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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
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Dataset for Leveraging CryoEM and AI-Driven Morphological Feature Analysis for Insights on Bacterial Structures

This repository hosts an AI-assisted image segmentation and analysis pipeline for Pantoea sp. YR343 cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM) datasets. The workflow automates membrane thickness measurements, flagella detection, and field-of-view (FOV) screening from low-dose, high-resolution cryoEM micrographs eliminating the need for slow manual annotation. By integrating deep-learning based segmentation (YOLOv11) with quantitative post-processing, this toolkit provides a scalable and reproducible way to study bacterial morphology under hydrated, near-native conditions. The GitHub repository for AI-based tools for cryoEM bacteria ultrastructures can be found here: https://github.com/Sireesiru/Cryo-EM-Ultrastructures/tree/main

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Automated Bacterial Identification and Morphological Feature Analysis in Low‐Dose Cryo‐EM Using YOLOv11

Bacteria rapidly adapt to environmental cues through morphological and ultrastructural changes that correlate with physiology and behavior. Cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo‐TEM) can capture these phenotypic changes in near‐native, vitrified states, but manual analysis of low‐dose micrographs is labor intensive and limits throughput. Here, we present an end‐to‐end workflow that combines low‐dose cryo‐TEM imaging with a YOLOv11‐based instance‐segmentation model to automatically identify bacteria and quantify key structural features directly from the micrographs. This workflow enables (i) robust bacterial localization and counting from low‐magnification atlas/montage images, (ii) automated measurements of cell‐envelope (outer–inner membrane) thickness and anisotropy from higher‐magnification views, and (iii) detection and quantification of bacteria–flagella interactions, including overlap length and curvature metrics for interacting versus noninteracting flagella. Using Pantoea sp. YR343 grown under distinct media conditions, we show that the automated measurements agree with manual annotations while substantially reducing analysis time. Together, these tools provide a practical framework for scalable bacterial identification and quantitative phenotyping in low‐dose cryo‐TEM datasets and establish a foundation for extending cryo‐TEM image analysis toward higher‐throughput studies of microbial heterogeneity and biointerfaces.

YOLOv11↗
NASA NTRS1974

Errors induced in the measurement and azimuth directions of morphological features imaged on oblique Lunar Orbiter photographs

Many quantitative lunar studies, e.g., the morphology and dimensions of craters, crater density and distribution, have been performed using oblique Lunar Orbiter photographs. If the inherent change in scale and azimuth direction of features imaged on these photographs are not corrected, the measurement can be in considerable error and the resulting statistical inferences may be invalid. The magnitude of this error is dependent upon: the depression angle of the camera, the flight height of the spacecraft, the focal length of the camera, and the position and orientation of the object on the ground. The errors introduced by using unrectified oblique photographs as though they were vertical photographs are examined for several Lunar Orbiter high resolution NASA LRC Enhancement photographic prints taken at various depression angles.

Siegal, B. S.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Morphological Feature Extraction for Automatic Registration of Multispectral Images

The task of image registration can be divided into two major components, i.e., the extraction of control points or features from images, and the search among the extracted features for the matching pairs that represent the same feature in the images to be matched. Manual extraction of control features can be subjective and extremely time consuming, and often results in few usable points. On the other hand, automated feature extraction allows using invariant target features such as edges, corners, and line intersections as relevant landmarks for registration purposes. In this paper, we present an extension of a recently developed morphological approach for automatic extraction of landmark chips and corresponding windows in a fully unsupervised manner for the registration of multispectral images. Once a set of chip-window pairs is obtained, a (hierarchical) robust feature matching procedure, based on a multiresolution overcomplete wavelet decomposition scheme, is used for registration purposes. The proposed method is validated on a pair of remotely sensed scenes acquired by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) multispectral instrument and the Hyperion hyperspectral instrument aboard NASA's Earth Observing-1 satellite.

Plaza, Antonio↗
NASA NTRS1983

Voyager 2 observations of Saturn's northern mid-latitude cloud features - Morphology, motions, and evolution

Voyager 2 images provide a basis for detailed study of the morphology and circulation of Saturn's northern midlatitudes. Both Saturn's large-scale cloud bands and the distribution of its local cloud features have a characteristic zonal organization. The region between 30 N and 45 N contains two oppositely directed jets in close proximity, with many bright, active features in the westward jet, and an unusual ribbonlike wave feature encircling the planet in the eastward jet. Several of the smaller features within the westward jet do not remain at fixed latitudes and interact with each other. One group of v-shaped features is found to have periods of high activity correlated with the passage of a cyclonic bright spot. The ribbon wave was Fourier analyzed to determine its spectral composition. The greatest power is near wave number 9, with significant additional peaks appearing at planetary wave numbers 19, 25-27, 35-38, and 47-51. The phase velocity increases with wave number but is not well described by a Rossby-Haurwitz dispersion relation. The curvature of the mean wind profile obtained from cloud tracking indicates that the westward jet exceeds the standard barotropic instability condition, while the eastward jet marginally exceeds the deep-circulation instability condition of Ingersoll and Pollard (1982). The rms eddy velocities on Saturn are less than half as large as those observed on Jupiter.

Sromovsky, L. A.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Sensitivity of mesoscale modeling to urban morphological feature inputs and implications for characterizing urban sustainability

We examine the differences in meteorological output from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model run at 270 m horizontal resolution using 10 m, 100 m and 1 km resolution 3D neighborhood morphological inputs and with no morphological inputs. We find that the spatial variability in temperature, humidity, and other meteorological variables across the city can vary with the resolution and the coverage of the 3D urban morphological input, and that larger differences occur between simulations run without 3D morphological input and those run with some type of 3D morphology. We also find that the inclusion of input-building-defined roughness length calculations would improve simulation results further. We show that these inputs produce different patterns of heat wave spatial heterogeneity across the city of Washington, DC. These findings suggest that understanding neighborhood level urban sustainability under extreme heat waves, especially for vulnerable neighborhoods, requires attention to the representation of surface terrain in numerical weather models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Imaging Nanoscale Energy Transport and Conversion with Ultrafast Electron Microscopy (Final Technical Report)

Light-matter interactions are ubiquitous in nature and reside at the heart of innumerable technologies. The cascade of processes that occur when a material absorbs a photon of light are exceedingly complex and are interwoven in both space and time, rendering precise determination of the atomic-scale and ultrafast mechanisms immensely challenging. The advent of methods for generating short pulses of light several decades ago led to major advances in understanding the initial moments of light absorption and the resultant effects, though directly interrogating the response of the atoms within the material continued to prove challenging. More recently, methods for generating ultrashort pulses of X-rays and fast electrons have opened the way to probing photoinduced structural dynamics of a wide range of matter in multiple phases. An especially promising laboratory-scale method is ultrafast electron microscopy (UEM), wherein the modalities of conventional transmission electron microscopes (imaging, diffraction, spectroscopy) are extended into the femtosecond temporal regime. Here, the ultrafast imaging and diffraction modalities of UEM were used to study the transient structural aspects of photoexcitation of semiconducting materials (e.g., spatially-resolved electron-phonon coupling, excitation and emission of acoustic phonons, and discrete nanoscale scattering processes). The project had three main objectives: (1) determination of the excitation mechanisms of dense, hypersonic charge-carrier waves and the spatially mediated means by which they couple to the lattice via coherent phonon emission, especially with UEM imaging, wherein effects of nanoscale structural and morphological features on the coupling and relaxation dynamics are expected to dictate nucleation sites and preferred wave vectors, (2) elucidation of photoinduced acoustic-phonon seeding, emergence, propagation, and decay over nanoscale crystal regions and especially with respect to local strain fields and atomic-scale disruptions in lattice order, and (3) interwoven with the first two were efforts aimed at realizing combined angstrom-femtosecond spatiotemporal imaging with UEM. The outcomes and impacts of this project were the generation of new knowledge with respect to fundamental light-matter interactions and, especially, the spatially-mediated excitation and evolution of the structural response of materials following coherent photoexcitation. Importantly, the spatial and temporal resolutions of the UEM imaging modalities used are well-suited for such studies and enable spatially-resolved mechanisms to be determined as a function of atomic order, structural features, and morphology. In addition, ultrafast crystallographic measurements were used to correlate real- and reciprocal-space dynamics in order to determine atomic-scale preferential wave vectors and ultrafast scattering mechanisms, especially as dictated by specimen boundary conditions. The obtained results, as detailed in peer-reviewed publications and presentations, illustrate the importance of ultrafast, angstrom-scale real-space imaging for developing a comprehensive understanding of energy transport and conversion in materials.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
NASA NTRS2009

Adaptive Morphological Feature-Based Object Classifier for a Color Imaging System

Utilizing a Compact Color Microscope Imaging System (CCMIS), a unique algorithm has been developed that combines human intelligence along with machine vision techniques to produce an autonomous microscope tool for biomedical, industrial, and space applications. This technique is based on an adaptive, morphological, feature-based mapping function comprising 24 mutually inclusive feature metrics that are used to determine the metrics for complex cell/objects derived from color image analysis. Some of the features include: Area (total numbers of non-background pixels inside and including the perimeter), Bounding Box (smallest rectangle that bounds and object), centerX (x-coordinate of intensity-weighted, center-of-mass of an entire object or multi-object blob), centerY (y-coordinate of intensity-weighted, center-of-mass, of an entire object or multi-object blob), Circumference (a measure of circumference that takes into account whether neighboring pixels are diagonal, which is a longer distance than horizontally or vertically joined pixels), . Elongation (measure of particle elongation given as a number between 0 and 1. If equal to 1, the particle bounding box is square. As the elongation decreases from 1, the particle becomes more elongated), . Ext_vector (extremal vector), . Major Axis (the length of a major axis of a smallest ellipse encompassing an object), . Minor Axis (the length of a minor axis of a smallest ellipse encompassing an object), . Partial (indicates if the particle extends beyond the field of view), . Perimeter Points (points that make up a particle perimeter), . Roundness [(4(pi) x area)/perimeter(squared)) the result is a measure of object roundness, or compactness, given as a value between 0 and 1. The greater the ratio, the rounder the object.], . Thin in center (determines if an object becomes thin in the center, (figure-eight-shaped), . Theta (orientation of the major axis), . Smoothness and color metrics for each component (red, green, blue) the minimum, maximum, average, and standard deviation within the particle are tracked. These metrics can be used for autonomous analysis of color images from a microscope, video camera, or digital, still image. It can also automatically identify tumor morphology of stained images and has been used to detect stained cell phenomena (see figure).

McDowell, Mark↗
DOE OSTI2025

Utah FORGE: Well 16B(78)-32 Drill Core Fracture Analysis Images and Data

This dataset contains drilling core data from well 16B(78)-32, including PDF documents with flattened core images annotated by feature type and core interval, as well as spreadsheets detailing feature morphologies by depth, planar feature measurements, and planar feature orientations rotated to in situ conditions. Core was recovered from three intervals, one per stimulation stage, in the crystalline rocks affected by the stimulation of well 16A(78)-32. Seven core runs were conducted, yielding 135.8 feet of recovered core. Features in the core were categorized into planar fractures, semi-planar fractures, unbroken mineralized fractures, rough fractures, curviplanar fractures, concave-convex surfaces, and planar compositional features such as mylonite or dike-like structures. Planar features were measured while the core was positioned horizontally, with the core axis aligned to a downhole azimuth of 42 degrees. Planar core measurements from stimulations 2 and 3 that could be confidently correlated with FMI data were rotated to in situ orientations. This was done by rotating the planes along vertical and horizontal axes to match the azimuth and inclination data recorded in the directional survey of well 16B(78)-32, as well as applying an axial rotation to resemble the fracture orientations observed in the FMI log at corresponding depths. Coherent sets of planar fracture measurements were made by aligning the core within each 3-foot section of the dissected core barrel, and between adjacent 3-foot sections within a core run by matching rock fabrics, saw cuts and/or tool marks. Where coherent fracture measurements could not be made within a core run, data sets are denoted by a subscript (i.e. 2-Ta and 2-Tb both come from tangent core run number 2).

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Genomic and morphological characterization of Knufia obscura isolated from the Mars 2020 spacecraft assembly facility

Members of the family Trichomeriaceae, belonging to the Chaetothyriales order and the Ascomycota phylum, are known for their capability to inhabit hostile environments characterized by extreme temperatures, oligotrophic conditions, drought, or presence of toxic compounds. The genus Knufia encompasses many polyextremophilic species. In this report, the genomic and morphological features of the strain FJI-L2-BK-P2 presented, which was isolated from the Mars 2020 mission spacecraft assembly facility located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The identification is based on sequence alignment for marker genes, multi-locus sequence analysis, and whole genome sequence phylogeny. The morphological features were studied using a diverse range of microscopic techniques (bright field, phase contrast, differential interference contrast and scanning electron microscopy). The phylogenetic marker genes of the strain FJI-L2-BK-P2 exhibited highest similarities with type strain of Knufia obscura (CBS 148926 T ) that was isolated from the gas tank of a car in Italy. To validate the species identity, whole genomes of both strains (FJI-L2-BK-P2 and CBS 148926 T ) were sequenced, annotated, and strain FJI-L2-BK-P2 was confirmed as K. obscura. The morphological analysis and description of the genomic characteristics of K. obscura FJI-L2-BK-P2 may contribute to refining the taxonomy of Knufia species. Key morphological features are reported in this K. obscura strain, resembling microsclerotia and chlamydospore-like propagules. These features known to be characteristic features in black fungi which could potentially facilitate their adaptation to harsh environments.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1983

Solid particle impingement erosion characteristics of cylindrical surfaces, pre-existing holes and slits

The erosion characteristics of aluminum cylinders sand-blasted with both spherical and angular erodent particles were studied and compared with results from previously studied flat surfaces. The cylindrical results are discussed with respect to impact conditions. The relationship between erosion rate and pit morphology (width, depth, and width to depth ratio) is established. The aspects of (1) erosion rate versus time curves on cylindrical surfaces; (2) long-term exposures; and (3) erosion rate versus time curves with spherical and angular particles are presented. The erosion morphology and characteristics of aluminum surfaces with pre-existing circular cylindrical and conical holes of different sizes were examined using weight loss measurements, scanning electron microscopy, a profilometer, and a depth gage. The morphological features (radial and concentric rings) are discussed with reference to flat surfaces, and the erosion features with spherical microglass beads. The similarities and differences of erosion and morphological features are highlighted. The erosion versus time curves of various shapes of holes are discussed and are compared with those of a flat surface. The erosion process at slits is considered.

Rao, P. V.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Synthesis and Morphological Characterization of Electroless-Deposited Ni-P Coatings on Diamond Abrasives

Deposition of a coating on rough surfaces faces unique challenges due to the complexity of substrate morphology. In the present research, electroless deposition of a Ni-P coating was successfully deposited on diamond particles. Microtomography was conducted to study the deposition mechanisms. It revealed that the coating coverage rate on diamond particles was affected by the synergistic action of the deposition time, substrate morphology, and hypophosphite concentration. The best coverage was achieved in a solution with 0.2 mol/L hypophosphite. Two major morphological features of the coating: nodular and smooth, were influenced by the deposition parameters, coating integrity, and substrate morphology. The failure was seen in fractured and peeled off coatings. It was due to residual stress produced by the coalescing of crystallites during the deposition. This failure mechanism explains the tendency of coating fracture at three morphological features of the substrate. This work is beneficial to semiconductor manufacturing where effective cutting in chip fabrication is essential.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2003

Developmental gene regulatory network architecture across 500 million years of echinoderm evolution

Evolutionary change in morphological features must depend on architectural reorganization of developmental gene regulatory networks (GRNs), just as true conservation of morphological features must imply retention of ancestral developmental GRN features. Key elements of the provisional GRN for embryonic endomesoderm development in the sea urchin are here compared with those operating in embryos of a distantly related echinoderm, a starfish. These animals diverged from their common ancestor 520-480 million years ago. Their endomesodermal fate maps are similar, except that sea urchins generate a skeletogenic cell lineage that produces a prominent skeleton lacking entirely in starfish larvae. A relevant set of regulatory genes was isolated from the starfish Asterina miniata, their expression patterns determined, and effects on the other genes of perturbing the expression of each were demonstrated. A three-gene feedback loop that is a fundamental feature of the sea urchin GRN for endoderm specification is found in almost identical form in the starfish: a detailed element of GRN architecture has been retained since the Cambrian Period in both echinoderm lineages. The significance of this retention is highlighted by the observation of numerous specific differences in the GRN connections as well. A regulatory gene used to drive skeletogenesis in the sea urchin is used entirely differently in the starfish, where it responds to endomesodermal inputs that do not affect it in the sea urchin embryo. Evolutionary changes in the GRNs since divergence are limited sharply to certain cis-regulatory elements, whereas others have persisted unaltered.

NASA Program Fundamental Space Biology↗
DOE OSTI2025

Automated segmentation of soft X-ray tomography: Native cellular structure with submicron resolution at high-throughput for whole-cell quantitative imaging in yeast

Soft X-ray tomography (SXT) is an invaluable tool for quantitatively analyzing cellular structures at suboptical isotropic resolution. However, it has traditionally depended on manual segmentation, limiting its scalability for large datasets. Here, we leverage a deep learning-based autosegmentation pipeline to segment and label cellular structures in hundreds of cells across three Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains. This task-based pipeline uses manual iterative refinement to improve segmentation accuracy for key structures, including the cell body, nucleus, vacuole, and lipid droplets, enabling high-throughput and precise phenotypic analysis. Using this approach, we quantitatively compared the three-dimensional (3D) whole-cell morphometric characteristics of wild-type, VPH1-GFP, and vac14 strains, uncovering detailed strain-specific cell and organelle size and shape variations. We show the utility of SXT data for precise 3D curvature analysis of entire organelles and cells and detection of fine morphological features using surface meshes. Our approach facilitates comparative analyses with high spatial precision and statistical throughput, uncovering subtle morphological features at the single-cell and population level. This workflow significantly enhances our ability to characterize cell anatomy and supports scalable studies on the mesoscale, with applications in investigating cellular architecture, organelle biology, and genetic research across diverse biological contexts.

Chen, Jianhua [Lawrence Berkeley National Laborato↗
DOE OSTI2023

Review of multi-faceted morphologic signatures of actinide process materials for nuclear forensic science

Particle morphology is an emerging signature that has the potential to identify the processing history of unknown nuclear materials. Using readily available scanning electron microscopes (SEM), the morphology of nearly any solid material can be measured within hours. Coupled with robust image analysis and classification methods, the morphological features can be quantified and support identification of the processing history of unknown nuclear materials. The viability of this signature depends on developing databases of morphological features, coupled with a rapid data analysis and accurate classification process. With developed reference methods, datasets, and throughputs, morphological analysis can be applied within days to (i) interdicted bulk nuclear materials (gram to kilogram quantities), and (ii) trace amounts of nuclear materials detected on swipes or environmental samples. In conclusion, this review aims to develop validated and verified analytical strategies for morphological analysis relevant to nuclear forensics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2025

Large Impact Features on Ganymede and Callisto as Revealed By Geological Mapping and Morphometry

The icy Galilean satellites are host to a broad range of impact feature morphologies. Hypotheses seeking to explain the diversity of these impact features consider the effects of impact melt, the physical state of the subsurface at the time of impact, and the impactor characteristics. As part of a larger effort to assess the role of these factors in the formation and evolution of these impact features, we have performed topographic and geological mapping of 19 large impact features on Ganymede and Callisto. These are divided into two main morphological groups: craters (subdivided into pit, dome, and anomalous dome craters), and penepalimpsests/palimpsests. The transitions from pit, dome, to anomalous dome craters appear to be size-dependent up to diameters of ∼170 km. The morphologies of pit and dome craters appear to be independent of their age or geologic context. The impacts that formed them only affected a cold, rigid ice layer, with the development of pits and raised annuli on their floors possibly stemming from the evolution of a pocket of impact melt. The subdued rims and floors of anomalous dome craters indicate the increasing effect of a weak, warm ice layer on impact feature morphology with increasing size, but their prominent annuli and pits indicate that mobilization of impact melt is also a factor. The very low topographic relief of older penepalimpsests and palimpsests indicates that their impacts penetrated the ice shell to mobilize very large volumes of pre-existing liquid from a subsurface layer, with little contribution to the final feature morphology from impact melt. Penepalimpsests are distinguished from palimpsests by the higher frequency of concentric ridges within their interiors, indicating a generally more robust state of the subsurface that could better support the rotation and uplift of solid material during impact, even if a crater-like depression could not be supported. A few impact features seem to be transitional between anomalous dome craters and penepalimpsests, and the overlap of anomalous dome craters, penepalimpsests, and palimpsests in terms of diameter as well as age indicates that impactor size and subsurface properties over time are major factors in determining which of these morphologies emerges.

Oliver L White↗
DOE OSTI2021

Morphological and chemical characteristics of oxide scales formed on δ-phase plutonium metal alloys II: 2.0 at% Ga

The focused ion-beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) and three-dimensional (3D) microscopy were applied to characterize the subsurface morphological features of oxide scales formed on an ~2.0 at. % Ga plutonium (Pu) metal alloy. Using the FIB-SEM technique, a number of morphological features formed in the interior of the oxide scale from Pu metal’s environmental exposure were observed and identified. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) was utilized to characterize the cross-sectional composition and chemistry of the oxide scale. The oxide scale formed during inert storage and operational environments was found to be highly variable in thickness and morphology, presenting some regions with a thin (<400 nm), dense oxide layer and others with a thick (>2 µm) scale with substantial lateral cracking. After subsequent exposure to dry air environment, the oxide scale became thicker (~4 µm) and slightly more porous. The changes following aging in a moist air environment were observed to be more severe, with the formation of a highly porous internal structure containing significant lateral and transverse cracking. In comparison to the scale formed on an ~3.5 at. % Ga-Pu metal alloy, the oxide morphology of the lower gallium alloy investigated here exhibited greater variation in thickness and a noteworthy dependence on the presence of water vapor, particularly in terms of the internal porosity formed during growth of the oxide.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Morphological and chemical characteristics of oxide scales formed on δ-Phase plutonium metal alloys I: 3.5 at% ga

Focused ion-beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) and three-dimensional (3D) microscopy were applied to characterize the subsurface morphological features of oxide scales formed on an ~3.5 at.% Ga plutonium (Pu) metal alloy. Using the FIB-SEM technique, a number of morphological features formed in the interior of the oxide scale from Pu metal's environmental exposure were observed and identified. Here, Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) was utilized to characterize the cross-sectional composition and chemistry of the oxide scale. The oxide scale formed during inert storage and operational environments has a characteristic internal scale structure that includes a relatively dense oxide layer with some lateral and transverse cracking. Generally, after subsequent exposure to dry air environment, the oxide scale retained most of the original structural and chemical characteristics. However, after aging in a moist air environment, while the oxide scale was found to maintain the chemical characteristics of the source oxide, the scale was found to be on average thinner and without the previously observed internal microcracking, likely the result of spallation of the source scale during exposure to the new environment.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗