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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 235 records · Page 13

National Certification Standard for Ground Source Heat Pump Personnel

The National Certification Standard for the Geothermal Heat Pump Industry adds to the understanding of the barriers to rapid growth of the geothermal heat pump (GHP) industry by bringing together for the first time an analysis of the roles and responsibilities of each of the individual job tasks involved in the design and installation of GHP systems. The standard addresses applicable qualifications for all primary personnel involved in the design, installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance of GHP systems, including their knowledge, skills and abilities. The resulting standard serves as a foundation for subsequent development of curriculum, training and certification programs, which are not included in the scope of this project, but are briefly addressed in the standard to describe ways in which the standard developed in this project may form a foundation to support further progress in accomplishing those other efforts. Follow-on efforts may use the standard developed in this project to improve the technical effectiveness and economic feasibility of curriculum development and training programs for GHP industry personnel, by providing a more complete and objective assessment of the individual job tasks necessary for successful implementation of GHP systems. When incorporated into future certification programs for GHP personnel, the standard will facilitate increased consumer confidence in GHP technology, reduce the potential for improperly installed GHP systems, and assure GHP system quality and performance, all of which benefit the public through improved energy efficiency and mitigated environmental impacts of the heating and cooling of homes and businesses.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Collaborative Research: Process-Resolving Decomposition of the Global Temperature Response to Modes of Low Frequency Variability in a Changing Climate

DOE-GTRC-05596 11/24/2104 Collaborative Research: Process-Resolving Decomposition of the Global Temperature Response to Modes of Low Frequency Variability in a Changing Climate PI: Dr. Yi Deng (PI) School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Georgia Institute of Technology 404-385-1821, yi.deng@eas.gatech.edu El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Annular Modes (AMs) represent respectively the most important modes of low frequency variability in the tropical and extratropical circulations. The projection of future changes in the ENSO and AM variability, however, remains highly uncertain with the state-of-the-science climate models. This project conducted a process-resolving, quantitative evaluations of the ENSO and AM variability in the modern reanalysis observations and in climate model simulations. The goal is to identify and understand the sources of uncertainty and biases in models’ representation of ENSO and AM variability. Using a feedback analysis method originally formulated by one of the collaborative PIs, we partitioned the 3D atmospheric temperature anomalies and surface temperature anomalies associated with ENSO and AM variability into components linked to 1) radiation-related thermodynamic processes such as cloud and water vapor feedbacks, 2) local dynamical processes including convection and turbulent/diffusive energy transfer and 3) non-local dynamical processes such as the horizontal energy transport in the oceans and atmosphere. In the past 4 years, the research conducted at Georgia Tech under the support of this project has led to 15 peer-reviewed publications and 9 conference/workshop presentations. Two graduate students and one postdoctoral fellow also received research training through participating the project activities. This final technical report summarizes key scientific discoveries we made and provides also a list of all publications and conference presentations resulted from research activities at Georgia Tech. The main findings include: 1) the distinctly different roles played by atmospheric dynamical processes in establishing surface temperature response to ENSO at tropics and extratropics (i.e., atmospheric dynamics disperses energy out of tropics during ENSO warm events and modulate surface temperature at mid-, high-latitudes through controlling downward longwave radiation); 2) the representations of ENSO-related temperature response in climate models fail to converge at the process-level particularly over extratropics (i.e., models produce the right temperature responses to ENSO but with wrong reasons); 3) water vapor feedback contributes substantially to the temperature anomalies found over U.S. during different phases of the Northern Annular Mode (NAM), which adds new insight to the traditional picture that cold/warm advective processes are the main drivers of local temperature responses to the NAM; 4) the overall land surface temperature biases in the latest NCAR model (CESM1) are caused by biases in surface albedo while the surface temperature biases over ocean are related to multiple factors including biases in model albedo, cloud and oceanic dynamics, and the temperature biases over different ocean basins are also induced by different process biases. These results provide a detailed guidance for process-level model turning and improvement, and thus contribute directly to the overall goal of reducing model uncertainty in projecting future changes in the Earth’s climate system, especially in the ENSO and AM variability.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Opportunities and Challenges from Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for the Advancement of Science, Technology, and the Office of Science Missions

In February 2019, the President signed Executive Order 13859, Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence. This order launched the American Artificial Intelligence Initiative, a concerted effort to promote and protect AI technology and innovation in the United States. The Initiative implements a government-wide strategy in collaboration and engagement with the private sector, academia, the public, and like-minded international partners. Among other actions, key directives in the Initiative called for Federal agencies to: Prioritize AI research and development investments, Enhance access to high-quality cyberinfrastructure and data, Ensure that the US maintains an international leadership role in the development of technical standards for AI, and Provide education and training opportunities to prepare the American workforce for the new era of AI. The mission of the Department of Energy (DOE) is to ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental, and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. In terms of Science and Innovation, the DOE’s mission is to maintain a vibrant US effort in science and engineering as a cornerstone of our economic prosperity with clear leadership in strategic areas. From July to October in 2019, the Argonne, Oak Ridge, and Berkeley National Laboratories hosted a series of four AI for Science Town Hall meetings in Chicago, Oak Ridge, Berkeley, and Washington DC. The four meetings were attended by over 1300 scientists from the 17 DOE Labs, 39 companies, and over 90 universities. The goal of the Town Hall series was ‘to examine scientific opportunities in the areas of artificial intelligence, Big Data, and high-performance computing (HPC) in the next decade, and to capture the big ideas, grand challenges, and next steps to realizing these.’ The discussions at the meetings were captured in the final report of the AI for Science Town Hall meetings.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Semi-supervised Bayesian Low-shot Learning

Deep neural networks (NNs) typically outperform traditional machine learning (ML) approaches for complicated, non-linear tasks. It is expected that deep learning (DL) should offer superior performance for the important non-proliferation task of predicting explosive device configuration based upon observed optical signature, a task which human experts struggle with. However, supervised machine learning is difficult to apply in this mission space because most recorded signatures are not associated with the corresponding device description, or “truth labels.” This is challenging for NNs, which traditionally require many samples for strong performance. Semi-supervised learning (SSL), low-shot learning (LSL), and uncertainty quantification (UQ) for NNs are emerging approaches that could bridge the mission gaps of few labels and rare samples of importance. NN explainability techniques are important in gaining insight into the inferential feature importance of such a complex model. In this work, SSL, LSL, and UQ are merged into a single framework, a significant technical hurdle not previously demonstrated. Exponential Average Adversarial Training (EAAT) and Pairwise Neural Networks (PNNs) are chosen as the SSL and LSL methods of choice. Permutation feature importance (PFI) for functional data is used to provide explainability via the Variable importance Explainable Elastic Shape Analysis (VEESA) pipeline. A variety of uncertainty quantification approaches are explored: Bayesian Neural Networks (BNNs), ensemble methods, concrete dropout, and evidential deep learning. Two final approaches, one utilizing ensemble methods and one utilizing evidential learning, are constructed and compared using a well-quantified synthetic 2D dataset along with the DIRSIG Megascene.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Graphing techniques for materials laboratory using Excel

Engineering technology curricula stress hands on training and laboratory practices in most of the technical courses. Laboratory reports should include analytical as well as graphical evaluation of experimental data. Experience shows that many students neither have the mathematical background nor the expertise for graphing. This paper briefly describes the procedure and data obtained from a number of experiments such as spring rate, stress concentration, endurance limit, and column buckling for a variety of materials. Then with a brief introduction to Microsoft Excel the author explains the techniques used for linear regression and logarithmic graphing.

Kundu, Nikhil K.↗

Defining Space Mission Architects for the Smaller Missions

The definition of the Space Mission Architect (SMA) must be clear in both technical and human terms if we expect to train and/or to find people needed to architect the numbers of smaller missions expected in the future.

Architecting Essential products services and deliv↗

Earth-Independent Medical Operations (EIMO) Concept of Operations

In contrast to the current crew health paradigm for low-Earth orbit and Lunar missions, which depends on real-time communication with Mission Control, deep-space exploration missions will require a significant shift in medical operations. This shift is driven by the constraints of operating at a considerable distance from Earth, such as resource limitations—lack of resupply, restricted mass, power, volume, and data—as well as communication delays and the inability to evacuate back to Earth during emergencies. To move toward a more self-reliant medical model, a strategy is needed to gradually increase space-based crew autonomy and reduce risks to mission success in the challenging environment of deep space. This transformative change, known as "Earth-Independent Medical Operations" (EIMO), explores the gradual transfer of medical care and decision-making from Earth-based support to space-based systems. The goal of this transition is to enhance astronaut health and performance while minimizing mission risks. EIMO requires the development of a medical system that integrates seamlessly with mission planning, vehicle and spacesuit design, and data architecture. This integration is crucial for building a robust medical infrastructure that not only safeguards astronaut well-being but also ensures overall mission success. The Human Research Program (HRP) Exploration Medical Capability (ExMC) Element has revised the EIMO model-based Concept of Operations (ConOps) which outlines an initial vision for EIMO. The ConOps, which is built on the stakeholders’ need, system goals, and objectives (NGOs), presents an array of in-mission scenarios that span a wide range of medical conditions demonstrating the system’s capabilities from basic to complex events. Developed by a multidisciplinary team of systems engineers, scientists, and clinicians within ExMC, the ConOps revision includes two new scenarios(Barotrauma and Self-Medical Management and Behavioral Health and Chronic Medical Care), and implementation of findings from EIMO technical interchange meetings that focused on data and training. The envisioned EIMO Medical System (MS) operates as a system of systems, gathering data from various sources such as reference databases, real-time wearable sensors, point-of-care diagnostics, and environmental controls. The MS also incorporates advanced training tools to support autonomous medical care, assisting the Crew Medical Officer (CMO) during medical events where Ground Support is either unavailable or communication-delayed beyond practicality. Furthermore, MS functions and capabilities were decomposed from the scenarios to establish foundational requirements for EIMO and traced to the NASA Spaceflight Human-System Standard(NASA-STD-3001, Volumes 1 and 2). These traces were performed to gain insights on the alignment of EIMO requirements with the NASA standard. This work serves as an initial recommendation to increase crew autonomy gradually and safely for Mars missions and future deep-space exploration.

medical system↗

Idaho National Laboratory Radioisotope Power Systems Nuclear Operations: Readiness Assessments Supporting a Nuclear-enabled NASA Mission

Idaho National Laboratory Radioisotope Power Systems Nuclear Operations: Preparations, Documentation, Readiness Assessments and Conduct of Operations Supporting a Nuclear-enabled NASA Mission Kelly L. Lively, Eric S. Clarke, Robert P. Gomez Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID 83415 208-533-7388; Kelly.Lively@inl.gov Abstract. The Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) Program, located at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), is responsible for assembling, testing, and delivering plutonium oxide-fueled RPSs for use in powering missions in remote, harsh environments such as deep space. An informative presentation will be given discussing the preparations, documents, readiness assessments, human capital and conduct of operations involved in performing nuclear operations to support providing these systems to end users for the Department of Energy (DOE). DOE is the start-up authority for performing nuclear operations. Readiness for start-up is determined through independent assessment against established acceptance criteria to ensure activities can be performed safely and within a well defined nuclear safety envelope. There is also an RPS Program approval element requiring additional readiness review before nuclear operations can begin. The programmatic readiness review is performed to ascertain readiness to proceed with nuclear operations from the perspective of product quality. The assessments and reviews are conducted in series in the following order of progression: Management Self Assessment (MSA), Contractor Readiness Assessment (CRA), DOE Readiness Assessment (DOE RA) and lastly, the Programmatic Production Readiness Review (PRR). The CRA, DOE RA, and PRR requires an independent technical review team. Twelve assessment criteria are reviewed and a selection of the criteria is identified for review on a graded approach. Typically, the assessments/review criteria requires, at a minimum, review of operating instructions to ensure technical safety requirements are adequately identified, review of training records to ensure personnel are adequately trained to perform the specified work scope, personnel are interviewed to determine adequacy of level of knowledge for work scope, and a high-fidelity performance of the operation to ensure the operating instructions and conduct of operations are adequate to perform the work scope. As each assessment/review is conducted a formal report delineating any issues in the form of findings, observations, and noteworthy practices will be issued. Before start-up approval is obtained all issues must be resolved to the satisfaction of the individual teams. Start-up notification is formally communicated by memorandum from DOE. Programmatic approval is documented in a Segmented Readiness Review where vested Program representatives in the RPS community (to include DOE NE 75 and DOE ID representatives) ensure personnel, documentation, and materials are in place to perform the activity. The four assessments/reviews can be completed in a 16-week period of time, provided ample resources and a relatively small work scope is identified. RPS assembly and testing operations to support the Mars 2020 Mission, the next planned space mission using a nuclear power system, will require about of year of assessments/reviews before the nuclear operations are performed. Keywords: INL, Operations, Assessments, DOE

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Nondestructive Assay Technical Infrastructure Program Mission and Vision

The Nondestructive Assay Program (NDAP) mission and vision is achieved by identifying and accomplishing a set of programmatic goals that correspond with eight broad technical program elements. The NDAP was created as a result of Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board Recommendation 2007-1, entitled “Safety-Related In Situ Nondestructive Assay of Radioactive Materials,” which emphasized the need to improve in situ measurements of radioactive material at US Department of Energy (DOE) defense nuclear facilities. An NDAP five-year plan will define tasks to accomplish specific goals identified in the NDAP mission and vision. This mission and vision is applicable for eight technical program elements: Hardware/Software Development, Algorithm Development and Nuclear Data, Uncertainty Quantification, Nuclear Materials, Staffing, Personnel, And Training, Data Management, Requirement and Standards, and Information Preservation and Dissemination. An additional program element is technical support, which provides daily execution management support for the NDAP, site scope, and deliverable tracking via site task managers, along with technical advisement and support from the technical support group. The NDAP mission and vision provides attributes with specific goals for each program element, and some goals benefit multiple program elements. The goals and attributes defined herein are implemented via an NDAP five-year execution plan that defines site work scope, budget, and deliverables, all of which are updated annually. The NDAP is designed to benefit nondestructive assay (NDA) needs to support DOE nuclear criticality safety programs, ensuring that NDA technology is sufficiently capable of guaranteeing the safety of those who handle, store, process, or transport fissionable materials in the complex. Especially important for the NDAP is to maximize capabilities to identify, characterize, and manage in situ fissile material deposits in process equipment to ensure nuclear criticality safety at processing facilities.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Space Flight Resource Management for ISS Operations

Although the astronaut training flow for the International Space Station (ISS) spans 2 years, each astronaut or cosmonaut often spends most of their training alone. Rarely is it operationally feasible for all six ISS crewmembers to train together, even more unlikely that crewmembers can practice living together before launch. Likewise, ISS Flight Controller training spans 18 months of learning to manage incredibly complex systems remotely in plug-and-play ground teams that have little to no exposure to crewmembers before a mission. How then do all of these people quickly become a team - a team that must respond flexibly yet decisively to a variety of situations? The answer implemented at NASA is Space Flight Resource Management (SFRM), the so-called "soft skills" or team performance skills. Based on Crew Resource Management, SFRM was developed first for shuttle astronauts and focused on managing human errors during time-critical events (Rogers, et al. 2002). Given the nature of life on ISS, the scope of SFRM for ISS broadened to include teamwork during prolonged and routine operations (O'Keefe, 2008). The ISS SFRM model resembles a star with one competency for each point: Communication, Cross-Culture, Teamwork, Decision Making, Team Care, Leadership/Followership, Conflict Management, and Situation Awareness. These eight competencies were developed with international participation by the Human Behavior and Performance Training Working Group. Over the last two years, these competencies have been used to build a multi-modal SFRM training flow for astronaut candidates and flight controllers that integrates team performance skills into the practice of technical skills. Preliminary results show trainee skill increases as the flow progresses; and participants find the training invaluable to performing well and staying healthy during ISS operations. Future development of SFRM training will aim to help support indirect handovers as ISS operations evolve further with the retirement of the Space Shuttle Program.

Schmidt, Lacey L.↗

Whys and hows of in-house writing

The combining of requisite technical knowledge with requisite writing ability is addressed. Considerations in the development of in-house writing courses, in-plant training, are presented and evaluated. Specific problems in past methodology are also detailed. It is suggested that teachers of technical writing should be technical people themselves, preferably with working experience in industry or business; the training provided should be user-oriented, not theory oriented.

Lane, J. C.↗

Benefits to the Simulation Training Community of a New ANSI Standard for the Exchange of Aero Simulation Models

The American Institute of Aeronautics Astronautics (AIAA) Modeling and Simulation Technical Committee is in final preparation of a new standard for the exchange of flight dynamics models. The standard will become an ANSI standard and is under consideration for submission to ISO for acceptance by the international community. The standard has some a spects that should provide benefits to the simulation training community. Use of the new standard by the training simulation community will reduce development, maintenance and technical refresh investment on each device. Furthermore, it will significantly lower the cost of performing model updates to improve fidelity or expand the envelope of the training device. Higher flight fidelity should result in better transfer of training, a direct benefit to the pilots under instruction. Costs of adopting the standard are minimal and should be paid back within the cost of the first use for that training device. The standard achie ves these advantages by making it easier to update the aerodynamic model. It provides a standard format for the model in a custom eXtensible Markup Language (XML) grammar, the Dynamic Aerospace Vehicle Exchange Markup Language (DAVE-ML). It employs an existing XML grammar, MathML, to describe the aerodynamic model in an input data file, eliminating the requirement for actual software compilation. The major components of the aero model become simply an input data file, and updates are simply new XML input files. It includes naming and axis system conventions to further simplify the exchange of information.

Hildreth, Bruce L.↗

Enhancing Team Performance for Long-Duration Space Missions

Success of exploration missions will depend on skilled performance by a distributed team that includes both the astronauts in space and Mission Control personnel. Coordinated and collaborative teamwork will be required to cope with challenging complex problems in a hostile environment. While thorough preflight training and procedures will equip creW'S to address technical problems that can be anticipated, preparing them to solve novel problems is much more challenging. This presentation will review components of effective team performance, challenges to effective teamwork, and strategies for ensuring effective team performance. Teamwork skills essential for successful team performance include the behaviors involved in developing shared mental models, team situation awareness, collaborative decision making, adaptive coordination behaviors, effective team communication, and team cohesion. Challenges to teamwork include both chronic and acute stressors. Chronic stressors are associated with the isolated and confined environment and include monotony, noise, temperatures, weightlessness, poor sleep and circadian disruptions. Acute stressors include high workload, time pressure, imminent danger, and specific task-related stressors. Of particular concern are social and organizational stressors that can disrupt individual resilience and effective mission performance. Effective team performance can be developed by training teamwork skills, techniques for coping with team conflict, intracrew and intercrew communication, and working in a multicultural team; leadership and teamwork skills can be fostered through outdoor survival training exercises. The presentation will conclude with an evaluation of the special requirements associated with preparing crews to function autonomously in long-duration missions.

Orasanu, Judith M.↗

Ensuring Future Qualified Employees through Workforce Development Initiatives - 19183

UCOR, an AECOM-led partnership with Jacobs, manages the cleanup of the 2,200-acre East Tennessee Technology Park for its client, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The site was contaminated with radioactive, hazardous and industrial wastes generated by more than 40 years of national defense and energy missions. While successfully conducting its cleanup responsibilities, DoE's Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and UCOR are strongly committed to developing the current and future workforce through the application of multiple partnering opportunities and the use of innovative learning techniques that are adaptive to different generations of learners. The goal is to maintain a highly-skilled workforce for cleanup activities while establishing bridges for the development and placement of our future workforce. The training and professional development of the UCOR workforce is provided by multiple sources, including UCOR in-house training, trade unions, regional higher educational institutions and regional technical schools. In concert with these partners, UCOR is working to maintain and expand the existing talent base, enhance safety, improve processes, and resolve challenges through aggressive and well-coordinated initiatives designed to develop the future workforce. While UCOR's efforts are primarily focused on the cleanup of DOE facilities, its workforce development programs can also benefit the commercial nuclear power industry - both in ongoing plant operations and in decommissioning aging plants as they come to the end of their useful life. UCOR's Workforce Development Program is built on four distinct pillars: - Higher Education; - Community Colleges; - Apprenticeship Readiness Program; - K-12 STEM Program. (authors)

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗

Do-It-Yourself: A Special Library's Approach to Creating Dynamic Web Pages Using Commercial Off-The-Shelf Applications

Many librarians may feel that dynamic Web pages are out of their reach, financially and technically. Yet we are reminded in library and Web design literature that static home pages are a thing of the past. This paper describes how librarians at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) library developed a database-driven, dynamic intranet site using commercial off-the-shelf applications. Administrative issues include surveying a library users group for interest and needs evaluation; outlining metadata elements; and, committing resources from managing time to populate the database and training in Microsoft FrontPage and Web-to-database design. Technical issues covered include Microsoft Access database fundamentals, lessons learned in the Web-to-database process (including setting up Database Source Names (DSNs), redesigning queries to accommodate the Web interface, and understanding Access 97 query language vs. Standard Query Language (SQL)). This paper also offers tips on editing Active Server Pages (ASP) scripting to create desired results. A how-to annotated resource list closes out the paper.

Relational databases↗

DOE-EM/HBCU Projects for Environmental Management Research and Workshop Development at SCSU [Conference Papers/Proceedings]. Final Report

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) established a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with nine HBCUs in South Carolina and Northeast Georgia. The nine HBCUs (Allen University, Benedict College, Claflin University, Clinton Junior College, Demark Technical College, Morris College, South Carolina State University, Voorhees College and Paine College of Northeast Georgia) have formulated a consortium to address the technical and workforce development needs of the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. These institutions have the qualifications and expertise to provide the technical cooperation and operations support in the areas of environmental remediation, nuclear regulatory and transportation safety, modeling, technology transfer and workforce development. Several of the HBCUs have received awards from the DOE to address issues related to ground water, surface water, plant communities, the development of an interdisciplinary waste management institute, and the establishment of an environmental science field station. Also, the acquisition of these grant awards have afforded the participating institutions with the ability to instruct students by providing them with the appropriate skill sets to address the future employment needs of DOE to include: Hands-on field experiences; Classroom demonstrations; and, Research and education experiences. South Carolina State University will build upon its existing relationships with DOE-EM by creating a "pipeline" for minorities in Mathematics, Science & Technology, Engineering, Research, and other related fields. Students will be specifically trained and mentored to enter the DOE workforce in these technical areas of need. The integration of technology in research and education is essential for meeting the demanding need to develop a workable mechanism to optimize the effectiveness of research and education in this nation. This is extremely critical in this age of unprecedented technological advances when information delivery, training, and continuous research to improve performance and skill enhancement hold the key to competition. This development relies on a program of applied science to identify and help implement the technologies, as well as programs that energize and mentor the next generation of scientists and engineers. To foster these goals, SCSU proposes research and educational projects that will support the integration of technology in research and education.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Introduction to the Consortium for Monitoring, Technology, and Verification (MTV) [Slides]

Our mission is to develop new technologies that detect and deter nuclear proliferation activities while training the next generation of nuclear professionals. The three technical thrust areas are: 1. Fundamentals of nuclear and particle physics, 2. Signals and source terms for nuclear nonproliferation, and 3. Nuclear explosion. There are opportunities for collaborations with university faculty, possible student and post-doc work, and posting job ads. Further, MTV hosts various workshops, symposiums.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗