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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Uncovering the relationships between military community health and affects expressed in social media

Military populations present a small, unique community whose mental and physical health impacts the security of the nation. Recent literature has explored social media's ability to enhance disease surveillance and characterize distinct communities with encouraging results. We present a novel analysis of the relationships between influenza-like illnesses (ILI) clinical data and affects (i.e., emotions and sentiments) extracted from social media around military facilities. Our analyses examine (1) differences in affects expressed by military and control populations, (2) affect changes over time by users, (3) differences in affects expressed during high and low ILI seasons, and (4) correlations and cross-correlations between ILI clinical visits and affects from an unprecedented scale –171M geo-tagged tweets across 31 global geolocations. Key findings include: Military and control populations dier in the way they express affects in social media over space and time. Control populations express more positive and less negative sentiments and less sadness, fear, disgust, and anger emotions than military. However, affects expressed in social media by both populations within the same area correlate similarly with ILI visits to military health facilities. We have identified potential responsible co-factors leading to location variability, e.g., region or state locale, military service type and/or the ratio of military to civilian populations. For most locations, ILI proportions positively correlate with sadness and neutral sentiment, which are the affects most often expressed during high ILI season. The ILI proportions negatively correlate with fear, disgust, surprise, and positive sentiment. These results are similar to the low ILI season where anger, surprise, and positive sentiment are highest. Finally, cross-correlation analysis shows that most affects lead ILI clinical visits, i.e. are predictive of ILI data, with affect-ILI leading intervals dependent on geo-location and affect type. Altogether, information gained in this study exemplifies a usage of social media data to understand the correlation between psychological behavior and health in the military population and the potential for use of social media affects for prediction of ILI cases.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Human Lacrimal Production Rate and Wetted Length of Modified Schirmer's Tear Test Strips

Purpose: To assess and compare the wetting kinetics of sheathed and unsheathed Schirmer's tear test (STT) strips, and to determine the repeatability of 5-minute wetted length (WL) and basal tear production rate (BTPR). Methods:Seventeen subjects underwent two sheathed and unsheathed STTs each for both eyes on four visits on separate days. After administration of topical anesthetic, WLs were measured every 30 seconds for 5 minutes, and BTPRs were calculated for sheathed strips. Limits of agreement (LoA), difference-versus-mean plots (DVM), and the coefficient of repeatability (CR) assessed WL and BTPR repeatabilities. Variance estimates were used to calculate sample sizes for future study. Results: For the unsheathed STT, the mean (SD) difference in WLs between visits was 0.74 (5.05) mm, LoA were [-9.17, 10.64], and CR was 9.17 mm; for the sheathed STT, the mean (SD) intervisit difference was 0.16 (5.94) mm, LoA were [-11.49, 11.8], and CR was 10.53 mm. Eight of 48 sheathed STTs and 20 of 44 unsheathed STTs showed constant WL for the final 90 seconds of the test. The mean (SD) difference between repeated visits for BTPR was approximately 0.0 μL/min, LoA were [-1.82, 1.82], and CR was 1.91 μL/min. Conclusions: Repeatability of sheathed and unsheathed 5-minute WL and BTPR is inadequate for measuring within-subject changes, but is sufficient for group studies with moderate sample sizes. Constant WL for the fiant WL with the unsheathed STT can be explained by balancing evaporation and BTPR. Translational Relevance: Repeatability of the modified STT is evaluated clinically to establish quantitative BTPRs rather than inference from a strip WL.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Oncology Navigation Decreases Time to Treatment in Patients with Pancreatic Malignancy

Background: Care of pancreatic cancer patients has become increasingly complex, which has led to delays in the initiation of therapy. Nurse navigators have been added to care teams, in part, to ameliorate this delay. This study investigated the difference in time from first oncology visit to first treatment date in patients with any pancreatic malignancy before and after the addition of an Oncology Navigator. Methods: A single-institution database of patients with any pancreatic neoplasm evaluated by a provider in radiation, medical, or surgical oncology between 1 October 2015 and 30 September 2017 was analyzed. After 1 October 2016, an Oncology Navigator met patients at their initial visit and coordinated care throughout treatment. The cohort was divided into two groups: patients evaluated prior to the implementation of an Oncology Navigator and patients evaluated after implementation. Patient demographics and time from first visit to first intervention were compared. Results: Overall, 147 patients with a new diagnosis of pancreatic neoplasm were evaluated; 57 patients were seen prior to the start of the Oncology Navigator program and 79 were evaluated after the navigation program was implemented. On univariate analysis, time from first contact by any provider to intervention was 46 days prior to oncology navigation and 26 days after implementation of oncology navigation (p = 0.005). While controlling for other covariates, employment of the Oncology Navigator decreased the time from first contact by any provider to intervention by almost 16 days (p = 0.009). Conclusions: Implementing an oncology navigation program significantly decreased time to treatment in patients with pancreatic malignancy.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Differential ability of three bee species to move genes via pollen

Since the release of genetically engineered (GE) crops, there has been increased concern about the introduction of GE genes into non-GE fields of a crop and their spread to feral or wild cross-compatible relatives. More recently, attention has been given to the differential impact of distinct pollinators on gene flow, with the goal of developing isolation distances associated with specific managed pollinators. To examine the differential impact of bee species on gene movement, we quantified the relationship between the probability of getting a GE seed in a pod, and the order in which a flower was visited, or the cumulative distance traveled by a bee in a foraging bout. We refer to these relationships as ‘seed curves’ and compare these seeds curves among three bee species. The experiments used Medicago sativa L. plants carrying three copies of the glyphosate resistance (GR) allele as pollen donors (M. sativa is a tetraploid), such that each pollen grain carried the GR allele, and conventional plants as pollen recipients. Different foraging metrics, including the number of GR seeds produced over a foraging bout, were also quantified and contrasted among bee species. The lowest number of GR seeds set per foraging bout, and the GR seeds set at the shortest distances, were produced following leafcutting bee visits. In contrast, GR seeds were found at the longest distances following bumble bee visits. Values for honey bees were intermediate. The ranking of bee species based on seed curves correlated well with field-based gene flow estimates. Thus, differential seed curves of bee species, which describe patterns of seed production within foraging bouts, translated into distinct abilities of bee species to move genes at a landscape level. Bee behavior at a local scale (foraging bout) helps predict gene flow and the spread of GE genes at the landscape scale.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2011

Independent Confirmatory Survey Summary and Results for the Enrico Fermi Atomic Power Plant, Unit 1, Newport, Michigan (Final Report No. 2)

The Enrico Fermi Atomic Power Plant, Unit 1 (Fermi 1) was a fast breeder reactor design that was cooled by sodium and operated at essentially atmospheric pressure. On May 10, 1963, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) granted an operating license, DPR-9, to the Power Reactor Development Company (PRDC), a consortium specifically formed to own and operate a nuclear reactor at the Fermi 1 site. The reactor was designed for a maximum capability of 430 megawatts (MW); however, the maximum reactor power with the first core loading (Core A) was 200 MW. The primary system was filled with sodium in December 1960 and criticality was achieved in August 1963. The reactor was tested at low power during the first couple years of operation. Power ascension testing above 1 MW commenced in December 1965 immediately following the receipt of a high-power operating license. In October 1966 during power ascension, zirconium plates at the bottom of the reactor vessel became loose and blocked sodium coolant flow to some fuel subassemblies. Two subassemblies started to melt and the reactor was manually shut down. No abnormal releases to the environment occurred. Forty-two months later after the cause had been determined, cleanup completed, and the fuel replaced, Fermi 1 was restarted. However, in November 1972, PRDC made the decision to decommission Fermi 1 as the core was approaching its burn-up limit. The fuel and blanket subassemblies were shipped off-site in 1973. Following that, the secondary sodium system was drained and sent off-site. The radioactive primary sodium was stored on-site in storage tanks and 55 gallon (gal) drums until it was shipped off-site in 1984. The initial decommissioning of Fermi 1 was completed in 1975. Effective January 23, 1976, DPR-9 was transferred to the Detroit Edison Company (DTE) as a 'possession only' license (DTE 2010a). This report details the confirmatory activities performed during the second Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) site visit to Fermi 1 in November 2010. The survey was strategically planned during a Unit 2 (Fermi 2) outage to take advantage of decreased radiation levels that were observed and attributed to Fermi 2 from the operating unit during the first site visit. However, during the second visit there were elevated radiation levels observed and attributed to the partially dismantled Fermi 1 reactor vessel and a waste storage box located on the 3rd floor of the Fermi 1 Turbine Building. Confirmatory surveys (unshielded) performed directly in the line of sight of these areas were affected. The objective of the confirmatory survey was to verify that the final radiological conditions were accurately and adequately described in Final Status Survey (FSS) documentation, relative to the established release criteria. This objective was achieved by performing document reviews, as well as independent measurements and sampling. Specifically, documentation of the planning, implementation, and results of the FSS were evaluated; side-by-side FSS measurement and source comparisons were performed; site areas were evaluated relative to appropriate FSS classification; and areas were assessed for residual, undocumented contamination.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Numerical Methods for Large-Scale Data Factorization (Final Report (Milestone Date 9/30/11) for Subcontract No. B594099)

The following work has been performed by PI Hans De Sterck and graduate student Manda Winlaw for the required tasks 1-5 (as listed in the Statement of Work). Graduate student Manda Winlaw has visited LLNL January 31-March 11, 2011 and May 23-August 19, 2010, working with Van Henson and Mike O'Hara on non-negative matrix factorizations (NMF). She has investigated the dense subgraph clustering algorithm from 'Finding Dense Subgraphs for Sparse Undirected, Directed, and Bipartite Graphs' by Chen and Saad, testing this method on several term-document matrices and adapting it to cluster based on the rank of the subgraphs instead of the density. Manda Winlaw was awarded a first prize in the annual LLNL summer student poster competition for a poster on her NMF research. PI Hans De Sterck has developed a new adaptive algebraic multigrid algorithm for computing a few dominant or minimal singular triplets of sparse rectangular matrices. This work builds on adaptive algebraic multigrid methods that were further developed by the PI and collaborators (including Sanders and Henson) for Markov chains. The method also combines and extends existing multigrid algorithms for the symmetric eigenproblem. The PI has visited LLNL February 22-25, 2011, and has given a CASC seminar 'Algebraic Multigrid for the Singular Value Problem' on this work on February 23, 2011. During his visit, he has discussed this work and related topics with Van Henson, Geoffrey Sanders, Panayot Vassilevski, and others. He has tested the algorithm on PDE matrices and on a term-document matrix, with promising initial results. Manda Winlaw has also started to work, with O'Hara, on estimating probability distributions over undirected graph edges. The goal is to estimate probabilistic models from sets of undirected graph edges for the purpose of prediction, anomaly detection and support to supervised learning. Graduate student Manda Winlaw is writing a paper on the results obtained with O'Hara which will be submitted some time later in 2011 to a data mining conference. PI Hans De Sterck has developed a new optimization algorithm for canonical tensor approximation, formulating an extension of the nonlinear GMRES method to optimization problems. Numerical results for tensors with up to 8 modes show that this new method is efficient for sparse and dense tensors. He has written a paper on this which has been submitted to the SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing. PI Hans De Sterck has further developed his new optimization algorithm for canonical tensor approximation, formulating an extension in terms of steepest-descent preconditioning, which makes the approach generally applicable for nonlinear optimization. He has written a paper on this extension which has been submitted to Numerical Linear Algebra with Applications.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2013

Recovery Act: Hydroelectric Facility Improvement Project - Replacement of Current Mechanical Seal System with Rope Packing System

On January 27, 2010 the City of North Little Rock, Arkansas received notification of the awarding of a Department of Energy (DOE) grant totaling $450,000 in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) under the Project Title: Recovery Act: Hydroelectric Facility Improvement Project – Automated Intake Clearing Equipment and Materials Management. The purpose of the grant was for improvements to be made at the City’s hydroelectric generating facility located on the Arkansas River. Improvements were to be made through the installation of an intake maintenance device (IMD) and the purchase of a large capacity wood grinder. The wood grinder was purchased in order to receive the tree limbs, tree trunks, and other organic debris that collects at the intake of the plant during high flow. The wood grinder eliminates the periodic burning of the waste material that is cleared from the intake and reduces any additional air pollution to the area. The resulting organic mulch has been made available to the public at no charge. Design discussion and planning began immediately and the wood grinder was purchased in July of 2010 and immediately put to work mulching debris that was gathered regularly from the intake of the facility. The mulch is currently available to the public for free. A large majority of the design process was spent in discussion with the Corps of Engineers to obtain approval for drawings, documents, and permits that were required in order to make changes to the structure of the powerhouse. In April of 2011, the City’s Project Engineer, who had overseen the application, resigned and left the City’s employ. A new Systems Mechanical Engineer was hired and tasked with overseeing the project. The transfer of responsibility led to a re-examination of the original assumptions and research upon which the grant proposal was based. At that point, the project went under review and a trip was booked for July 2011 to visit facilities that currently had an IMD installed. This further study of facilities revealed that the implementation of the project as originally described, while proving the benefits described in the original grant application, would likely intensify sand intake. Increased sand intake would lead to an increase in required shutdowns for maintenance and more rapid depreciation of key equipment which would result in a loss of generation capacity. A better solution to the problem, one that continued to meet the criteria for the original grant and ARRA standards, was developed. A supporting day trip was planned to visit other facilities located on the Arkansas River to determine how they were coping with the same strong amounts of sand, silt, and debris. Upon returning from the trip to other Arkansas River facilities it was extremely clear what direction to go in order to most efficiently address the issue of generator capacity and efficiency. Of the plants visited on the Arkansas River, every one of them was running what is called a rope packing shaft sealing system as opposed to mechanical shaft seals, which the facility was running. Rope packing is a time proven sealing method that has been around for centuries. It has proved to perform very well in dirty water situations just like that of the Arkansas River. In April of 2012 a scope change proposal was submitted to the DOE for approval. In August of 2012 the City received word that the change of scope had been approved. Plans were immediately set in motion to begin the conversion from mechanical seals to a packing box at the facility. Contractors arrived on October 1st, 2012 and the project team began unwatering the unit for disassembly. The seal conversion was completed on February 29th, 2013 with start-up of the unit. Further testing and adjusting was done throughout the first two weeks of March.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Germany-US Nuclear Theory Exchange Program for QCD Studies of Hadrons & Nuclei 'GAUSTEQ'

GAUSTEQ was a Germany-U.S. exchange program in nuclear theory whose purpose was to focus research efforts on QCD studies of hadrons and nuclei, centered around the current and future research programs of Jefferson Lab and the Gesellschaft fur Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Germany. GAUSTEQ provided travel support for theoretical physicists at US institutions conducting collaborative research with physicists in Germany. GSI (with its Darmstadt and Helmholtz Institute Mainz braches) served as the German “hub” for visits of U.S. physicists, while Jefferson Lab served as the corresponding “hub” for visits of German physicists visiting U.S. institutions through the reciprocal GUSTEHP (German-US Theory Exchange in Hadron Physics) program. GAUSTEQ was funded by the Office of Nuclear Physics of the U.S. Department of Energy, under Contract No.DE-SC0006758 and officially managed through Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. The program ran between 2011 and 2015.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Coincident Aerosol and H2O Retrievals versus HSI Imager Field Campaign ReportH2O Retrievals versus HSI Imager Field Campaign Report

Two spectrally calibrated tarpaulins (tarps) were co-located at a fixed Global Positioning System (GPS) position on the gravel antenna field at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility’s Southern Great Plains (SGP) site. Their placement was timed to coincide with the overflight of a new hyperspectral imaging satellite. The intention was to provide an analysis of the data obtained, including the measured and retrieved spectral albedos for the calibration tarps. Subsequently, a full suite of retrieved values of H2O column, and the aerosol overburden, were to be compared to those determined by alternate SGP ground truth assets. To the extent possible, the down-looking cloud images would be assessed against the all-sky images. Because cloud contamination above a certain level precludes the inversion processing of the satellite data, coupled with infrequent targeting opportunities, clear-sky conditions were imposed. The SGP site was chosen not only as a target of opportunity for satellite validation, but as perhaps the best coincident field measurement site, as established by DOE’s ARM Facility. The satellite team had every expectation of using the information obtained from the SGP to improve the inversion products for all subsequent satellite images, including the cloud and radiative models and parameterizations and, thereby, the performance assessment for subsequent and historic image collections. Coordinating with the SGP onsite team, four visits, all in 2009, to the Central Facility occurred: • June 6-8 (successful exploratory visit to plan tarp placements, etc.) • July 18-24 (canceled because of forecast for heavy clouds) • Sep 9-12 (ground tarps placed, onset of clouds) • Nov 7-9 (visit ultimately canceled because of weather predictions). As noted, in each instance, any significant overcast prediction precluded image collection from the satellite. Given the long task-scheduling procedures (which were in place for each time period), coupled with other priorities and the satellite lifetime, no alternate SGP images could be obtained.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Preliminary Evaluation of Removing Used Nuclear Fuel from Shutdown Sites

A preliminary evaluation of removing spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from 13 shutdown nuclear power reactor sites was conducted. At these shutdown sites the nuclear power reactors have been permanently shut down and the sites have been decommissioned or are undergoing decommissioning. The shutdown sites were Maine Yankee, Yankee Rowe, Connecticut Yankee, Humboldt Bay, Big Rock Point, Rancho Seco, Trojan, La Crosse, Zion, Crystal River, Kewaunee, San Onofre, and Vermont Yankee. The evaluation was divided into four components: (1) characterization of the SNF and greater-than-Class C low-level radioactive waste (GTCC waste) inventory, (2) a description of the on-site infrastructure and conditions relevant to transportation of SNF and GTCC waste, (3) an evaluation of the near-site transportation infrastructure and experience relevant to shipping transportation casks containing SNF and GTCC waste, including identification of gaps in information, and (4) an evaluation of the actions necessary to prepare for and remove SNF and GTCC waste. Every site was found to have at least one off-site transportation mode option for removing its SNF and GTCC waste; some have multiple options. Experience removing large components during reactor decommissioning provided an important source of information used to identify the transportation mode options for the sites. Especially important in conducting the evaluation were site visits, through which information was obtained that would not have been available otherwise. Extensive photographs taken during the site visits proved to be particularly useful in documenting the current conditions at or near the sites. It is expected that additional site visits will be conducted to add to the information presented in the evaluation.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2017

ATDM Rover Milestone Report STDA02-1 (FY2017 Q4)

We have successfully completed the MS-4/Y1 Milestone STDA02-1 for the Rover Project. This document describes the milestone and provides an overview of the technical details and artifacts of the milestone. This milestone is focused on building a GPU accelerated ray tracing package capable of doing multi-group radiography, both back-lit and with self-emission as well as serving as a volume rendering plot in VisIt and other VTK-based visualization tools. The long term goal is a package with in-situ capability, but for this first version integration into VisIt is the primary goal. Milestone Execution Plan: Create API for GPU Raytracer that supports multi-group transport (up to hundreds of groups); Implement components into one or more of: VTK-m, VisIt, and a new library/package implementation to be hosted on LLNL Bitbucket (initially), before releasing to the wider community.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Policy, Permit, Perform: Using City Benchmarking Data and Building Construction Permit History to Identify Energy Performance Improvements

The City of Portland (City) and Multnomah County 2015 Climate Action Plan targets a 40 percent reduction in carbon emissions below 1990 levels by 2030. To reach this goal, the plan includes a key objective to reduce the total energy use of existing buildings by 25 percent. Buildings are responsible for one-half of carbon emissions in Portland, Oregon, U.S., and improving their performance is critical to achieving the City’s climate goals. As part of its climate action planning, the City passed an ordinance on April 22, 2015, requiring commercial buildings 20,000 ft2 and larger to benchmark and disclose annual energy performance metrics through ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager® (ESPM), including greenhouse gas emissions, building energy use intensity (EUI) and ENERGY STAR scores. Twenty-five cities in the U.S. have adopted similar policies requiring energy benchmarking. These policies are generating a treasure trove of data about the drivers of building performance, but practitioners are only beginning to link benchmarking data to other datasets to produce actionable insight into improving building performance. In 2016, the City received a financial assistance award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through the Cities Leading through Energy Analysis and Planning project (Award Number DE-0007737). Portland’s project evaluated the application of the DOE Building Energy Asset Score Tool and rating system developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to commercial buildings that report to the City. The City used building construction permit history to develop Asset Scores for a set of office buildings that reported energy performance for 2015 – the first year the City mandated energy benchmarking and reporting for commercial buildings 50,000 ft2 and larger. The primary project objective was to link energy benchmarking data and commercial building permit data to analyze commercial buildings systems that present the best, specific opportunities to improve energy performance. Integrating these datasets from two City departments, the Bureau of Development Services and the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, could expand Portland’s use of analytics to inform climate policy decisions and strategic targeting of financial incentives for building owners and managers who are best positioned to improve the performance of their buildings. The project began with the commercial benchmarking data received for 340 commercial buildings that submitted calendar year 2015 energy reports. The City retained Research Into Action and Energy 350 (RIA team) to evaluate this self-reported benchmarking data. Based on a survey of 53 building managers, the RIA team found that most respondents used the City’s compliance tools, including a How-to Guide and Help Desk, and found access to utility data to be straightforward. However, almost one-third of the respondents encountered challenges when estimating the gross floor area (GFA), and some experienced confusion regarding the input of property use types and details into ESPM. Based on the RIA team’s recommendations, the City refined its How-to Guide, created online answers to frequently asked questions, and hosted office hour sessions to help building managers accurately characterize their building’s physical characteristics and operations in ESPM. Concurrently with the RIA team’s evaluation, the City worked with PNNL to estimate DOE Asset Score Preview (Preview) scores for 181 of the 340 commercial buildings that submitted ESPM reports to the City. Asset Score Tool is a web-based tool developed by PNNL for DOE to evaluate and rate the as-built energy efficiency of a building. Asset Score Tool’s full analysis capability runs a detailed energy model based on building geometry, age, envelope, lighting and mechanical systems using standard operating assumptions to give the building a score, similar to a miles per gallon rating for a car. Preview, a simplified deployment of the full Asset Score Tool, provides a preliminary score range using only seven data points, six of which are readily available in the ESPM benchmarking data. Analysis of the combined Preview scores and the operational ESPM scores identified buildings with a high potential for energy improvements through either retro-commissioning and retuning of existing operations or capital investments into building systems. The City contracted Whole Building Solutions (WBS) to mine building permit history and develop full Asset Scores for a subset of 26 office buildings that were eligible for both ENERGY STAR scores and Asset Scores. WBS researched permits and building plans to identify mechanical, lighting and envelope systems and other building characteristics necessary to complete Asset Scores. This historical data was recorded using the web-based Asset Score Tool, which evaluates the as designed energy efficiency of existing buildings. Much of this City information was available online after 2010; however, WBS had to search through microfiche files and the City’s database to obtain permit and plan history prior to 2010. Although building geometry, mechanical system type and basic envelope information was consistently identifiable, WBS found permit data gaps that prevented complete and accurate Asset Scores for most of the office buildings. If the City decides to develop Asset Scores based on building permit information in the future, WBS recommended requiring lighting plans, control diagrams and as-built drawings that reflect how the buildings are actually constructed. In addition, WBS recommended uploading plans and permits from microfiche storage into a more comprehensive, searchable database consistent with the City’s current online permit information. To identify the actual lighting types, WBS and City staff conducted site visits of all 26 office buildings. As part of managing the flow of ESPM and Asset Score data for the project, Earth Advantage, a sub-recipient of the Cities-LEAP award, created a DOE Standard Energy Efficiency Data (SEED) (USDOE 2018) instance for the City and used Asset Score’s Application Programming Interface (API) (Asset Score 2018) capabilities to develop two new features in the SEED Platform™: (1) automated Asset Score Preview ranges calculated based on benchmarking data and the City’s estimate of number of building floors; and (2) storage of full Asset Score information. Leveraging the construction permit history and site visit information for the 26 office buildings, The Cadmus Group (Cadmus) analyzed benchmarking data and Asset Score information to identify opportunities and drivers to improve performance. Correlation and regression analysis of the combined dataset was completed to determine whether building operations or specific systems – mechanical, lighting or envelope – present the best opportunities to improve energy performance. The central outcome of this project was Cadmus’ detailed analysis of the richer dataset that was created by combining the City of Portland’s commercial building permit activity and building-specific energy performance information based on metrics from ESPM and Asset Score Tool. Some of their findings collaborate with well-known facts, such as buildings with less efficient lighting systems are good targets for efficiency improvements through lighting upgrades. This analysis also helped identify that individual heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment efficiency does not necessarily correlate with building performance. However, overall HVAC system performance, as measured with the Total System Performance Ratio (TSPR) metric, is a better indicator of building performance (Goel et al. 2014). As a metric, TSPR considers whole system performance that includes equipment efficiency and system controls, such as resets for static pressure and chilled water setpoints, which can be more effective and financially feasible options for improving building performance. Given the high cost associated with envelope retrofits, opportunities to upgrade envelope insulation are likely to be limited. However, buildings with single-pane and non-thermal break windows are good candidates for window replacements, such as upgrading to double-pane windows with thermal breaks. This research project determined that developing Asset Scores based on site visits is preferable to mining City building permit data. In addition, the use of benchmarking data to develop Asset Score Preview Scores is recommended as a first step in engaging building managers to develop full Asset Scores. Asset Score Tool outputs can help building managers quickly identify opportunities for improvement and then work with the utility incentive administrator and energy service providers to develop their retrofit plan. Where full Asset Scores are available, analysis using a quadrant matrix with ENERGY STAR scores is recommended to identify buildings that present the best opportunities for operational-behavioral improvements versus ones with opportunities for upgrades to physical building systems. This workflow and the tools will help cities, utility incentive administrators, building portfolio managers and energy service providers develop energy programs and strategies for screening and analysis of buildings with the greatest energy savings potential. This report describes the project approach and research results to inform future coordination of ESPM and Asset Score data, including the use of benchmarking data to generate Preview scores. Given better awareness of energy performance, building managers can make more informed decisions to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. With cities, states and jurisdictions adopting benchmarking and auditing ordinances, there are substantial amounts of data submitted to cities that could be used to inform investments in energy efficiency.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

LANL Meteorological Program Self-Assessment 2021 Update

This self-assessment, documented in Table 1, has shown that there has been continued significant progress achieved in meeting the intent of the 21 recommendations from the 2015 DMCC Assist Visit. Every year after the Assist Visit, the LANL Met Program has improved, mainly by addressing the recommendations in the Assist Visit report. The Met Program management should continue to strive to apply its limited resources and seek to acquire additional human capital and physical resources to meet the dynamic needs of its growing sitewide customer base. This includes additional upgrading of the hardware and software elements of the Met Program and implementation of its operational procedures and QAPP to ensure it will consistently meet important present program requirements, as well as anticipated future requirements. These improvements have been summarized in the “present improvements and future initiatives” column in Table 1.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Lab and federal board: Pursuing a common objective for enhanced worker safety

On July 12-14, Thomas Summers, the vice chair of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, visited the Laboratory alongside a small team of other DNFSB employees, including the two resident inspectors assigned full time at Los Alamos. The visit allowed him to tour the nuclear facilities around the Lab where he learned about the important work conducted by the myriad of employees who work within these facilities. As part of his visit, Summers and his team also observed the July 13 full-scale emergency exercise that was centered at TA-55.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2024

LANL Meteorology Program Self-Assesment 2024 Update

The DOE Meteorological Coordinating Council (DMCC) conducted an initial LANL Meteorological (Met) Program Assist Visit in August 2006 (DMCC 2006). A follow-up assist visit in August 2015 assessed progress (DMCC 2015), and in June 2023, the DOE Meteorological Subcommittee (DMSC), successor to the DMCC, conducted a second follow-up assist visit (DMSC 2023), in which the Met Program was evaluated relative to the following 8 high-level questions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

RDPP: Accelerating Diversity in DOE Climate Science and Resilience Research (Final Report)

The scope of the project was set out to accelerate the inclusion of diversity into the Department of Energy (DOE) Earth and Environmental Systems Sciences Division (EESSD) relevant climate science and resilience research to inclusively advance solutions. The Project Objectives were to usher in equitable use-inspired climate-related research with underrepresented Minorities of which this project helped fund 7 HU graduate students work with the DOE (three of which will graduate in Spring 2025). The two key aims underpinning that core goal were AIM1: developing partnerships (18 organized engaged, see partners list) and AIM2: Developing capabilities (3 visits to DOE facilities, 5 DOE partners visits to HU, increased visiting faculty participation in BNL-DOE lab, secured 5 grants together totaling 1.2 million in funds for HU). The project objectives were highly successful as they were designed to ambitiously pull together DOE lab researchers with the long-standing and successful transdisciplinary climate science research programs of the PI and local DC groups. The major outcomes of this RDPP program will be in the new fundamentally inclusive partnerships with DOE and HU tasked to understand the urban-rural impacts due to climate change in the US, Eastern South Atlantic (ESA) Region, related to energy issues driven by heat stress and the water cycle. Overall, this project contributes to the DOE and science community vision for catalyze connections for project-ready underrepresented minorities (URMs) at a prominent HBCU to DOE projects supported by the Biological and Environmental research (BER) Program; particularly, the Earth and Environmental Systems Sciences Division (EESSD).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Final Technical Report for U.S.-Japan Hadronic Physics Exchange Program for Studies of Hadron Structure and QCD

Nuclear physics explores the fundamental properties of matter -- how protons and neutrons emerge as quantum systems of elementary particles, how they form the atomic nuclei, and how they give rise to the wide variety of phenomena and applications at biological, technical, and astronomical scales. It is a global scientific effort centered around large-scale experimental user facilities (particle accelerators and detectors), advanced theoretical methods and concepts, and computational techniques and resources. Exchange of knowledge and ideas, scientific collaboration, and workforce development on a global scale are essential for the future of the field. The nuclear physics program envisaged in the 2023 DOE/NSF NSAC Long-Range Plan and pursued at the U.S. National Labs has strong synergies with programs at other facilities worldwide and will realize significant benefits from international collaboration. Nuclear physics is also recognized for promoting international cooperation in the broadest sense through joint construction and operation of experimental equipment, personal contacts between scientists, and education and training. The U.S.-Japan Hadronic Physics Exchange Program (USJPHE) supported collaborative scientific research in hadronic physics and quantum chromodynamics. USJHPE focused on subject areas related to the programs at current and future experimental facilities in the U.S.\ and Japan and supported both experimental and theoretical studies. USJHPE particularly aimed to realize synergies between the hadronic physics programs at Jefferson Lab 12 GeV and J-PARC resulting from the complementarity of electromagnetic and hadronic probes in the multi-GeV energy range. Subject areas of common interest included the quark-gluon structure of hadrons and nuclei, meson and baryon spectroscopy, strangeness and hypernuclear physics, and other related topics. USJHPE also supported research in hadronic physics and nuclear-physics-enabled tests of fundamental symmetries related to the programs at Brookhaven National Lab, Fermilab, KEK, Spring-8, and university-based facilities in the U.S. and Japan. USJHPE especially promoted collaboration between the U.S. and Japanese nuclear physics communities in developing the physics program and instrumentation for the future Electron-Ion Collider. USJHPE was intended to provide travel grants to U.S.-based scientists (primary institutional affiliation with a U.S.\ university, national laboratory, or other research center) to visit Japanese institutions and conduct collaborative research there. The program supported senior researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and students. Continuing the setup of the preceding grant period, J-PARC served as the Japanese “hub” for U.S. physicists for short- and long-term visits, and JLab served as the corresponding U.S. “hub”. The program was officially managed through the U. of Connecticut in Storrs, CT. Support for Japanese physicists visiting the U.S. was provided through funds from Japanese funding agencies. The USJHPE program promoted the scientific exchange and the collaborative spirit in hadronic physics between the two countries.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Impact of Observing Strategy on Cosmological Constraints with LSST

The generation-defining Vera C. Rubin Observatory will make state-of-the-art measurements of both the static and transient universe through its Legacy Survey for Space and Time (LSST). With such capabilities, it is immensely challenging to optimize the LSST observing strategy across the survey's wide range of science drivers. Many aspects of the LSST observing strategy relevant to the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration, such as survey footprint definition, single-visit exposure time, and the cadence of repeat visits in different filters, are yet to be finalized. Here, we present metrics used to assess the impact of observing strategy on the cosmological probes considered most sensitive to survey design; these are large-scale structure, weak lensing, type Ia supernovae, kilonovae, and strong lens systems (as well as photometric redshifts, which enable many of these probes). We evaluate these metrics for over 100 different simulated potential survey designs. Our results show that multiple observing strategy decisions can profoundly impact cosmological constraints with LSST; these include adjusting the survey footprint, ensuring repeat nightly visits are taken in different filters, and enforcing regular cadence. We provide public code for our metrics, which makes them readily available for evaluating further modifications to the survey design. We conclude with a set of recommendations and highlight observing strategy factors that require further research.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗