Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Spatial 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 1,765 records · Page 98
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2019

Feasibility of using computed tomography texture analysis parameters as imaging biomarkers for predicting risk grade of gastrointestinal stromal tumors: comparison with visual inspection

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of using computed tomography texture analysis (CTTA) parameters for predicting malignant risk grade and mitosis index of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs), compared with visual inspection. Method and materials: CTTA was performed on portal phase CT images of 145 surgically confirmed GISTs (mean size: 42.9 ± 37.5 mm), using TexRAD software. Mean, standard deviation, entropy, mean of positive pixels (MPP), skewness, and kurtosis of CTTA parameters, on spatial scaling factor (SSF), 2–6 were compared by risk grade, mitosis rate, and the presence or absence of necrosis on visual inspection. CTTA parameters were correlated with risk grade. Diagnostic performance was evaluated with receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Enhancement pattern, necrosis, heterogeneity, calcification, growth pattern, and mucosal ulceration were subjectively evaluated by two observers. Results: Three to four parameters at different scales were significantly different according to the risk grade, mitosis rate, and the presence or absence of necrosis (p < 0.041). MPP at fine or medium scale (r = − 0.547 to − 393) and kurtosis at coarse scale (r = 0.424–0.454) correlated significantly with risk grade (p < 0.001). HG-GIST was best differentiated from LG-GIST by MPP at SSF 2 (AUC, 0.782), and kurtosis at SSF 4 (AUC, 0.779) (all p < 0.001). CT features predictive of HG-GIST were density lower than or equal to that of the erector spinae muscles on enhanced images (OR 2.1; p = 0.037; AUC, 0.59), necrosis (OR, 6.1; p < 0.001; AUC, 0.70), heterogeneity (OR, 4.3; p < 0.001; AUC, 0.67), and mucosal ulceration (OR, 3.3; p = 0.002; AUC, 0.62). Conclusion: Using TexRAD, MPP and kurtosis are feasible in predicting risk grade and mitosis index of GISTs. CTTA demonstrated meaningful accuracy in preoperative risk stratification of GISTs.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Influence of nutrients and currents on the genomic composition of microbes across an upwelling mosaic

Metagenomic data sets were generated from samples collected along a coastal to open ocean transect between Southern California Bight and California Current waters during a seasonal upwelling event, providing an opportunity to examine the impact of episodic pulses of cold nutrientrich water into surface ocean microbial communities. The data set consists of B5.8 million predicted proteins across seven sites, from three different size classes: 0.1–0.8, 0.8–3.0 and 3.0–200.0 lm. Taxonomic and metabolic analyses suggest that sequences from the 0.1–0.8 lm size class correlated with their position along the upwelling mosaic. However, taxonomic profiles of bacteria from the larger size classes (0.8–200 lm) were less constrained by habitat and characterized by an increase in Cyanobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Flavobacteria and double-stranded DNA viral sequences. Functional annotation of transmembrane proteins indicate that sites comprised of organisms with small genomes have an enrichment of transporters with substrate specificities for amino acids, iron and cadmium, whereas organisms with larger genomes have a higher percentage of transporters for ammonium and potassium. Eukaryotic-type glutamine synthetase (GS) II proteins were identified and taxonomically classified as viral, most closely related to the GSII in Mimivirus, suggesting that marine Mimivirus-like particles may have played a role in the transfer of GSII gene functions. Additionally, a Planctomycete bloom was sampled from one upwelling site providing a rare opportunity to assess the genomic composition of a marine Planctomycete population. The significant correlations observed between genomic properties, community structure and nutrient availability provide insights into habitat-driven dynamics among oligotrophic versus upwelled marine waters adjoining each other spatially.

marine↗
DOE OSTI2021

Diverse sediment microbiota shape methane emission temperature sensitivity in Arctic lakes

Abstract Northern post-glacial lakes are significant, increasing sources of atmospheric carbon through ebullition (bubbling) of microbially-produced methane (CH 4 ) from sediments. Ebullitive CH 4 flux correlates strongly with temperature, reflecting that solar radiation drives emissions. However, here we show that the slope of the temperature-CH 4 flux relationship differs spatially across two post-glacial lakes in Sweden. We compared these CH 4 emission patterns with sediment microbial (metagenomic and amplicon), isotopic, and geochemical data. The temperature-associated increase in CH 4 emissions was greater in lake middles—where methanogens were more abundant—than edges, and sediment communities were distinct between edges and middles. Microbial abundances, including those of CH 4 -cycling microorganisms and syntrophs, were predictive of porewater CH 4 concentrations. Results suggest that deeper lake regions, which currently emit less CH 4 than shallower edges, could add substantially to CH 4 emissions in a warmer Arctic and that CH 4 emission predictions may be improved by accounting for spatial variations in sediment microbiota.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2013

Mass spectrometry imaging for in situ kinetic histochemistry

Tissues are composed of diverse cell subpopulations each with distinct metabolic characteristics that influence overall behavior. Unfortunately, traditional histopathology imaging techniques are ‘blind’ to the spatially ordered metabolic dynamics within tissue. While mass spectrometry imaging enables spatial mapping of molecular composition, resulting images are only a static snapshot in time of molecules involved in highly dynamic processes; kinetic information of flux through metabolic pathways is lacking. To address this limitation, we developed kinetic mass spectrometry imaging (kMSI), a novel technique integrating soft desorption/ionization mass spectrometry with clinically accepted in vivo metabolic labeling of tissue with deuterium to generate images of kinetic information of biological processes. Applied to a tumor, kMSI revealed heterogeneous spatial distributions of newly synthesized versus pre-existing lipids, with altered lipid synthesis patterns distinguishing region-specific intratumor subpopulations. Images also enabled identification and correlation of metabolic activity of specific lipids found in tumor regions of varying grade.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Operando video microscopy of Li plating and re-intercalation on graphite anodes during fast charging

Despite the demand for fast-charging lithium (Li)-ion batteries, high-energy-density batteries with thick graphite anodes are limited by Li plating when charging at >4C rates. In this work, plan-view operando video microscopy is applied on >3 mA h cm –2 calendared graphite electrodes to study the dynamic evolution of local state-of-charge (SoC) and Li plating during fast charging. This technique allows for visualization of the spatial heterogeneity in SoC across the electrode, nucleation and growth of Li filaments, Li re-intercalation into graphite, “dead Li” formation, and SoC equilibration. The operando microscopy analysis is complemented by ex situ imaging of through-plane gradients in SoC to gain a three-dimensional visualization of spatial heterogeneity. We demonstrate that (1) Li plating preferentially nucleates on the graphite particles that lithiate fastest during fast charging; (2) the onset of Li plating correlates with the local minimum of the graphite electrode potential; (3) galvanic corrosion currents are responsible for Li re-intercalation, dead Li formation, and SoC re-equilibration after fast charging; and (4) electrochemical signatures during OCV rest or discharge are associated with Li re-intercalation into graphite. Furthermore, this work provides insight into the Li–graphite interactions at the composite electrode level and can be used to inform strategies to diagnose and mitigate Li plating during fast charging.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2014

On equivalence of high temperature series expansion and coupling parameter series expansion in thermodynamic perturbation theory of fluids

The coupling parameter series expansion and the high temperature series expansion in the thermodynamic perturbation theory of fluids are shown to be equivalent if the interaction potential is pairwise additive. As a consequence, for the class of fluids with the potential having a hardcore repulsion, if the hard-sphere fluid is chosen as reference system, the terms of coupling parameter series expansion for radial distribution function, direct correlation function, and Helmholtz free energy follow a scaling law with temperature. The scaling law is confirmed by application to square-well fluids.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Defining the layers of a sensory cilium with STORM and cryoelectron nanoscopy

Primary cilia carry out numerous signaling and sensory functions, and defects in them, “ciliopathies,” cause a range of symptoms, including blindness. Understanding of their nanometer-scale ciliary substructures and their disruptions in ciliopathies has been hindered by limitations of conventional microscopic techniques. In this work, we have combined cryoelectron tomography, enhanced by subtomogram averaging, with superresolution stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM) to define subdomains within the light-sensing rod sensory cilium of mouse retinas and reveal previously unknown substructures formed by resident proteins. Domains are demarcated by structural features such as the axoneme and its connections to the ciliary membrane, and are correlated with molecular markers of subcompartments, including the lumen and walls of the axoneme, the membrane glycocalyx, and the intervening cytoplasm. Within this framework, we report spatial distributions of key proteins in wild-type (WT) mice and the effects on them of genetic deficiencies in 3 models of Bardet–Biedl syndrome.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

COMPARISONS OF COSMOLOGICAL MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC GALAXY CLUSTER SIMULATIONS TO RADIO OBSERVATIONS

Radio observations of galaxy clusters show that there are {mu}G magnetic fields permeating the intracluster medium (ICM), but it is hard to accurately constrain the strength and structure of the magnetic fields without the help of advanced computer simulations. We present qualitative comparisons of synthetic Very Large Array observations of simulated galaxy clusters to radio observations of Faraday rotation measure (RM) and radio halos. The cluster formation is modeled using adaptive mesh refinement magnetohydrodynamic simulations with the assumption that the initial magnetic fields are injected into the ICM by active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at high redshift. In addition to simulated clusters in Xu et al., we present a new simulation with magnetic field injections from multiple AGNs. We find that the cluster with multiple injection sources is magnetized to a similar level as in previous simulations with a single AGN. The RM profiles from simulated clusters, both |RM| and the dispersion of RM ({sigma}{sub RM}), are consistent at a first order with the radial distribution from observations. The correlations between the {sigma}{sub RM} and X-ray surface brightness from simulations are in a broad agreement with the observations, although there is an indication that the simulated clusters could be slightly overdense and less magnetized with respect to those in the observed sample. In addition, the simulated radio halos agree with the observed correlations between the radio power versus the cluster X-ray luminosity and between the radio power versus the radio halo size. These studies show that the cluster-wide magnetic fields that originate from AGNs and are then amplified by the ICM turbulence match observations of magnetic fields in galaxy clusters.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

DISTRIBUTION OF HIGH-MASS X-RAY BINARIES IN THE MILKY WAY

Observations of the high-energy sky, particularly with the INTEGRAL satellite, have quadrupled the number of supergiant X-ray binaries observed in the Galaxy and revealed new populations of previously hidden high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs), raising new questions about their formation and evolution. The number of detected HMXBs of different types is now high enough to allow us to carry out a statistical analysis of their distribution in the Milky Way. For the first time, we derive the distance and absorption of a sample of HMXBs using a spectral energy distribution fitting procedure, and we examine the correlation with the distribution of star-forming complexes (SFCs) in the Galaxy. We show that HMXBs are clustered with SFCs with a typical cluster size of 0.3 {+-} 0.05 kpc and a characteristic distance between clusters of 1.7 {+-} 0.3 kpc. Furthermore, we present an investigation of the expected offset between the position of spiral arms and HMXBs, allowing us to constrain age and migration distance due to supernova kick for 13 sources. These new methods will allow us to assess the influence of the environment on these high-energy objects with unprecedented reliability.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

QUASAR-GALAXY CLUSTERING THROUGH PROJECTED GALAXY COUNTS AT z = 0.6-1.2

We investigate the spatial clustering of galaxies around quasars at z = 0.6-1.2 using photometric data from Sloan Digital Sky Survey Stripe 82. The quasar and galaxy cross-correlation functions are measured through the projected galaxy number density n(r{sub p} ) on scales of 0.05 < r{sub p} < 20 h {sup -1} Mpc around quasars for a sample of 2300 quasars from Schneider et al. We detect strong clustering signals at all redshifts and find that the clustering amplitude increases significantly with redshift. We examine the dependence of quasar-galaxy clustering on quasar and galaxy properties and find that the clustering amplitude is significantly larger for quasars with more massive black holes or with bluer colors, while there is no dependence on quasar luminosity. We also show that quasars have a stronger correlation amplitude with blue galaxies than with red galaxies. We finally discuss the implications of our findings.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

A direct measurement of the mean occupation function of quasars: Breaking degeneracies between halo occupation distribution models

Recent work on quasar clustering suggests a degeneracy in the halo occupation distribution constrained from two-point correlation functions. To break this degeneracy, we make the first empirical measurement of the mean occupation function (MOF) of quasars at z ∼ 0.2 by matching quasar positions with groups and clusters identified in the MaxBCG sample. We fit two models to the MOF, a power law and a four-parameter model. The number distribution of quasars in host halos is close to Poisson, and the slopes of the MOF obtained from our best-fit models (for the power-law case) favor an MOF that monotonically increases with halo mass. The best-fit slopes are 0.53 ± 0.04 and 1.03 ± 1.12 for the power-law model and the four-parameter model, respectively. We measure the radial distribution of quasars within dark matter halos and find it to be adequately described by a power law with a slope –2.3 ± 0.4. We measure the conditional luminosity function (CLF) of quasars and show that there is no evidence that quasar luminosity depends on host halo mass, similar to the inferences drawn from clustering measurements. We also measure the conditional black hole mass function (CMF) of our quasars. Although the results are consistent with no dependence on halo mass, we observe a slight indication of downsizing of the black hole mass function. The lack of halo mass dependence in the CLF and CMF shows that quasars residing in galaxy clusters have characteristic luminosity and black hole mass scales.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Biogeographic patterns of soil diazotrophic communities across six forests in the North America

Soil diazotrophs play important roles in ecosystem functioning by converting atmospheric N 2 into biologically available ammonium. However, the diversity and distribution of soil diazotrophic communities in different forests and whether they follow biogeographic patterns similar to macroorganisms still remain unclear. By sequencing nifH gene amplicons, we surveyed the diversity, structure and biogeographic patterns of soil diazotrophic communities across six North American forests (126 nested samples). Our results showed that each forest harboured markedly different soil diazotrophic communities and that these communities followed traditional biogeographic patterns similar to plant and animal communities, including the taxa–area relationship (TAR) and latitudinal diversity gradient. Significantly higher community diversity and lower microbial spatial turnover rates (i.e. z-values) were found for rainforests (~0.06) than temperate forests (~0.1). The gradient pattern of TARs and community diversity was strongly correlated (r 2 > 0.5) with latitude, annual mean temperature, plant species richness and precipitation, and weakly correlated (r 2 < 0.25) with pH and soil moisture. Here, this study suggests that even microbial subcommunities (e.g. soil diazotrophs) follow general biogeographic patterns (e.g. TAR, latitudinal diversity gradient), and indicates that the metabolic theory of ecology and habitat heterogeneity may be the major underlying ecological mechanisms shaping the biogeographic patterns of soil diazotrophic communities.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Nanoscale deformation analysis with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and digital image correlation

We present an application of the digital image correlation (DIC) method to high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images for nanoscale deformation analysis. The combination of DIC and HRTEM offers both the ultrahigh spatial resolution and high displacement detection sensitivity that are not possible with other microscope-based DIC techniques. We demonstrate the accuracy and utility of the HRTEM-DIC technique through displacement and strain analysis on amorphous silicon. Two types of error sources resulting from the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image noise and electromagnetic-lens distortions are quantitatively investigated via rigid-body translation experiments. The local and global DIC approaches are applied for the analysis of diffusion- and reaction-induced deformation fields in electrochemically lithiated amorphous silicon. As a result, the DIC technique coupled with HRTEM provides a new avenue for the deformation analysis of materials at the nanometer length scales.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Quantification of massive seasonal aggregations of blacktip sharks ( Carcharhinus limbatus ) in Southeast Florida

Southeast Florida witnesses an enormous seasonal influx of upper trophic level marine predators each year as massive aggregations of migrating blacktip sharks ( Carcharhinus limbatus ) overwinter in nearshore waters. The narrow shelf and close proximity of the Gulf Stream current to the Palm Beach County shoreline drive tens of thousands of sharks to the shallow, coastal environment. This natural bottleneck provides a unique opportunity to estimate relative abundance. Over a four year period from 2011–2014, an aerial survey was flown approximately biweekly along the length of Palm Beach County. A high definition video camera and digital still camera mounted out of the airplane window provided a continuous record of the belt transect which extended 200 m seaward from the shoreline between Boca Raton Inlet and Jupiter Inlet. The number of sharks within the survey transect was directly counted from the video. Shark abundance peaked in the winter (January-March) with a maximum in 2011 of 12,128 individuals counted within the 75.6 km -2 belt transect. This resulted in a maximum density of 803.2 sharks km -2 . By the late spring (April-May), shark abundance had sharply declined to 1.1% of its peak, where it remained until spiking again in January of the following year. Shark abundance was inversely correlated with water temperature and large numbers of sharks were found only when water temperatures were less than 25°C. Shark abundance was also correlated with day of the year but not with barometric pressure. Although shark abundance was not correlated with photoperiod, the departure of the sharks from southeast Florida occurred around the vernal equinox. The shark migration along the United States eastern seaboard corresponds spatially and temporally with the spawning aggregations of various baitfish species. As a result, these baseline abundance data can be compared to future studies to determine if shark population size is changing and if sharks are restricting their southward migration as global water temperatures increase.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2013

Lattice study of quark distribution amplitudes in the pion and its excitations

Lattice QCD serves as a computational framework capable of predicting the spectrum of hadronic excitations from first principles. Our desire to describe the wealth of existing experimental data on the spectrum and to predict the outcomes of future experiments poses numerous challenges. Thus, obtaining an accurate resolution of excited states using methods of LQCD is complicated due to the faster decay of excited state correlation functions in Euclidean space in comparison with those of ground states, which we overcome through the use of anisotropic lattices with a finer temporal than spatial discretization. The aim of this project is to go beyond the spectrum to discern the structure of the states through the computation of the quark distribution amplitudes for both the ground and excited pion states on improved anisotropic lattices developed by the Hadron Spectrum Collaboration. Application of variational method allows us to extract the excited-state spectrum. When combined with undergoing parallel perturbative study of renormalization coefficients for quark bilinear operators, this work will enable us to explore the internal structure of the excited states, and to investigate the approach to a quark and gluon description of hadrons when probed at high-momentum transfers.

Mastropas, Ekaterina↗
DOE OSTI2019

Turbulent flow and vortex characteristics in a blocked subchannel of a helically wrapped rod bundle

The study of flow and heat transfer through a bundle of rods is important, as this type of configuration is widely used in many engineering applications, for example, in heat exchangers, clusters of support structures, steam generators, and nuclear power reactors. This work experimentally investigated the flow-field characteristics of rod bundles with helically wrapped wires (wire-wrapped rod assemblies) proposed for advanced burner reactors. Subchannel blockage is one of the most interesting accident scenarios for liquid metal fast reactors as different mechanisms can lead to a partial or total subchannel blockage. It is of paramount important to understand the thermal-hydraulic behavior of the flow in the vicinity of such blockages. The flow mixing characteristics in two interior subchannels located near the core of the bundle, one without and one with the presence of a blockage, were experimentally investigated. The velocity fields within the spatial gaps of two subchannels were obtained by applying the matched-index-of-refraction and time-resolved particle image velocimetry (TR-PIV) technique for Reynolds numbers of 4000 and 17,000. The first- and second-order statistics, including the mean velocity, root-mean-square fluctuating velocity, and Reynolds stress, were computed from the obtained TR-PIV velocity vector fields. In the blocked sub-channel, the TR-PIV results revealed a large recirculation flow region in the vicinity of the blockage that was created by the interaction between inflows from neighboring subchannels. Spectral analysis was performed and the vortex shedding frequency indicated by the Strouhal number was found to be St = 0.16 for the two Reynolds numbers investigated. The flow characteristics of the interior subchannels were investigated via the two-point cross-correlation of fluctuating velocities. In addition, proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) analysis was applied to the instantaneous vorticity fields to extract the statistically dominant flow structures. Lastly, the statistical characteristics of the vortex, such as the vortex populations, spatial distributions, and vortex strengths, were acquired by combining POD analysis and the vortex identification algorithm.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Density cumulant functional theory from a unitary transformation: N-representability, three-particle correlation effects, and application to O{sub 4}{sup +}

A new approach to density cumulant functional theory is developed that derives density cumulant N-representability conditions from an approximate Fock space unitary transformation. We present explicit equations for the third- and fourth-order two-particle cumulant N-representability, as well as the second-order contributions that depend on the connected three-particle density cumulant. These conditions are used to formulate the ODC-13 method and the non-iterative (λ{sub 3}) correction that employ an incomplete description of the fourth-order two-particle cumulant N-representability and the second-order three-particle correlation effects, respectively. We perform an analysis of the ODC-13 N-representability description for the dissociation of H{sub 2} and apply the ODC-13 method and the (λ{sub 3}) correction to diatomic molecules with multiple bond character and the symmetry-breaking tetraoxygen cation (O{sub 4}{sup +}). For the O{sub 4}{sup +} molecule, the vibrational frequencies of the ODC-13(λ{sub 3}) method do not exhibit spatial symmetry breaking and are in a good agreement with the recent infrared photodissociation experiment. We report the O{sub 4}{sup +} equilibrium structure, harmonic frequencies, and dissociation energy computed using ODC-13(λ{sub 3}) with a diffuse, core-correlated aug-cc-pCVTZ basis set.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Robust Cross-correlation-based Measurement of Clump Sizes in Galaxies

Stars form in molecular complexes that are visible as giant clouds (∼10{sup 5−6} M{sub ⊙}) in nearby galaxies and as giant clumps (∼10{sup 8−9} M{sub ⊙}) in galaxies at redshifts z≈1–3. Theoretical inferences on the origin and evolution of these complexes often require robust measurements of their characteristic size, which is hard to measure at limited resolution and often ill-defined due to overlap and quasi-fractal substructure. We show that maximum and luminosity-weighted sizes of clumps seen in star formation maps (e.g., Hα) can be recovered statistically using the two-point correlation function (2PCF) if an approximate stellar surface density map is taken as the normalizing random field. After clarifying the link between Gaussian clumps and the 2PCF analytically, we design a method for measuring the diameters of Gaussian clumps with realistic quasi-fractal substructure. This method is tested using mock images of clumpy disk galaxies at different spatial resolutions and perturbed by Gaussian white noise. We find that the 2PCF can recover the input clump scale at ∼20% accuracy, as long as this scale is larger than the spatial resolution. We apply this method to the local spiral galaxy NGC 5194, as well as to three clumpy turbulent galaxies from the DYNAMO-HST sample. In both cases, our statistical measurements of Hα clump size agree with previous measurements and with the estimated Jeans lengths. However, the new measurements are free from subjective choices when fitting individual clumps.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗