days, and human missions to Mars, which are anticipated to be as long as 1000 days. The amount of logistics required to keep the crew alive and healthy for these missions is significant. It is therefore important that the design and planning for these missions include accurate estimates of logistics requirements. This paper provides a description of a process and calculations used to estimate mass and volume requirements for crew logistics, including consumables, such as food, personal items, gasses, and liquids. Determination of logistics requirements is based on crew size, mission duration, and the degree of closure of the environmental control life support system (ECLSS). Details are provided on the consumption rates for different types of logistics and how those rates were established. Results for potential mission scenarios are presented, including a breakdown of mass and volume drivers. Opportunities for mass and volume reduction are identified, along with potential threats that could possibly increase requirements.

Lopez, Pedro, Jr.↗

Viability of Small Dimension Crew Quarters for Surface Habitation

During early planning for the Artemis program’s sustained phase of lunar activity, NASA planners have been held to work towards a NASA reference lunar lander concept. With this activity taking place prior to the awarding of a lander contract, NASA planners cannot assume which of several potential landers will be available. This has limited habitation team engineers to a 12-metric ton mass limit for the reference concept of the lunar Surface Habitat. Consequently, minimal approaches have been applied to many habitat systems and it is important to determine acceptable volume for crew quarters. A number of both NASA and non-NASA surface habitat concepts have proposed relatively small crew quarters due to this constraint. Consequently, there is a need to collect objective test data to confirm or refute the validity of small crew quarters. NASA-STD-3001 is looked to for guidance in its many standards but offers little to no help. While prior versions called for private habitation, the current version – Revision B – calls for “individual privacy” to “accommodate social retreat.” Proposed Revision C modifications change the language slightly to “accommodate sleep and social retreat.” This is not enough guidance to determine the size of a crew quarters or even its capabilities. Unfortunately, only a small number of US spacecraft have included crew quarters, primarily the International Space Station and the Skylab Space Station. The space shuttle orbiter sometimes flew a set of private bunks that some might consider a crew quarters. All of these are dramatically smaller than US standards for minimum jail cells. The first opportunity for NASA to test a small crew quarters in a surface habitat application has been created through the Exploration Atmospheres test series, which is evaluating human performance under reduced cabin pressures. The test is converting the 20-Foot Vacuum Chamber at Johnson Space Center into a habitat, with the lower level outfitted as an EVA test area and the upper two levels for human habitation. The test will place eight people (six test subjects and two technicians) inside the chamber for eleven days. All eight will sleep in private quarters during the test. Volume limitations in the chamber forced extremely small crew quarters, measuring approximately 2 meters in length, 0.85 meters in height, and 0.9 meters in width. The test cabin pressure of 8.2 psi and elevated oxygen also introduces significant material limitations, limiting outfitting options. Nonetheless, the crew quarters design requirements were to accommodate visual separation, auditory separation, olfactory separation, tactile separation, air flow control, lighting control, single person personal computing, physical work surface access, sleep accommodations, non-sleep rest/relaxation, meditation, stretching, two-person meetings, snacking, changing clothes, viewing appearance, video communication, and audio communication. This paper will detail the acceptability of the crew quarters as measured in the October 2021 Exploration Atmosphere test. Based on this data, the viability of the type of crew quarters used in the 20 Foot Chamber will be assessed. Design recommendations for a 30-60-day Surface Habitat crew quarters will be provided, along with recommendations for future testing.

Crew Quarters↗

Deepfaked online content is highly effective in manipulating people’s attitudes and intentions

In recent times, disinformation has spread rapidly through social media and news sites, biasing our (moral) judgements of other people and groups. “Deepfakes”, a new type of AI-generated media, represent a powerful new tool for spreading disinformation online. Although Deepfaked images, videos, and audio may appear genuine, they are actually hyper-realistic fabrications that enable one to digitally control what another person says or does. Given the recent emergence of this technology, we set out to examine the psychological impact of Deepfaked online content on viewers. Across seven preregistered studies (N = 2558) we exposed participants to either genuine or Deepfaked content, and then measured its impact on their explicit (self-reported) and implicit (unintentional) attitudes as well as behavioral intentions. Results indicated that Deepfaked videos and audio have a strong psychological impact on the viewer, and are just as effective in biasing their attitudes and intentions as genuine content. Many people are unaware that Deepfaking is possible; find it difficult to detect when they are being exposed to it; and most importantly, neither awareness nor detection serves to protect people from its influence. All preregistrations, data and code available at osf.io/f6ajb.

Hughes, Sean↗

Fall Protection Introduction: Instructor Guide

The proper use of fall prevention and fall protection controls can reduce the risk of deaths and injuries caused by falls. This course, Fall Protection Introduction (#33462), is designed as an introduction to various types of recognized fall prevention and fall protection systems at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), including guardrail systems, safety net systems, fall restraint systems, and fall arrest systems. Special emphasis is given to the components, inspection, care, and storage of personal fall arrest systems (PFAS). This course also presents controls for falling object hazards and emergency planning considerations for persons who have fallen.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Hydrologic windows into the crystalline basement and their controls on groundwater flow patterns across the Paradox Basin, western USA

Conceptual models of sedimentary basin groundwater flow systems typically assume that the crystalline basement acts as an impermeable boundary and can be neglected. In this study, we use hydrologic models constrained by isotopic and geochemical datasets to argue that the La Sal Mountains, Utah, USA, act as a hydrologic window into the Paradox Basin’s lower aquifer system and underlying crystalline basement. We conducted a sensitivity study in which we varied crystalline basement/laccolith permeability as well as fault zone connectivity along a cross-sectional transect from the La Sal Mountains to Lisbon Valley. When the crystalline basement/laccolith units are set at relatively permeable levels (10–14 m 2 ), simulated tracers that include total dissolved solids, oxygen isotopic composition of pore fluids (δ 18 O), and groundwater residence times are in closest agreement with field measurements. Model results indicate that pore fluids in the basal aquifer system underlying the Paradox Formation confining unit are a mixture of relatively young meteoric fluids and older Paradox Formation brines. The presence of faults did not significantly modify fluid exchange between the upper and lower aquifer systems. This was due, in part, to underpressuring within the Paradox Formation. Our study concludes that the Paradox Basin represents a regional recharge area for the Colorado Plateau, with groundwater discharge occurring along the Colorado River within the Grand Canyon some 375 km away to the southwest. This is only possible with a permeable crystalline basement. Our findings help explain the genesis of Mississippi Valley-type ore deposits of the US Midcontinent, where the presence of a permeable basement may be useful in addressing issues related to solute mass and energy balance.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Watch former Lab Director and Manhattan Project Veteran Harold Agnew’s 1985 speech

From the first nuclear reactor to the weapon development to the bomb delivery in war, Harold Agnew was there. The only two atomic bombs to ever be used in combat – Little Boy, a uranium gun-type weapon, and Fat Man, a plutonium implosion weapon – were released above Japan 75 years ago on Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, respectively. World War II ended not long after. And, according to The New York Times, Agnew was the only person to witness the whole undertaking, from reactor to Hiroshima: Years earlier, on a frigid December day in 1942 in Chicago, a 21-year-old Agnew was one of a few dozen gathered to see atoms split in two. Not long after, Agnew came to Los Alamos as a graduate student to work on the development the atomic bomb. Then, on Aug. 6, 1945, Agnew was a part of the delivery of Little Boy; he flew as a scientific member on the mission to Hiroshima to film the mushroom cloud and measure the shockwave. It is the only existing footage of the Hiroshima bombing from the air; other footage was taken, but was most likely not handled properly and was unusable, according to Agnew.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Aircrew coordination and decisionmaking: Peer ratings of video tapes made during a full mission simulation

Six professionally active, retired captains rated the coordination and decisionmaking performances of sixteen aircrews while viewing videotapes of a simulated commercial air transport operation. The scenario featured a required diversion and a probable minimum fuel situation. Seven point Likert-type scales were used in rating variables on the basis of a model of crew coordination and decisionmaking. The variables were based on concepts of, for example, decision difficulty, efficiency, and outcome quality; and leader-subordin ate concepts such as person and task-oriented leader behavior, and competency motivation of subordinate crewmembers. Five-front-end variables of the model were in turn dependent variables for a hierarchical regression procedure. The variance in safety performance was explained 46%, by decision efficiency, command reversal, and decision quality. The variance of decision quality, an alternative substantive dependent variable to safety performance, was explained 60% by decision efficiency and the captain's quality of within-crew communications. The variance of decision efficiency, crew coordination, and command reversal were in turn explained 78%, 80%, and 60% by small numbers of preceding independent variables. A principle component, varimax factor analysis supported the model structure suggested by regression analyses.

Murphy, M. R.↗

The kinetics and dynamics of the coma of Halley's comet

This grant to the University of Michigan supported the efforts of Michael R. Combi to serve as a co-investigator in collaboration with a larger effort by the principal investigator, William Smyth of Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc. The overall objective of this project was to analyze in a self-consistent manner unique optical O((sup 1)D) and NH2 ultra-high resolution line profile data of excellent quality and other supporting lower-resolution spectral data for the coma of comet P/Halley by using highly developed and physically-based cometary coma models in order to determine and explain in terms of physical processes the actual dynamics and photochemical kinetics that occur in the coma. The justification for this work is that it provides a valuable and underlying physical base from which to interpret significantly different types of coma observations in a self-consistent manner and hence bring into agreement (or avoid) apparent inconsistencies that arise from non-physically based interpretations. The level of effort for the Michigan component amounted to less than three person-months over a planned period of three years. The period had been extended at no extra cost to four years because the Michigan grant and the AER contract did not have coincident time periods. An effort of somewhat larger scope was undertaken by the PI. The importance of the O((sup 1)D) profiles is that they provide a direct trace of the water distribution in comets. The line profile shape is produced by the convolution of the outflow velocity and thermal dispersion of the parent water molecules with the photokinetic ejection of the oxygen atoms upon photodissociation of the parent water molecules. Our understanding of the NH2 and its precursor ammonia are important for comet-to-comet composition variations as they relate to the cosmo-chemistry of the early solar nebula. Modeling of the distribution of NH2 is necessary in order to infer the ammonia production rates from NH2 observations.

Combi, Michael R.↗

The NASA Human Research Wiki - An Online Collaboration Tool

The Exploration Medical Capability (ExMC) element is one of six elements of the Human Research Program (HRP). ExMC is charged with decreasing the risk of: "Inability to adequately recognize or treat an ill or injured crew member" for exploration-class missions In preparation for exploration-class missions, ExMC has compiled a large evidence base, previously available only to persons within the NASA community. ExMC has developed the "NASA Human Research Wiki" in an effort to make the ExMC information available to the general public and increase collaboration within and outside of NASA. The ExMC evidence base is comprised of several types of data, including: (1)Information on more than 80 medical conditions which could occur during space flight (a)Derived from several sources (b)Including data on incidence and potential outcomes, as captured in the Integrated Medical Model s (IMM) Clinical Finding Forms (CliFFs). (2)Approximately 25 gap reports (a)Identify any "gaps" in knowledge and/or technology that would need to be addressed in order to provide adequate medical support for these novel missions.

Barr, Yael↗

Archival records housed at USTUR support radium dial worker dosimetry

The American radium dial worker (RDW) cohort of over 3200 persons is being revisited as part of the Million Person Study (MPS) to include a modern approach to RDW dosimetry. An exceptional source of data and contextualization in this project is an extensive collection of electronic records (digitized from existing microfilm and microfiche) housed at the United States Transuranium and Uranium Registries (USTUR). Although the type, extent, and quality (e.g. legibility) of record(s) varies between individuals, the remarkable occupational, medical and demographic data include in vivo radiation measurements (e.g. radon breath, whole body counts), autopsy results, medical records (including copies of radiographs), interviews over the years, and correspondence. Of particular dosimetric interest are the details of radiation measurements. For example, there are some instances where hand-written and transcribed values are both available, along with notes providing context for why a particular measurement in a series of measurements was chosen to assign an intake, or if there were concerns about a particular measurement. Born prior to 1935, RDW have nearly all passed away. Thus, the updated dosimetry, especially for the skeletal tissues, will allow the correlation of lifetime cumulative dose with radiation risk. Here we review typical information available in this collection of historical records and highlight some interesting finds. Additionally, we discuss the relevance to current and ongoing work related to updating the dosimetry of the RDW in the MPS, including providing an example of the usefulness of information contained in these records. The RDW cohort provides a unique historical perspective on occupational exposure to radium, making it a valuable dataset for understanding long-term health effects and improving current radiation protection standards.

Million Person Study↗