Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “SAMPLE POSITIONING”

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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2019

Alignment of sample position and rotation during in situ synchrotron X-ray micro-diffraction experiments using a Laue cross-correlation approach

Laue micro-diffraction has proven to be able to reveal material properties at the sub-grain scale for many polycrystalline materials and is now routinely available at several synchrotron facilities, providing an approach for nondestructive three-dimensional probing of the microstructures and mechanical states of materials. However, for in situ experiments, maintaining the positioning of the sample throughout the experiment, to achieve a good alignment of the characterized volumes, is a challenging issue. The aim of the present work is to address this problem by developing an approach based on digital image correlation of focused-beam Laue diffraction patterns. The method uses small changes in the diffraction signal as a focused X-ray beam is scanned over a surface region to allow corrections to be made for both sample lateral movement and rotation. The method is demonstrated using a tensile deformation experiment on an Al sample with 2.5 µm average grain size. The results demonstrate an accuracy of 0.5 µm for sample position registration and a precision in sample rotation of ~0.01°. Finally, the proposed method is fast to implement and does not require the use of additional surface markers.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

Surface sampling concentration and reaction probe with controller to adjust sampling position

A method of analyzing a chemical composition of a specimen is described. The method can include providing a probe comprising an outer capillary tube and an inner capillary tube disposed co-axially within the outer capillary tube, where the inner and outer capillary tubes define a solvent capillary and a sampling capillary in fluid communication with one another at a distal end of the probe; contacting a target site on a surface of a specimen with a solvent in fluid communication with the probe; maintaining a plug volume proximate a solvent-specimen interface, wherein the plug volume is in fluid communication with the probe; draining plug sampling fluid from the plug volume through the sampling capillary; and analyzing a chemical composition of the plug sampling fluid with an analytical instrument. A system for performing the method is also described.

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

Multivariate Time Series Anomaly Detection with Few Positive Samples

Given the scarcity of anomalies in real-world applications, the majority of literature has been focusing on modeling normality. The learned representations enable anomaly detection as the normality model is trained to capture certain key underlying data regularities under normal circumstances. In practical settings, particularly industrial time series anomaly detection, we often encounter situations where a large amount of normal operation data is available along with a small number of anomaly events collected over time. This practical situation calls for methodologies to leverage these small number of anomaly events to create a better anomaly detector. In this paper, we introduce two methodologies to address the needs of this practical situation and compared them with recently developed state of the art techniques. Our proposed methods anchor on representative learning of normal operation with autoregressive (AR) model along with loss components to encourage representations that separate normal versus few positive examples. We applied the proposed methods to two industrial anomaly detection datasets and demonstrated effective performance in comparison with approaches from literature. Our study also points out additional challenges with adopting such methods in practical applications.

Xue, Feng↗
DOE OSTI2022

Characterization of Senecavirus A Isolates Collected From the Environment of U.S. Sow Slaughter Plants

Vesicular disease caused by Senecavirus A (SVA) is clinically indistinguishable from foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and other vesicular diseases of swine. When a vesicle is observed in FMD-free countries, a costly and time-consuming foreign animal disease investigation (FADI) is performed to rule out FMD. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of FADIs and SVA positive samples at slaughter plants in the U.S. The objectives of this investigation were to: (1) describe the environmental burden of SVA in sow slaughter plants; (2) determine whether there was a correlation between PCR diagnostics, virus isolation (VI), and swine bioassay results; and (3) phylogenetically characterize the genetic diversity of contemporary SVA isolates. Environmental swabs were collected from three sow slaughter plants (Plants 1-3) and one market-weight slaughter plant (Plant 4) between June to December 2020. Of the 426 samples taken from Plants 1-3, 304 samples were PCR positive and 107 were VI positive. There was no detection of SVA by PCR or VI at Plant 4. SVA positive samples were most frequently found in the summer (78.3% June-September, vs. 59.4% October-December), with a peak at 85% in August. Eighteen PCR positive environmental samples with a range of C t values were selected for a swine bioassay: a single sample infected piglets ( n = 2). A random subset of the PCR positive samples was sequenced; and phylogenetic analysis demonstrated co-circulation and divergence of two genetically distinct groups of SVA. These data demonstrate that SVA was frequently found in the environment of sow slaughter plants, but environmental persistence and diagnostic detection was not indicative of whether a sampled was infectious to swine. Consequently, a more detailed understanding of the epidemiology of SVA and its environmental persistence in the marketing chain is necessary to reduce the number of FADIs and aide in the development of control measures to reduce the spread of SVA.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Coexistence of positive and negative exchange bias effect in Pr-doped NdCrO 3 samples

Positive and negative exchange bias effects are observed in Nd 1-x Pr x CrO 3 (0.00 ≤ x ≤ 1.00) polycrystalline samples. The shift of hysteresis loops, either opposing or following the direction of the field cooling, depends on the concentration of praseodymium. The temperature dependence of magnetization reveals a magnetic transition at T ≈ 220 K likely ascribed to the N é el temperature of Cr 3+ magnetic moments. The non-Kramer Pr 3+ ion seems to play an important role in the magnetic properties of this compound. In the range 0.00 ≤ x ≤ 0.60, all samples presented a decrease in the magnetization below TN and a clear compensation point. Pr-rich samples (x ≥ 0.70) show a paramagnetic-like behavior down to low temperatures. We report the most impressive result is the relation between reversal magnetization and the signal of exchange bias effect which seems be tuned by the Pr-doping.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Direct-Sampling Beam Position Monitor (dsbpm) v1.0

Direct-Sampling Beam Position Monitor is an FPGA gateware and embedded firmware that run on evaluation kits (either Xilinx ZCU111 or Xilinx ZCU208 ) that digitizes signals up to 4GSPS and 4GHz analog bandwidth, which can be synchronized to the accelerator timing system, providing synchronous sampling frequency/phase digitization. In addition to these capabilities, a proof of concept for a beam position monitor is also present, providing an envelope detection algorithm capable of determining the transverse beam position for an electron circular accelerator, such as ALS/ALS-U.

Norum, William↗
DOE OSTI2025

Position-Dependent Neutron Time-of-Flight Deviation at VULCAN Diffractometer

In neutron diffraction, it is critical to precisely measure the lattice spacing, as it is an indicator of a material’s physical characteristics, such as lattice strain, thermal expansion, and phase structures. In time-of-flight (TOF) measurements, the lattice spacing is determined by the recorded TOF from a well-calibrated instrument. However, changes in neutron time-of-flight are sensitive to many factors, such as the alignment of instrument optics, temperature, sample positions, sample dimensions, internal strains, and chemical or physical heterogeneities at the grain level. At VULCAN (SNS, ORNL), which is a high-flux engineering neutron diffractometer, we used a 1-mm-diameter diamond powder sample to scan for changes in TOF by measuring d-spacing values at different sample positions under several configurations. The 2D map of the TOF deviation or d-spacing deviation, in terms of lattice shift/lattice strain, is reported. The change in TOF is dependent on the scanned location in the beam as well as on detector locations. The results are informative for experimental planning, data interpretation, and future instrument design.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Electro-optic sampling beam position monitor for relativistic electron beams

Here, an electro-optic sampling beam position monitor for installation at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory FACET-II facility is described. Simulations of the detector signal were performed using realistic electron beam current profiles, demonstrating that this single-shot, non-destructive, compact detector is capable of resolving the relative transverse offset and longitudinal separation of an ultra-relativistic, two-bunch electron beam to order 1 μm and 10 fs, respectively. A design study was performed to optimize the detector’s response to the ultra-relativistic two-bunch electron beam utilized in plasma wakefield accelerator experiments. In addition, the expected sensitivity to beam tilt is studied for typical electron beams used in free electron lasers.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Proton induced quasi-monochromatic x-ray beams for soft x-ray spectroscopy studies and selective x-ray fluorescence analysis

We present the analytical features and performance of an x-ray spectroscopy end station of moderate energy resolution operating with proton-induced quasi-monochromatic x-ray beams. The apparatus was designed, installed and operated at the 5.5 MV Tandem VdG Accelerator Laboratory of the Institute of Nuclear Physics, N.C.S.R. 'Demokritos,' Athens. The setup includes a two-level ultrahigh vacuum chamber that hosts in the lower level up to six primary targets in a rotatable holder; there, the irradiation of pure element materials-used as primary targets-with few-MeV high current ({approx}{mu}A) proton beams produces intense quasi-monochromatic x-ray beams of selectable energy. In the chamber's upper level, a six-position rotatable sample holder hosts the targets considered for x-ray spectroscopy studies. The proton-induced x-ray beam, after proper collimation, is guided to the sample position whereas various filters can be also inserted along the beam's path to eliminate the backscattered protons or/and to absorb selectively components of the x-ray beam. The apparatus incorporates an ultrathin window Si(Li) spectrometer (FWHM 136 eV at 5.89 keV) coupled with low-noise electronics capable of efficiently detecting photons down to carbon K{alpha}. Exemplary soft x-ray spectroscopy studies and results of selective x-ray fluorescence analysis are presented.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

Development of a Tender-Energy Microprobe for Geosciences at NSLS and NSLS-II

This funding is to develop a new Synchrotron user facility for microbeam X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and quantitative X-ray fluorescence (XRF) imaging, at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) and NSLS-II. It includes design, purchase of components, and construction of the microprobe endstation and controls. Initial development, commissioning, and application is ongoing at NSLS Beamline X15B, with planned transition in 2014-15 to the NSLS-II TES (Tender-Energy Spatially Resolved X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy) beamline. It is optimized for the “tender” energy range of 1-5 keV, reaching up to 8 keV. Thus it uniquely covers the K absorption edges of critical elements Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Cl, and Ca, and can reach up to Co. A stable, high-flux microbeam focus, user-tunable from ~50 to ~5 microns, has been achieved using two-stage achromatic focusing. Existing beamline optics collimate, monochromate, and macro-focus the X-ray beam to ~1 mm at a secondary source aperture (SSA). Beam from the SSA is then re-focused by a pair of mirrors in KB geometry to the microbeam scale. Size of the microbeam is tunable, at the expense of flux, by adjusting the size of the SSA as a virtual source. The new experimental endstation consists of 1) a sample chamber operable as a radiation enclosure with helium atmosphere to facilitate measurements in this energy range, 2) the KB microfocusing optics, 3) a sample-positioning stage for raster-scanning and positioning the sample, 4) X-ray fluorescence detectors, an existing Ge detector for low-signal sensitivity and a new Si detector for high count rates, 5) an optical camera for viewing samples and locating target locations, 6) beam intensity monitors and diagnostics, and 7) controls and data acquisition system. An important aspect of this project is the added capability for fast, on-the-fly scanning of the monochromator (energy), required for fast XAS and advanced XAS imaging. This instrument will be available for initial PI and Co-I measurements, and for General Users to apply for beamtime to use, at NSLS X15B for the remaining operation of NSLS, to September 30, 2014. Phase two of this project will transition this facility, both the primary optics and the endstation, to NSLS-II after NSLS ceases operation. While this transition itself is beyond the scope of the current grant, preparation and planning for it is included.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Wasserstein Normalized Autoencoder for Anomaly Detection in ProtoDUNE Vertical-Drift Detector

ProtoDUNE Vertical Drift needs a selective triggering algorithm. The detector sits on Earth's surface, so cosmic activity dominates its data. Our goal in this paper is to trigger on neutrino events more robustly than the current deployed Analog-to-Digital Converter Simple Window (ADCSW) model and, eventually, search for signals of Beyond Standard Model (BSM) physics at DUNE as our ultimate North Star objective. As a step towards this goal, we evaluate a Wasserstein Normalized Autoencoder (WNAE) on simulated collection-plane only windows of shape $1\times10\times10$ where Neutrinos act as our BSM-proxy and Cosmic-ray Muons serve as our learned background. The network parameters are fitted using only cosmic-ray muon events as background in order to maintain an unsupervised pipeline. Training uses finite-step Langevin $x^-$ samples, positive-sample reconstruction energy, and an empirical sliced $2$-Wasserstein objective to learn a normalized Boltzmann energy model. We then calibrate on a nominal $5\,\mathrm{Hz}$ operating threshold calculated from cosmic validation data. Both WNAE and ADCSW accept 311 of 194,083 held-out cosmic background events at this $5\,\mathrm{Hz}$ threshold. We found that WNAE accepts 9,677 of 34,634 neutrino-proxy events $(27.9\pm0.24)\%$, compared with 10,076 $(29.1\pm0.24)\%$ for ADCSW, an observed WNAE-minus-ADCSW difference of $-1.15\%$. At another nominal $2\,\mathrm{Hz}$ target threshold, the corresponding efficiencies are $(20.5\pm0.22)\%$ and $(22.6\pm0.22)\%$, respectively. Of the WNAE-selected neutrino proxies at $5\,\mathrm{Hz}$, $(20.8\pm0.4)\%$ of the classified neutrino-proxy events are unique to WNAE, where the uncertainty is an absolute binomial standard error of $0.4\%$.

Zheng, Jake [U. Chicago (main)] (ORCID:00090002189↗
DOE OSTI2026

Wasserstein Normalized Autoencoder for Anomaly Detection in ProtoDUNE Vertical-Drift Detector

ProtoDUNE Vertical Drift needs a selective triggering algorithm. The detector sits on Earth's surface, so cosmic activity dominates its data. Our goal in this paper is to trigger on neutrino events more robustly than the current deployed Analog-to-Digital Converter Simple Window (ADCSW) model and, eventually, search for signals of Beyond Standard Model (BSM) physics at DUNE as our ultimate North Star objective. As a step towards this goal, we evaluate a Wasserstein Normalized Autoencoder (WNAE) on simulated collection-plane only windows of shape $1\times10\times10$ where Neutrinos act as our BSM-proxy and Cosmic-ray Muons serve as our learned background. The network parameters are fitted using only cosmic-ray muon events as background in order to maintain an unsupervised pipeline. Training uses finite-step Langevin $x^-$ samples, positive-sample reconstruction energy, and an empirical sliced $2$-Wasserstein objective to learn a normalized Boltzmann energy model. We then calibrate on a nominal $5\,\mathrm{Hz}$ operating threshold calculated from cosmic validation data. Both WNAE and ADCSW accept 311 of 194,083 held-out cosmic background events at this $5\,\mathrm{Hz}$ threshold. We found that WNAE accepts 9,677 of 34,634 neutrino-proxy events $(27.9\pm0.24)\%$, compared with 10,076 $(29.1\pm0.24)\%$ for ADCSW, an observed WNAE-minus-ADCSW difference of $-1.15\%$. At another nominal $2\,\mathrm{Hz}$ target threshold, the corresponding efficiencies are $(20.5\pm0.22)\%$ and $(22.6\pm0.22)\%$, respectively. Of the WNAE-selected neutrino proxies at $5\,\mathrm{Hz}$, $(20.8\pm0.4)\%$ of the classified neutrino-proxy events are unique to WNAE, where the uncertainty is an absolute binomial standard error of $0.4\%$.

Zheng, Jake [Chicago U.] (ORCID:0009000218901379)↗
DOE OSTI2018

Multi-site evaluation of the LN34 pan-lyssavirus real-time RT-PCR assay for post-mortem rabies diagnostics

Rabies is a fatal zoonotic disease that requires fast, accurate diagnosis to prevent disease in an exposed individual. The current gold standard for post-mortem diagnosis of human and animal rabies is the direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) test. While the DFA test has proven sensitive and reliable, it requires high quality antibody conjugates, a skilled technician, a fluorescence microscope and diagnostic specimen of sufficient quality. The LN34 pan-lyssavirus real-time RT-PCR assay represents a strong candidate for rabies post-mortem diagnostics due to its ability to detect RNA across the diverse Lyssavirus genus, its high sensitivity, its potential for use with deteriorated tissues, and its simple, easy to implement design. Here, we present data from a multi-site evaluation of the LN34 assay in 14 laboratories. A total of 2,978 samples (1,049 DFA positive) from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East were tested. The LN34 assay exhibited low variability in repeatability and reproducibility studies and was capable of detecting viral RNA in fresh, frozen, archived, deteriorated and formalin-fixed brain tissue. The LN34 assay displayed high diagnostic specificity (99.68%) and sensitivity (99.90%) when compared to the DFA test, and no DFA positive samples were negative by the LN34 assay. The LN34 assay produced definitive findings for 80 samples that were inconclusive or untestable by DFA; 29 were positive. Five samples were inconclusive by the LN34 assay, and only one sample was inconclusive by both tests. Furthermore, use of the LN34 assay led to the identification of one false negative and 11 false positive DFA results. Together, these results demonstrate the reliability and robustness of the LN34 assay and support a role for the LN34 assay in improving rabies diagnostics and surveillance.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Collimated phase measuring deflectometry

Phase measuring deflectometry has been applied for free-form specular surface metrology, but its measured slope results are sensitive to the depth of sample positioning, which is also called the height-slope ambiguity. The objective of this work is to tackle this height-slope ambiguity problem. The main idea is to introduce collimated camera rays using a telecentric imaging lens and collimated structured-light illumination with a Fourier lens. This setup makes the fringe phases become only sensitive to the surface slopes and insensitive to the depth of the sample positioning. In this way, the slope calculation is theoretically independent of the sample depth. We call this new deflectometry technique Collimated Phase Measuring Deflectometry (CPMD). With our developed CPMD experimental setup, the measurement is insensitive to the depth of sample positioning, e.g., the measured height dispersion is less than 30 nm RMS within a 10 mm depth range when measuring a 50-mm-diameter spherical mirror with a 200 mm radius of curvature. In conclusion, the merits and limitations of the proposed CPMD technique are discussed, revealing its prospects in practical metrology applications and potential future investigations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Validation of pooling strategies of clinical COVID-19 samples for more efficient diagnostic testing

Pooling of COVID-19 clinical samples can offer significant reduction in reagents, time, and labor needed to test large numbers of clinical samples. Especially for testing asymptomatic and return-towork/ school cases, where the prevalence of COVID-19 may be relatively low, large groups of clinical samples can be classified as negative with a single test, with no need to test every sample individually. LANL has performed validation for two different pooling strategies to assess diagnostic assay sensitivity in pooled samples compared to the clinical positive sample alone. (1) Pooling study - Determine diagnostic assay sensitivity in pooled samples with ratios of 1:5, 1:10, 1:20, and 1:30 positive to negative clinical samples. (2) Reloading study - Determine diagnostic assay sensitivity in reloading of multiple clinical samples through a Qiagen column in 5x, 10, and 20x sample volumes (1 positive plus 4, 9, and 19 negative samples).

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

High resolution 3D imaging of synchrotron generated microbeams

Purpose: Microbeam radiation therapy (MRT) techniques are under investigation at synchrotrons worldwide. Favourable outcomes from animal and cell culture studies have proven the efficacy of MRT. The aim of MRT researchers currently is to progress to human clinical trials in the near future. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the high resolution and 3D imaging of synchrotron generated microbeams in PRESAGE® dosimeters using laser fluorescence confocal microscopy. Methods: Water equivalent PRESAGE® dosimeters were fabricated and irradiated with microbeams on the Imaging and Medical Beamline at the Australian Synchrotron. Microbeam arrays comprised of microbeams 25–50 μm wide with 200 or 400 μm peak-to-peak spacing were delivered as single, cross-fire, multidirectional, and interspersed arrays. Imaging of the dosimeters was performed using a NIKON A1 laser fluorescence confocal microscope. Results: The spatial fractionation of the MRT beams was clearly visible in 2D and up to 9 mm in depth. Individual microbeams were easily resolved with the full width at half maximum of microbeams measured on images with resolutions of as low as 0.09 μm/pixel. Profiles obtained demonstrated the change of the peak-to-valley dose ratio for interspersed MRT microbeam arrays and subtle variations in the sample positioning by the sample stage goniometer were measured. Conclusions: Laser fluorescence confocal microscopy of MRT irradiated PRESAGE® dosimeters has been validated in this study as a high resolution imaging tool for the independent spatial and geometrical verification of MRT beam delivery.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Genomic-based biosurveillance for avian influenza: whole genome sequencing from wild mallards sampled during autumn migration in 2022–2023 reveals a high co-infection rate on migration stopover site in Georgia

The Caucasus region, including Georgia, is an important intersection for migratory waterbirds, offering potential for avian influenza virus (AIV) transmission between populations from different geographic areas. In 2022 and 2023, wild ducks were sampled during autumn migration events in Georgia to study the genetic relationships and molecular characteristics of influenza strains. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were used to compare the sampled strains to reference sequences from Africa, Asia, and Europe, allowing assessment of genetic relationships and virus transmission between migratory birds. Protein language modeling identified potential co-infections. Of 225 duck samples, 128 tested positive for the influenza M gene. 55 influenza-positive samples underwent whole-genome sequencing, revealing significant diversity. Analysis of the hemagglutinin (HA) segment showed notable differences among subtypes. Most samples were H6N1 and H6N6, but co-infections with combinations like H6H3, N8N1, N6H9, N2N6, and H9H6/N1N2 were also identified. These findings demonstrate the high variability of influenza viruses in migratory waterbirds in Georgia, including a notable rate of co-infections. Some samples exhibited uncommon genetic characteristics compared to other strains from the same year, suggesting Georgia’s role as a mixing vessel for influenza viruses. This facilitates reassortment during co-infections and contributes to the genetic diversity observed across flyways.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

Design and operation of the wide angular-range chopper spectrometer ARCS at the Spallation Neutron Source

The wide angular-range chopper spectrometer ARCS at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is optimized to provide a high neutron flux at the sample position with a large solid angle of detector coverage. The instrument incorporates modern neutron instrumentation, such as an elliptically focused neutron guide, high speed magnetic bearing choppers, and a massive array of {sup 3}He linear position sensitive detectors. Novel features of the spectrometer include the use of a large gate valve between the sample and detector vacuum chambers and the placement of the detectors within the vacuum, both of which provide a window-free final flight path to minimize background scattering while allowing rapid changing of the sample and sample environment equipment. ARCS views the SNS decoupled ambient temperature water moderator, using neutrons with incident energy typically in the range from 15 to 1500 meV. This range, coupled with the large detector coverage, allows a wide variety of studies of excitations in condensed matter, such as lattice dynamics and magnetism, in both powder and single-crystal samples. Comparisons of early results to both analytical and Monte Carlo simulation of the instrument performance demonstrate that the instrument is operating as expected and its neutronic performance is understood. ARCS is currently in the SNS user program and continues to improve its scientific productivity by incorporating new instrumentation to increase the range of science covered and improve its effectiveness in data collection.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗