Plasma photonic spatiotemporal synchronization of relativistic electron and laser beams
Not Available
SEARCH · Engineering Papers
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.
Not Available
In climate predictions, clouds are the leading source of uncertainty. This is partly because, to simulate the fluid dynamics of climate over the entire globe, a large grid spacing must be used, so clouds are a subgrid-scale parametrization rather than a resolved feature. Here, a framework is investigated with finer grid spacing of O(1) or O(10)km so that some clouds are not subgrid-scale; instead, clouds evolve on the numerical grid. This cloud evolution is achieved using stochastic modeling. Hence, the framework is idealized in the sense that the full fluid dynamics of cloud circulations is still not resolved, and simplified vertical structures are used. Nevertheless, the fluid dynamics model includes evolving clouds that interactively adjust in size, shape, lifetime, and regional coverage. In addition, different cloud types are included with different roles in the climate system, including deep convective clouds and also boundary-layer clouds such as shallow cumulus and stratocumulus clouds. Other basic aspects of the idealized climate system are planetary-scale circulations (e.g., Walker circulation) and radiation. With these ingredients (evolving clouds, planetary-scale circulations, and radiation), the framework has the potential for idealized investigations of climate change with interactive cloud–radiative feedback of individual clouds. Here, the formulation of the model equations is presented, and numerical simulations are shown to illustrate the model dynamics and climate change.
Not Available
Monitoring progress of power restoration following extreme events is essential for situational awareness about spatio-temporal distribution of populations without power and to help with response efforts. Because of the proprietary nature of restoration data, and the difficulty in obtaining power outage data from utility companies in near real-time (e.g., during hurricane Maria (2017)), this project used satellite derived nighttime lights data from Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) to (i) monitor wide area power outage and (ii) estimate impacted customers over time to assist with restoration. A discussion of the methodology and its implementation during hurricanes Maria (2017) and Eta (2020) is presented in this paper. Future work will focus on calibrating estimated customers based on light intensity and density distribution, and generation of restoration profiles for emergency response.
Assessing photovoltaic module backsheet durability is critical to increasing module lifetime. Laboratory-based accelerating testing has recently failed to predict large scale failures of widely adopted polymeric materials. Additionally, there is a growing concern on characterizing the non-uniformity of field exposure. Therefore, data from field surveys are critical to assess the performance of component lifetimes. Using a documented field survey protocol, 19 field surveys were conducted. The focus of this survey strategy is to investigate spatial continuity in degradation modes. By combining field survey data with real-time satellite weather data, stressor / response models have been trained. Generalized additive Models (GAM) model was created to predict the value of degradation based on measured predictors. Two different GAM constructions were testing using different implementations of basis splines. The model includes variables on the environmental stressors of the system and the location of each measurement in the PV mounting structure. The incorporation of hierarchical structure into the models allowed for material specific degradation rates, while maintaining the assumption of a global trend. The model performed well with an adjusted R2 of 0.975 for yellowness index prediction.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Detecting internal defects in power electronics packages is critical for their performance and reliability, especially under extreme operating conditions, as these defects can lead to catastrophic failure if not properly addressed. Confocal scanning acoustic microscopy (C-SAM) plays a key role in the nondestructive evaluation of bond layer degradation within a power electronics package by detecting defects such as delamination, voids, and cracks. However, accurately quantifying and predicting these defects from C-SAM images remains a significant challenge due to the low noise-to-signal ratio, which typically arises from both imaging process and bond patterns itself. In this paper, we explore machine learning strategies for processing C-SAM images and providing predictive models of defect growth. We use C-SAM images of sintered copper and sintered silver samples, which are obtained under accelerated thermal experiments, as the representative dataset for our study. We investigate the effect of Fourier transforms and wavelet transforms on these datasets to remove high-frequency noise and address noise across multiple scales with histogram equalization to enhance the contrast and improve the visibility of defects. As a result, defect boundaries can be clearly distinguished, enabling more accurate tracking of their growth over time. We then employ different time-series forecasting algorithms on the denoised images to formulate an image-based lifetime prediction model. Statistical models and deep-learning techniques are trained on images obtained in the early stages of thermal shock, and defect growth in the later stages is predicted. Our work serves as a preliminary attempt to improve the accuracy of lifetime prediction models of power electronics packages, which is critical under extreme operating environments.
Not provided.
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis is accompanied by alterations to root cell metabolism and physiology, and to the pathways of orthophosphate (Pi) entry into the root, which increase with Pi delivery to cortical cells via arbuscules. How AM symbiosis influences the Pi content and Pi response dynamics of cells in the root cortex and epidermis is unknown. Using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based Pi biosensors, here we mapped the relative cytosolic and plastidic Pi content of Brachypodium distachyon mycorrhizal root cells, analyzed responses to extracellular Pi and traced extraradical hyphae-mediated Pi transfer to colonized cells. Colonized cortical cells had a higher cytosolic Pi content relative to noncolonized cortical and epidermal cells, while plastidic Pi content was highest in cells at the infection front. Pi application to the entire mycorrhizal root resulted in transient changes in cytosolic Pi that differed in direction and magnitude depending on cell type and arbuscule status; cells with mature arbuscules showed a substantial transient increase in cytosolic Pi while those with collapsed arbuscules showed a decrease. Directed Pi application to extraradical hyphae resulted in measurable changes in cytosolic Pi of colonized cells 18 h after application. Our experiments reveal that cells within a mycorrhizal root vary in Pi content and Pi response dynamics.
Coccidioidomycosis, or Valley fever, is a lung disease caused by inhalation of Coccidioides fungi, prevalent in the Southwestern United States, Mexico, and parts of Central and South America. Annually, the United States reports 10,000–20,000 cases, although those numbers are expected to increase as climate change expands the fungal geographic range. While 60% of infections are asymptomatic, 40% symptomatic infections are often misdiagnosed due to similarities with bronchitis or pneumonia. A small subset of infection progress to severe illness, necessitating a better understanding of immune responses during lethal infection. Using single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics, we characterized lung responses during Coccidioides infection. We identified monocyte-derived Spp1-expressing macrophages as potential mediators of tissue remodeling and fibrosis, marked by high expression of profibrotic and proinflammatory transcripts. These macrophages showed elevated TGF-β and IL-6 signaling, pathways involved in fibrosis pathogenesis. Additionally, we observed significant neutrophil infiltration and defective lymphocyte responses, indicating severe adaptive immunity dysregulation in lethal, acute infection. These findings enhance our understanding of Coccidioides infection and suggest new therapeutic targets.
Viruses are ubiquitous and abundant in the oceans, and viral metagenomes (viromes) have been investigated extensively via several large-scale ocean sequencing projects. However, there have not been any systematic viromic studies in estuaries. Here, we investigated the viromes of the Delaware Bay and Chesapeake Bay, two Mid-Atlantic estuaries. Deep sequencing generated a total of 48,190 assembled viral sequences (>5 kb) and 26,487 viral populations (9,204 virus clusters and 17,845 singletons), including 319 circular viral contigs between 7.5 kb and 161.8 kb. Unknown viruses represented the vast majority of the dominant populations, while the composition of known viruses, such as pelagiphage and cyanophage, appeared to be relatively consistent across a wide range of salinity gradients and in different seasons. A difference between estuarine and ocean viromes was reflected by the proportions of Myoviridae, Podoviridae, Siphoviridae, Phycodnaviridae, and a few well-studied virus representatives. The difference in viral community between the Delaware Bay and Chesapeake Bay is significantly more pronounced than the difference caused by temperature or salinity, indicating strong local profiles caused by the unique ecology of each estuary. Interestingly, a viral contig similar to phages infecting Acinetobacter baumannii (“Iraqibacter”) was found to be highly abundant in the Delaware Bay but not in the Chesapeake Bay, the source of which is yet to be identified. Highly abundant viruses in both estuaries have close hits to viral sequences derived from the marine single-cell genomes or long-read single-molecule sequencing, suggesting that important viruses are still waiting to be discovered in the estuarine environment.
As urbanization continues to grow, urban density also rises, placing significant stress on critical infrastructure. Cities often face challenges in investing in new infrastructure or upgrading existing ones. One area of infrastructure that has come under strain is the electric grid, leading to prolonged power outages. According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average duration of power outages has steadily doubled from 2013 to 2021, primarily due to extreme weather events. The IEEE has developed a series of reliability metrics to assess the reliability of the electric system. However, these metrics are only applied at the utility level, making it challenging to comprehend the variations in these indices at finer spatial resolutions and, consequently, evaluate reliability at the non-utility level. In this study, we leveraged electric outage data collected at 15-minute intervals at the county level to estimate electric system reliability over a six-year period using a novel data analysis approach. Our findings reveal a gradual decline in reliability in the U.S. Southwest compared to national averages. Furthermore, the duration of outages per customer per event has significantly decreased in large portions of California and Florida. These discoveries can be valuable for utility companies as they seek to pinpoint regional anomalies and plan for prioritized remediation efforts.
With the end of Moore’s law and Dennard scaling, efficient training increasingly requires rethinking data volume. Can we train better models with significantly less data via intelligent subsampling? To explore this, we develop SICKLE, a sparse intelligent curation framework for efficient learning, featuring a novel maximum entropy (MaxEnt) sampling approach, scalable training, and energy benchmarking. We compare MaxEnt with random and phase-space sampling on large direct numerical simulation (DNS) datasets of turbulence. Evaluating SICKLE at scale on Frontier, we show that subsampling as a preprocessing step can, in many cases, improve model accuracy and substantially lower energy consumption, with observed reductions of up to 38×.
Abstract Background A mechanistic understanding of the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and diligent tracking of ongoing mutagenesis are of key importance to plan robust strategies for confining its transmission. Large numbers of available sequences and their dates of transmission provide an unprecedented opportunity to analyze evolutionary adaptation in novel ways. Addition of high-resolution structural information can reveal the functional basis of these processes at the molecular level. Integrated systems biology-directed analyses of these data layers afford valuable insights to build a global understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results Here we identify globally distributed haplotypes from 15,789 SARS-CoV-2 genomes and model their success based on their duration, dispersal, and frequency in the host population. Our models identify mutations that are likely compensatory adaptive changes that allowed for rapid expansion of the virus. Functional predictions from structural analyses indicate that, contrary to previous reports, the Asp 614 Gly mutation in the spike glycoprotein (S) likely reduced transmission and the subsequent Pro 323 Leu mutation in the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase led to the precipitous spread of the virus. Our model also suggests that two mutations in the nsp13 helicase allowed for the adaptation of the virus to the Pacific Northwest of the USA. Finally, our explainable artificial intelligence algorithm identified a mutational hotspot in the sequence of S that also displays a signature of positive selection and may have implications for tissue or cell-specific expression of the virus. Conclusions These results provide valuable insights for the development of drugs and surveillance strategies to combat the current and future pandemics.
This dataset is comprised of in situ sensing data collected during laser-based, blown powder directed energy deposition (DED) of Inconel 718 representing eight different printing conditions: (1) nominal, (2) +15% scan speed, (3) +12% laser power, (4) +42% powder feed rate, (5) +100% jerk limit, (6) +10% layer height, (7) +20% hatch spacing, (8) +20% carrier gas flow. All eight DED builds constructed an identical test coupon geometry consisting of geometric features representative of industrial print requirements (e.g., bulk deposition, thin walls, overhangs). In situ data consists of xyz-coordinates (100 Hz) and on-axis melt pool camera video (60 Hz), both of which have been temporally synchronized to spatially map the melt pool camera data. In addition, post-build X-ray computed tomography (XCT) data for each of the eight test geometries have been spatially registered to the recorded xyz-coordinates, allowing for comparisons between melt pool camera data and flaws identified in the XCT data.