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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records

Aviation security screening optimizer for risk and throughput (ASSORT)

The increasing number of air travelers each year presents a challenge as many airports are near their capacity in terms of resources and space for passenger screening. Fortunately, advancements in technologies like next-generation millimeter wave scanning offer solutions to ease this strain. The focus remains on managing risk while enhancing the passenger experience for the traveling public. The risk model presented in this paper known as the Aviation Security Screening Optimizer for Risk and Throughput (ASSORT) is designed to assess risk-based approaches for passenger screening and checkpoint operations. Additionally, ASSORT is exploring various traveler categories — general, trusted, and trusted-plus — along with different checkpoint screening Concept of Operations tailored to each traveler type. For instance, travelers with a higher trust level may experience fewer screening technologies, resulting in quicker processing times at the checkpoint. The output of ASSORT provides a risk score for predefined threat scenarios, as well as the overall risk to the checkpoint, aircraft, and airport by traveler type. In conclusion, benefits of using this tool include assessing the trade-offs between the overall risk associated with checkpoints and the throughput rate of passengers screened. We show for example the impact that different passenger volumes at the checkpoint can have on risk.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Gaia Assorted Mass Binaries Long Excluded from SLoWPoKES (GAMBLES): Identifying Ultra-wide Binary Pairs with Components of Diverse Mass

The formation and evolution of binary star systems are some of the remaining key questions in modern astronomy. Wide binary pairs (separations >10{sup 3} au) are particularly intriguing because their low binding energies make it difficult for the stars to stay gravitationally bound over extended timescales, and thus to probe the dynamics of binary formation and dissolution. Our previous SLoWPoKES catalogs, I and II, provided the largest and most complete sample of wide-binary pairs of low masses. Here we present an extension of these catalogs to a broad range of stellar masses: the Gaia Assorted Mass Binaries Long Excluded from SloWPoKES (GAMBLES), comprising 8660 statistically significant wide pairs that we make available in a living online database. Within this catalog we identify a subset of 543 long-lived (dissipation timescale >1.5 Gyr) candidate binary pairs, of assorted mass, with typical separations between 10{sup 3} and 10{sup 5.5} au (0.002–1.5 pc), using the published distances and proper motions from the Tycho -Gaia Astrometric Solution and Sloan Digital Sky Survey photometry. Each pair has at most a false positive probability of 0.05; the total expectation is 2.44 false binaries in our sample. Among these, we find 22 systems with 3 components, 1 system with 4 components, and 15 pairs consisting of at least 1 possible red giant. We find the largest long-lived binary separation to be nearly 3.2 pc; even so, >76% of GAMBLES long-lived binaries have large binding energies and dissipation lifetimes longer than 1.5 Gyr. Finally, we find that the distribution of binary separations is clearly bimodal, corroborating the findings from SloWPoKES and suggesting multiple pathways for the formation and dissipation of the widest binaries in the Galaxy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

rBahadur: efficient simulation of structured high-dimensional genotype data with applications to assortative mating

Existing methods for generating synthetic genotype data are ill-suited for replicating the effects of assortative mating (AM). We propose rb_dplr, a novel and computationally efficient algorithm for generating high-dimensional binary random variates that effectively recapitulates AM-induced genetic architectures using the Bahadur order-2 approximation of the multivariate Bernoulli distribution. The rBahadur R library is available through the Comprehensive R Archive Network at https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=rBahadur.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Measurement of band offsets and shunt resistance in CdTe solar cells through temperature and intensity dependence of open circuit voltage and photoluminescence

Band offsets at the back contact and front window layer in CdTe-based solar cells affect photovoltaic performance and challenge standard characterization methods. By analyzing the temperature and excitation dependence of both open circuit voltage and absolute photoluminescence intensity, we show that the effects band offsets can be separated from the effects of recombination and shunting. Solar cells were grown with MgZnO window layers and compared to cells with CdS window layers containing varying amounts of oxygen. It was demonstrated that band alignment rather than reduced recombination velocity is the reason for the success of MgZnO as a front interface contact. An assortment of thin back contact interlayers were also deposited, and a PbTe interlayer showed some promise as an Ohmic contact to the CdTe, though it appears to induce a photoconductive shunt. Finally, we show that the shunting resistance given by a standard current-voltage curve technique generally does not represent a physically meaningful quantity unless it is well below one kiloOhm square cm.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Aviation Security Screening Optimizer for Risk and ThroughputASSORT

The Aviation Security Screening Optimizer for Risk and Throughput (ASSORT) is designed to assess risk-based approaches for passenger screening and checkpoint operations. Additionally, ASSORT is exploring various traveler categories — general, trusted, and trusted-plus — along with different checkpoint screening Concept of Operations tailored to each traveler type

Brigantic, Robert [Pacific Northwest National Labo↗

Designing networks: A mixed-integer linear optimization approach

Designing networks with specified collective properties is useful in a variety of application areas, enabling the study of how given properties affect the behavior of network models, the downscaling of empirical networks to workable sizes, and the analysis of network temporal evolution. Despite the importance of the task, there currently exists a gap in our ability to systematically generate networks that adhere to theoretical guarantees for the given property specifications. In this work, we propose the use of Mixed-Integer Linear Optimization modeling and solution methodologies to address this Network Generation Problem. We present useful modeling techniques and apply them to mathematically express and constrain a broad class of network properties in the context of an optimization formulation. We derive complete formulations for the generation of networks that attain specified levels of connectivity, spread, assortativity and robustness, and we illustrate these via a number of computational case studies.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Optical Control of Adaptive Nanoscale Domain Networks

Adaptive networks can sense and adjust to dynamic environments to optimize their performance. Understanding their nanoscale responses to external stimuli is essential for applications in nanodevices and neuromorphic computing. However, it is challenging to image such responses on the nanoscale with crystallographic sensitivity. Here, the evolution of nanodomain networks in (PbTiO 3 ) n /(SrTiO 3 ) n superlattices (SLs) is directly visualized in real space as the system adapts to ultrafast repetitive optical excitations that emulate controlled neural inputs. The adaptive response allows the system to explore a wealth of metastable states that are previously inaccessible. Their reconfiguration and competition are quantitatively measured by scanning x-ray nanodiffraction as a function of the number of applied pulses, in which crystallographic characteristics are quantitatively assessed by assorted diffraction patterns using unsupervised machine-learning methods. The corresponding domain boundaries and their connectivity are drastically altered by light, holding promise for light-programable nanocircuits in analogy to neuroplasticity. Phase-field simulations elucidate that the reconfiguration of the domain networks is a result of the interplay between photocarriers and transient lattice temperature. The demonstrated optical control scheme and the uncovered nanoscopic insights open opportunities for the remote control of adaptive nanoscale domain networks.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Supply Chain Energy and Greenhouse Gas Analysis Using the Materials Flows Through Industry (MFI) Tool: Examination of Alternative Technology Scenarios for the U.S. Chemical Sector

Chemical manufacturing is a large and diverse sector of the U.S. economy, with products, fuels, and a wide assortment of materials used daily by both the public and businesses. Currently, several of the largest volume chemicals produced in the United States rely on fossil fuels as a feedstock, energy source, or both. The list of chemicals includes steam cracking products such as ethylene, propylene, benzene, and xylenes as well as products such as ammonia and methanol. The focus for this work is on platform chemicals that are both produced in the largest volume and have a high potential for subsequent processing into more specialized products. In this study, we explore several new pathways that reduce the overall energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for each product. These pathways include energy efficiency measures applied to existing production methods, the use of bio‐based fuels and/or feedstocks as new production methods, and electrification of high‐energy‐input stages within current production methods. Scenarios for energy demand and GHG reduction were conducted with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Materials Flows through Industry tool. Projections of the energy demand and GHG emissions in 2030 and 2050 are included, using grid composition projections from the NREL ReEDS model. The alternative scenarios selected showcase the effect of realistic changes the industry could make, focusing on technologies with a high level of technical readiness.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Toward Superb Perovskite Oxide Electrocatalysts: Engineering of Coupled Nanocomposites

Abstract A significant issue that bedeviled the commercialization of renewable energy technologies, ranging from low‐temperature water electrolyzers to high‐temperature solid oxide cells, is the lack of high‐performance catalysts. Among various candidates that could tackle such a challenge, perovskite oxides are rising‐star materials because of their unique structural and compositional flexibility. However, single‐phase perovskite oxides are challenging to satisfy all the requirements of electrocatalysts concurrently for practical applications, such as high catalytic activity, excellent stability, good ionic and electronic conductivities, and superior chemical/thermo‐mechanical robustness. Impressively, perovskite oxides with coupled nanocomposites are emerging as a novel form offering multifunctionality due to their intrinsic features, including infinite interfaces with solid interaction, tunable compositions, flexible configurations, and maximum synergistic effects between assorted components. Considering this new configuration has attracted great attention owing to its promising performances in various energy‐related applications, this review timely summarizes the leading‐edge development of perovskite oxide‐based coupled nanocomposites. Their state‐of‐art synthetic strategies are surveyed and highlighted, their unique structural advantages are highlighted and illustrated through the typical oxygen reduction reaction and oxygen evolution reactions in both high and low‐temperature applications. Opinions on the current critical scientific issues and opportunities in this burgeoning research field are all provided.

08 HYDROGEN↗

Early Observations from Monitoring a Reintroduction Program: Return of Sockeye Salmon to a Nursery Lake of Historical Importance

Abstract The historical distribution of Sockeye Salmon Oncorhynchus nerka in the Columbia River basin has been constrained by the species’ dependence on nursery lakes for juvenile rearing. Several productive lake systems were impounded by dams during the last century leading to the extirpation of Sockeye Salmon from many nursery lakes in the region. Recent efforts to re‐establish populations in historically natal areas are exemplified by the Cle Elum Lake reintroduction program. The program is founded on outplanting adult fish from two middle Columbia River donor populations with different adaptive potentials. We used genetic stock identification methods to differentiate stock origins between Osoyoos Lake ( OSO ) and Lake Wenatchee ( WEN ) donor stocks and to evaluate the relative productivity from two brood years (2011 and 2012) of natural spawning in the novel environment. Spawning ground surveys revealed assortative mating between earlier‐spawning WEN fish that were more abundant farthest upstream and later‐spawning OSO fish that were concentrated (82%) downstream nearest the lake. Hybrids accounted for only 5% of sampled smolts and 4% of adult returns. Smolts rearing in Cle Elum Lake were significantly larger overall ( OSO , 140 mm; WEN , 129 mm) than smolts in either donor population (84 mm). However, the average size of OSO smolts varied among emigration years, and relative smolt abundances favored the WEN stock (70% overall), indicative of a rearing survival advantage. In relation, the WEN stock exhibited a better average rate of replacement (0.80) in adult‐to‐adult escapement compared with the OSO stock (0.17). Continued monitoring will focus on trends in productivity and potential demographic shifts that may arise in the Cle Elum Lake population and will provide managers with information concerning limiting factors in the environment that might affect similar approaches to reintroductions in other lake systems.

Matala, Andrew P.↗

Higgs and superparticle mass predictions from the landscape

Predictions for the scale of SUSY breaking from the string landscape go back at least a decade to the work of Denef and Douglas on the statistics of flux vacua. The assumption that an assortment of SUSY breaking F and D terms are present in the hidden sector, and their values are uniformly distributed in the landscape of D = 4, N = 1 effective supergravity models, leads to the expectation that the landscape pulls towards large values of soft terms favored by a power law behavior P(m soft )~m$n\atop{soft}$. On the other hand, similar to Weinberg’s prediction of the cosmological constant, one can assume an anthropic selection of weak scales not too far from the measured value characterized by mW,Z,h ~ 100 GeV. Working within a fertile patch of gravity-mediated low energy effective theories where the superpotential μ term is << m 3/2 , as occurs in models such as radiative breaking of Peccei-Quinn symmetry, this biases statistical distributions on the landscape by a cutoff on the parameter Δ EW , which measures fine-tuning in the m Z -μ mass relation. The combined effect of statistical and anthropic pulls turns out to favor low energy phenomenology that is more or less agnostic to UV physics. While a uniform selection n = 0 of soft terms produces too low a value for m h , taking n = 1 and 2 produce most probabilistically m h ~125 GeV for negative trilinear terms. For n ≥ 1, there is a pull towards split generations with m$\sim\atop{q}$,$\sim\atop{ℓ}$(1,2)~10-30 TeV whilst m$\sim\atop{t}$ 1 ~1-2 TeV. The most probable gluino mass comes in at ~ 3 - 4 TeV — apparently beyond the reach of HL-LHC (although the required quasi-degenerate higgsinos should still be within reach). We comment on consequences for SUSY collider and dark matter searches.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

A Shock Stabilization of the HLLC Riemann Solver for the Carbuncle Instability

The HLLC approximate Riemann solver improves upon the HLL Riemann solver by resolving contact discontinuities. This is a particularly desirable property for multi-material codes in which problems usually contain material interfaces. However, the HLLC solver is known to suffer from the carbuncle phenomenon, a numerical instability most apparent at grid-aligned shocks in multi-dimensional simulations. Many problems of interest, including high energy-density physics applications, require the accurate resolution of both material interfaces and hydrodynamic shocks. A variety of methods have been developed to cure this instability, with varying degrees of complexity. The objective of this work is to describe a simple approach to modify the HLLC Riemann solver and prevent the carbuncle instability. Here, the method is then demonstrated for assorted two-dimensional test problems known to exhibit the shock instability. The performance of the new solver is compared with that of the standard HLL and HLLC Riemann solvers.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Candida antarctica Lipase B as Catalyst for Cyclic Esters Synthesis, Their Polymerization and Degradation of Aliphatic Polyesters

Candida antarctica: lipase B (CALB) is the most widely studied enzyme, due to its high selectivity and catalytic activity in organic and polymer synthesis. To avoid organometallic catalysts in the synthesis of biodegradable polyesters, the enzymatic ring-opening polymerization of cyclic esters can be carried out with CALB as a biocatalyst. This paper reviews selected examples of the application of lipases in polymer chemistry covering the synthesis of cyclic ester monomers, linear and star oligomers, as well as well-defined high molar mass polymers with improved mechanical properties. It is shown that by the selection of appropriate conditions of temperature and solvent assortment, CALB effectively catalyzes the polymerization of large size lactones obtaining polyesters with M{sub n} up to 80 kg mol{sup −1}. The chemical structure and main applications of described materials are also discussed. As the polymer recycling is an important topic from environmental point of view, we also described the potential applications of CALB in degradation process of aliphatic polyesters.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

A method to quantify the 37 Ar emanation fraction in powders and rocks

In order to make predictions of the potential 37 Ar signal from an underground nuclear explosion, a value for the 37 Ar emanation fraction is needed. Here, a system was developed to quantify the emanation fraction from samples ranging in size from powder to small rocks. Assorted rock samples were irradiated with Watt fission spectrum neutrons to produce radioactive argon gas via activation of calcium. The argon produced was extracted on a custom apparatus and cryogenically trapped. The extracted gas was then processed to separate the argon and load it into a proportional counter for counting. The emanation fraction of argon gas from the rock samples was then calculated by comparing the measured and predicted activities.

37Ar↗

Harmonic statistics

The exponential, the normal, and the Poisson statistical laws are of major importance due to their universality. Harmonic statistics are as universal as the three aforementioned laws, but yet they fall short in their ‘public relations’ for the following reason: the full scope of harmonic statistics cannot be described in terms of a statistical law. In this paper we describe harmonic statistics, in their full scope, via an object termed harmonic Poisson process: a Poisson process, over the positive half-line, with a harmonic intensity. The paper reviews the harmonic Poisson process, investigates its properties, and presents the connections of this object to an assortment of topics: uniform statistics, scale invariance, random multiplicative perturbations, Pareto and inverse-Pareto statistics, exponential growth and exponential decay, power-law renormalization, convergence and domains of attraction, the Langevin equation, diffusions, Benford’s law, and 1/f noise. - Highlights: • Harmonic statistics are described and reviewed in detail. • Connections to various statistical laws are established. • Connections to perturbation, renormalization and dynamics are established.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Bose–Einstein condensation under the cubic–quintic Gross–Pitaevskii equation in radial domains

We study stationary and quasi-stationary solutions for the cubic–quintic Gross–Pitaevskii equation modeling Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) in one, two, and three spatial dimensions under the assumption of radial symmetry with the BEC dynamics influenced by a confining potential. We consider both repulsive and attractive cubic interactions – corresponding respectively to repulsive and attractive two-body interactions – under similar frameworks in order to deduce the effects of the potentials in each case. We also carefully consider the role played by the quintic nonlinearity (modeling the strength of inter-atomic coupling) in modifying the solutions arising due to a purely cubic interaction term. In one spatial dimension, we obtain a variety of exact solutions in the zero-potential limit (including new periodic solutions which generalize known soliton solutions) as well as perturbation solutions for small amplitude confining potentials. For more general forms of the confining potential, we rely on numerical simulations, but these agree with the analytical results when the latter are valid. We also consider the limit where the quintic term dominates the cubic term (with such a limit relevant in the study of a Tonks–Girardeau gas). Under the assumption of radial symmetry, we also consider cylindrical (or, cigar-shaped) and spherical BECs. We consider the nonperturbative regime where either the potential or the amplitude of the solutions is large, obtaining various qualitative analytical results. When the kinetic energy term is small (relative to the nonlinearity and the confining potential), we recover the expected Thomas–Fermi approximation for the stationary solutions. Numerical simulations, under a variety of external confining potentials, are then used to understand the role these potentials play on the BEC solution structure for both the attractive and repulsive regimes. This assortment of analytical and numerical results allows us to better understand the structure of BECs modeled via cubic–quintic Gross–Pitaevskii equation under confining potentials with radial symmetry. Some of the results are natural extensions of those for the cubic Gross–Pitaevskii equation, while others appear new.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in Cyprinidae fish: Towards hints of their arrangements using advanced classification methods

Highlights: • SOM and DT classifiers searched for relation among 25 POPs in three Cyprinidae fish. • The concentrations of indicator congeners dominated over dioxin-like PCBs. • Based on SOM, both dioxin-like and indicator PCBs differentiated the fish species. • DT assorted the samples on the levels of PCB-126, -156, -170, -28, -105, and -114. To tackle the ever-present global concern regarding human exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) via food products, this study strived to indicate associations between organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in lake-fish tissue depending on the species and sampling season. Apart from the monitoring initiatives recommended in the Global Monitoring Plan for POPs, the study discussed 7 OCPs and 18 PCB congeners determined in three Cyprinidae species (rudd, carp, and Prussian carp) from Vransko Lake (Croatia), which are widely domesticated and reared as food fish across Europe and Asia. We exploit advanced classification algorithms, the Kohonen self-organizing maps (SOM) and Decision Trees (DT), to search for POP patterns typical for the investigated species. As indicated by SOM, some of the dioxin-like and non-dioxin-like PCBs (PCB-28, PCB-74, PCB-52, PCB-101, PCB-105, PCB-114, PCB-118, PCB-156 and PCB-157), α-HCH and β-HCH caused dissimilarities among fish species, but regardless of their weight and length. To support these suggestions, DT analysis sequenced the fish species and seasons based on the concentration of heavier congeners. The presented assumptions indicated that the supplemental application of SOM and DT offers advantageous features over the usually rough interpretation of POPs pattern and over the single use of the methods.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗