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At least 253 records · Page 14

Holographic probes of inner horizons

We study the inner horizons of rotating and charged black holes in anti-de Sitter space. These black holes have a classical analytic extension through the inner horizon to additional asymptotic regions. If this extension survives in the quantum theory, it requires particular analytic properties in a dual CFT, which give a prescription for calculating correlation functions for operators placed on any asymptotic boundary of the maximally extended spacetime. We show that for charged black holes in three or greater dimensions, and rotating black holes in four or greater dimensions, these analytic properties are inconsistent in the dual CFT, implying the absence of an analytic extension for quantum fields past the inner horizon. Thus, we find that strong cosmic censorship holds for all AdS black holes except rotating BTZ. To further study the latter case, we insert classical perturbations near the boundary at late times, producing shockwaves traveling along the inner horizon. We holographically compute CFT correlators in this background that probe a high energy scattering process near the inner horizon and argue that the shockwave does not destabilize the inner horizon violently enough to prevent signaling between different asymptotic regions of the Penrose diagram. This provides evidence that the rotating BTZ black hole does violate the strong cosmic censorship conjecture.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Intranasal Nanoparticle Vaccination Elicits a Persistent, Polyfunctional CD4 T Cell Response in the Murine Lung Specific for a Highly Conserved Influenza Virus Antigen That Is Sufficient To Mediate Protection from Influenza Virus Challenge

We report lung-localized CD4 T cells play a critical role in the control of influenza virus infection and can provide broadly protective immunity. However, current influenza vaccination strategies primarily target influenza hemagglutinin (HA) and are administered peripherally to induce neutralizing antibodies. We have used an intranasal vaccination strategy targeting the highly conserved influenza nucleoprotein (NP) to elicit broadly protective lung-localized CD4 T cell responses. The vaccine platform consists of a self-assembling nanolipoprotein particle (NLP) linked to NP with an adjuvant. We have evaluated the functionality, in vivo localization, and persistence of the T cells elicited. Our study revealed that intranasal vaccination elicits a polyfunctional subset of lung-localized CD4 T cells that persist long term. A subset of these lung CD4 T cells localize to the airway, where they can act as early responders following encounter with cognate antigen. Polyfunctional CD4 T cells isolated from airway and lung tissue produce significantly more effector cytokines IFN-γ and TNF-α, as well as cytotoxic functionality. When adoptively transferred to naive recipients, CD4 T cells from NLP:NP-immunized lung were sufficient to mediate 100% survival from lethal challenge with H1N1 influenza virus.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Personalized, disease-stage specific, rapid identification of immunosuppression in sepsis

Introduction Data overlapping of different biological conditions prevents personalized medical decision-making. For example, when the neutrophil percentages of surviving septic patients overlap with those of non-survivors, no individualized assessment is possible. To ameliorate this problem, an immunological method was explored in the context of sepsis. Methods Blood leukocyte counts and relative percentages as well as the serum concentration of several proteins were investigated with 4072 longitudinal samples collected from 331 hospitalized patients classified as septic (n=286), non-septic (n=43), or not assigned (n=2). Two methodological approaches were evaluated: (i) a reductionist alternative, which analyzed variables in isolation; and (ii) a non-reductionist version, which examined interactions among six (leukocyte-, bacterial-, temporal-, personalized-, population-, and outcome-related) dimensions. Results The reductionist approach did not distinguish outcomes: the leukocyte and serum protein data of survivors and non-survivors overlapped. In contrast, the non-reductionist alternative differentiated several data groups, of which at least one was only composed of survivors (a finding observable since hospitalization day 1). Hence, the non-reductionist approach promoted personalized medical practices: every patient classified within a subset associated with 100% survival subset was likely to survive. The non-reductionist method also revealed five inflammatory or disease-related stages (provisionally named ‘early inflammation, early immunocompetence, intermediary immuno-suppression, late immuno-suppression, or other’). Mortality data validated these labels: both ‘suppression’ subsets revealed 100% mortality, the ‘immunocompetence’ group exhibited 100% survival, while the remaining sets reported two-digit mortality percentages. While the ‘intermediary’ suppression expressed an impaired monocyte-related function, the ‘late’ suppression displayed renal-related dysfunctions, as indicated by high concentrations of urea and creatinine. Discussion The data-driven differentiation of five data groups may foster early and non-overlapping biomedical decision-making, both upon admission and throughout their hospitalization. This approach could evaluate therapies, at personalized level, earlier. To ascertain repeatability and investigate the dynamics of the ‘other’ group, additional studies are recommended.

Immunology↗

Chemical research projects office functions accomplishments programs

Basic and applied research in the fields of polymer chemistry, polymeric composites, chemical engineering, and biophysical chemistry is summarized. Emphasis is placed on fire safety and human survivability as they relate to commercial and military aircraft, high-rise buildings, mines and rapid transit transportation. Materials systems and other fire control systems developed for aerospace applications and applied to national domestic needs are described along with bench-scale and full-scale tests conducted to demonstrate the improvements in performance obtained through the utilization of these materials and fire control measures.

Heimbuch, A. H.↗

Evolutionary time scales for circumstellar disks associated with intermediate- and solar-type stars

The frequency with which massive, optically thick disks form around solar-type and intermediate mass stars is determined. Criteria are developed for diagnosing massive, optically thick disks, and the fraction of young, optically visible stars surrounded by such disks is determined. The range of survival times for massive, optically thick disks is determined by determining the fraction of stars surrounded by such disks as a function of stellar age. The existence of the probable descendents of massive, optically thick disks - optically thin dust disks, perhaps analogous to the structures surrounding Vega and Beta Pictoris - is established. The existence of structures in transition between those which are optically thick from the stellar surface outward, and those which are optically thin throughout is established.

Strom, Stephen E.↗

Effect of Latitude Bias in Entry Angle on Ground Casualty Risk from Naturally Decaying Space Objects

An improvement to the long-term estimation of ground casualties from naturally decaying space objects is the refinement to the distribution of entry angle at the entry interface as a function of latitude. Previous analyses were based on an assumed "small angle," typically -0.1°, and entry interface at the equator. This study expands on work by Bacon and Matney that indicated there is significant latitude bias in the location of reentries, compared to prior assumptions of equal temporal probability. A new model has been developed, which describes the distribution of entry angle as a function of orbital inclination and argument of latitude. This model has been used to generate inputs for ODPO’s certified reentry survivability software, Object Reentry Survival Analysis Tool (ORSAT). These new results are compared with the prior standard model to assess the magnitude of the effects on reentry casualty risk.

Ostrom, Chris L.↗

NASA Development of Hardware for Life Support Systems in Cis Lunar and Surface Habitats

Sustained human presence requires the ability to survive with a minimal Earth supply chain and minimal communications from Earth. NASA is working on mission platforms to aggregate ECLS functions into a cis lunar and lunar surface architectures to demonstrate Mars forward capabilities and reduce the risk for human missions to Mars. This means the Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) technologies in the vehicle architecture will need to recover air and water from human and consumable waste products to support humans for short and long duration missions. NASA is developing ECLS technologies for Air Revitalization, Water Recovery and Management, Waste Management and Environmental Monitoring. Implementation of these technologies on microgravity and partial gravity platforms will collect component and system data on manned missions to increase the reliability needed for mission beyond Low Earth Orbit.

Imelda C. Stambaugh↗

Next Steps Toward Understanding Human Habitation of Space: Environmental Impacts and Mechanisms

Entry into low earth orbit and beyond causes profound shifts in environmental conditions that have the potential to influence human productivity, long term health, and even survival. We now have evidence that microgravity, radiation and/or confinement in space can lead to demonstrably detrimental changes in the cardiovascular (e.g. vessel function, orthostatic intolerance), musculoskeletal (muscle atrophy, bone loss) and nervous (eye, neurovestibular) systems of astronauts. Because of both the limited number of astronauts who have flown (especially females) and the high degree of individual variability in the human population, important unanswered questions about responses to the space environment remain: What are the sex differences with respect to specific physiological systems? Are the responses age-dependent and/or reversible after return to Earth? Do observed detrimental changes that resemble accelerated aging progress continuously over time or plateau? What are the mechanisms of the biological responses? Answering these important questions certainly demands a multi-pronged approach, and the study of multicellular model organisms (such as rodents and flies) already has provided opportunities for exploring those questions in some detail. Recent long duration spaceflight experiments with rodents show that mice in space provide a mammalian model that uniquely combines the influence of reduced gravitational loading with increased physical activity. In addition, multiple investigators have shown that ground-based models that simulate aspects of spaceflight (including rodent hind limb unloading to mimic weightlessness and exposure to ionizing radiation), cause various transient and persistent detrimental consequences in multiple physiological systems. In general, we have found that adverse skeletal effects of simulated weightlessness and space radiation when combined, can be quantitatively, if not qualitatively, different from the influence of each environmental factor alone implying at least some shared underlying mechanisms. Thus, both ground based and spaceflight research utilizing model organisms provide the opportunity to better understand environmental factors and biological mechanisms that contribute to human health and survival in space.

skeleton↗

Manual Throttles-Only Control Effectivity for Emergency Flight Control of Transport Aircraft

If normal aircraft flight controls are lost, emergency flight control may be attempted using only the thrust of engines. Collective thrust is used to control flightpath, and differential thrust is used to control bank angle. One issue is whether a total loss of hydraulics (TLOH) leaves an airplane in a recoverable condition. Recoverability is a function of airspeed, altitude, flight phase, and configuration. If the airplane can be recovered, flight test and simulation results on several transport-class airplanes have shown that throttles-only control (TOC) is usually adequate to maintain up-and-away flight, but executing a safe landing is very difficult. There are favorable aircraft configurations, and also techniques that will improve recoverability and control and increase the chances of a survivable landing. The DHS and NASA have recently conducted a flight and simulator study to determine the effectivity of manual throttles-only control as a way to recover and safely land a range of transport airplanes. This paper discusses TLOH recoverability as a function of conditions, and TOC landability results for a range of transport airplanes, and some key techniques for flying with throttles and making a survivable landing. Airplanes evaluated include the B-747, B-767, B-777, B-757, A320, and B-737 airplanes.

Stevens, Richard↗

Wave and ion evolution downstream of quasi-perpendicular bow shocks

Distribution functions of ions heated in quasi-perpendicular bow shocks have a large perpendicular temperature anisotropy that provides free energy for the growth of Alfven ion cyclotron (AIC) waves and mirror waves. Both types of waves have been observed in the Earth's magnetosheath downstream of quasi-perpendicular shocks. We use a two-dimensional hybrid simulations to give a self-consistent description of the evolution of the wave spectra downstream of quasi-perpendicular shocks. Both mirror and AIC waves are identified in the simulated magnetosheath. They are generated at or near the shock front and convected away from it by the sheath plasma. Near the shock, the waves have a broad spectrum, but downstream of the shock, shorter-wavelength modes are heavily damped and only longer-wavelength modes persist. The characteristics of these surviving modes can be predicted with reasonable accuracy by linear kinetic theory appropriate for downstream conditions. We also follow the evolution of the ion distribution function. The shocked ions that provide the free energy for wave growth have a two-component distribution function. The halo is initially gyrophase-bunched and extremely anisotropic. Within a relatively short distance downstream of the shock (of the order of 10 ion inertial lengths), wave-particle interactions remove these features from the halo and reduce the anisotropy of the distribution to near-threshold levels for the mirror and AIC instabilities. A similar evolution has been observed for ions at the Earth's bow shock.

Mckean, M. E.↗

Arc Jet Results on Candidate High Temperature Coatings for NASA's NGLT Refractory Composite Leading Edge Task

In 2000, arc jet testing was conducted on thirteen material systems for possible use on the nose leading edge of the Hyper-X program s X-43A Mach 10 vehicle. Six material systems survived 3, 130- second cycles. To support NASA s Next Generation Launch Technology Programs (NGLT) need for passive refractory composite leading edges with multiple reuse capability at temperatures up to 3600 F, these six materials were subjected to an expanded arc jet test program. This expanded arc jet test program included three phases. The purpose of the first phase was to generate emissivity data as a function of temperature. The purpose of the second phase was to determine if the material systems had any thermal cycling durability, and the third phase was to determine whether the materials could survive an arc jet test of one hour duration. Some of the coating systems were found to have very low emissivities, suggesting that they would not be good candidates for leading edges coating. Other coating systems survived both the second and third phases of the test program and showed potential for use as an oxidation protection coating for leading edges. This presentation summarizes the test program results.

Ohlhorst, C. W.↗

Report on the Use and Function of the Integrated Operations Capability Analysis Platform (ICAP) and the LWRS Innovation Portal (IP)

The commercial nuclear power industry has achieved excellent safety and reliability performance but is struggling to survive in an electricity market that is increasingly dominated by subsidized renewables and cheap natural gas. These challenges have forced utilities to explore previously uncharted avenues to drastically reduce the operations and maintenance costs of their plants which are the primary drivers of the total cost to produce electricity. The petrochemical industry faced similar challenges some years ago as the costs of extraction and processing were rising while their reservoirs were being depleted along with a drop-in commodity prices that resulted in unsustainable operations. In this challenging climate, they developed a business model called Integrated Operations (IO) that sought to utilize technology to enable news ways of working through the integration of people, technology, process and governance changes. The Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) program, working with IFE have developed an operating model via transferable learnings from the North Sea O&G industry. This framework is termed “Integrated Operations for Nuclear” (ION). ION is a transformation model that integrates the benefits and features of four principal factors: People, Technology, Process and Governance. The purpose of this report is to describe how to generate an ION business process analysis and utilize this information to reduce O&M costs. In order to make this job easier, DOE LWRS has created a suite of tools that will allow a person who is involved in a transformation effort at their company to build a solid documented business case for embarking on a major transformation effort. These tools, the Integrated Operations Capability Analysis Model (ICAP) and the LWRS Innovation Portal (IP) are described herein with instructions on their use. Instructions on how the interface with the EPRI Business Case Analysis Method (BCAM) are also provided.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Modulation of Akt vs Stat3 activity by the focal adhesion kinase in non-neoplastic mouse fibroblasts

Adhesion of cells to each other and to the extracellular matrix (ECM) are both required for cellular functions. Cell-to-cell adhesion is mediated by cadherins and their engagement triggers the activation of Stat3, which offers a potent survival signal. Adhesion to the ECM on the other hand, activates FAK which attracts and activates Src, as well as receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), the PI3k/Akt and Ras/Erk pathways. However, the effect of cell density upon FAK and Akt activity has not been examined. We now demonstrate that, interestingly, despite being potent Stat3 activators, Src and RTKs are unable to activate Stat3 in sparsely growing (i.e., without cadherin engagement), non-neoplastic cells attached to the ECM. In contrast, cell aggregation (i.e., cadherin engagement in the absence of adhesion to a solid substratum) was found to activate both Stat3 and Akt. Pharmacologic or genetic reduction of FAK activity abolished Akt activity at low densities, indicating that FAK is an important activator of Akt in this setting. Notably, FAK knockout increased cellular sensitivity to the Stat3 inhibitor CPA7, while FAK reintroduction restored resistance to this drug. These findings suggest a complementary role of integrin/FAK/Akt and cadherin/Stat3-mediated pro-survival pathways, which may be of significance during neoplastic transformation and metastasis.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

A Process-based Model with Temperature, Water, and Lab-derived Data Improves Predictions of Daily Culex pipiens/restuans Mosquito Density

While the number of human cases of mosquito-borne diseases has increased in North America in the last decade, accurate modeling of mosquito population density has remained a challenge. Longitudinal mosquito trap data over the many years needed for model calibration, and validation is relatively rare. In particular, capturing the relative changes in mosquito abundance across seasons is necessary for predicting the risk of disease spread as it varies from year to year. We developed a discrete, semi-stochastic, mechanistic process-based mosquito population model that captures life-cycle egg, larva, pupa, adult stages, and diapause for Culex pipiens (Diptera, Culicidae) and Culex restuans (Diptera, Culicidae) mosquito populations. This model combines known models for development and survival into a fully connected age-structured model that can reproduce mosquito population dynamics. Mosquito development through these stages is a function of time, temperature, daylight hours, and aquatic habitat availability. The time-dependent parameters are informed by both laboratory studies and mosquito trap data from the Greater Toronto Area. The model incorporates city-wide water-body gauge and precipitation data as a proxy for aquatic habitat. This approach accounts for the nonlinear interaction of temperature and aquatic habitat variability on the mosquito life stages. We demonstrate that the full model predicts the yearly variations in mosquito populations better than a statistical model using the same data sources. This improvement in modeling mosquito abundance can help guide interventions for reducing mosquito abundance in mitigating mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile virus.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Molecule formation and infrared emission in fast interstellar shocks. I Physical processes

The paper analyzes the structure of fast shocks incident upon interstellar gas of ambient density from 10 to the 7th per cu cm, while focusing on the problems of formation and destruction of molecules and infrared emission in the cooling, neutral post shock gas. It is noted that such fast shocks initially dissociate almost all preexisting molecules. Discussion covers the physical processes which determine the post shock structure between 10 to the 4 and 10 to the 2 K. It is shown that the chemistry of important molecular coolants H2, CO, OH, and H2O, as well as HD and CH, is reduced to a relatively small set of gas phase and grain surface reactions. Also, the chemistry follows the slow conversion of atomic hydrogen into H2, which primarily occurs on grain surfaces. The dependence of this H2 formation rate on grain and gas temperatures is examined and the survival of grains behind fast shocks is discussed. Post shock heating and cooling rates are calculated and an appropriate, analytic, universal cooling function is developed for molecules other than hydrogen which includes opacities from both the dust and the lines.

Hollenbach, D.↗

Effects of heavy ion to the primary culture of mouse brain cells

To investigate effects of low dose heavy particle radiation to CNS system, we adopted mouse neonatal brain cells in culture being exposed to heavy ions by HIMAC at NIRS and NSRL at BNL. The applied dose varied from 0.05 Gy up to 2.0 Gy. The subsequent biological effects were evaluated by an induction of apoptosis and neuron survival focusing on the dependencies of the animal strains, SCID, B6, B6C3F1, C3H, used for brain cell culture, SCID was the most sensitive and C3H the least sensitive to particle radiation as evaluated by 10% apoptotic criterion. The LET dependency was compared with using SCID and B6 cells exposing to different ions (H, C, Ne, Si, Ar, and Fe). Although no detectable LET dependency was observed in the high LET (55-200 keV/micrometers) and low dose (<0.5 Gy) regions. The survivability profiles of the neurons were different in the mouse strains and ions. In this report, a result of memory and learning function to adult mice after whole-body and brain local irradiation at carbon ion and iron ion.

NASA Discipline Radiation Health↗

A Satellite Mortality Study to Support Space Systems Lifetime Prediction

Estimating the operational lifetime of satellites and spacecraft is a complex process. Operational lifetime can differ from mission design lifetime for a variety of reasons. Unexpected mortality can occur due to human errors in design and fabrication, to human errors in launch and operations, to random anomalies of hardware and software or even satellite function degradation or technology change, leading to unrealized economic or mission return. This study focuses on data collection of public information using, for the first time, a large, publically available dataset, and preliminary analysis of satellite lifetimes, both operational lifetime and design lifetime. The objective of this study is the illustration of the relationship of design life to actual lifetime for some representative classes of satellites and spacecraft. First, a Weibull and Exponential lifetime analysis comparison is performed on the ratio of mission operating lifetime to design life, accounting for terminated and ongoing missions. Next a Kaplan-Meier survivor function, standard practice for clinical trials analysis, is estimated from operating lifetime. Bootstrap resampling is used to provide uncertainty estimates of selected survival probabilities. This study highlights the need for more detailed databases and engineering reliability models of satellite lifetime that include satellite systems and subsystems, operations procedures and environmental characteristics to support the design of complex, multi-generation, long-lived space systems in Earth orbit.

Fox, George↗

Southern Bhutan Ecological Forecasting II: Utilizing NASA Earth Observations to Model Land Cover Change and Elephant Wildlife Corridors in Southern Bhutan

The diverse landscapes of Bhutan host a rich biodiversity of animal and plant species. Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are a flagship keystone wildlife species whose conservation is essential for the functioning of Bhutan’s forest ecosystems. Despite this, increasing habitat loss and human-elephant conflict continue to be detrimental to the survival of Asian elephants. The lack of information on Bhutan’s elephants and land use and land cover (LULC) trends present major challenges for Bhutan in modeling locations with suitable habitat and biological corridors for elephants. The DEVELOP Southern Bhutan Ecological Forecasting II team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center partnered with the Bhutan Foundation, Bhutan Tiger Center, and Bhutan Ecological Society to help address this problem. The team mapped LULC in Bhutan for 2010 and 2015 by utilizing NASA Earth observations, including Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) to acquire information on historical LULC patterns and view apparent land cover change. The team used the Linkage Pathways Tool of the Linkage Mapper Toolbox in ArcMap to derive biological corridor maps from habitat suitability model outputs of the previous term and known locations of protected areas in Bhutan. The corridor maps were used to view and assess corridor suitability and connectivity between protected parks. Project results are being provided to partners to help make informed decisions on the placement and conservation of elephant movement corridors.

Thinley Yidzin Wangden↗