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At least 307 records · Page 17

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2022

Embedded sensors integrated into critical components for in situ health monitoring of steam turbines

Operational flexibility is desired in today’s coal-fired power plants to balance power grids by compensating for the variable electricity supply from renewable energy sources and distributed gensets. This demanding requirement accelerates materials degradation and makes in-situ health monitoring essential. Life monitoring of components and subsystems is thus seen as essential in assessing material and mechanical behavior to estimate system reliability, move to a conditionbased maintenance strategy and determine time to failure of the units in their actual operating conditions. Vibration monitoring can be exploited for blade tip timing to measure blade vibration amplitude and tip clearance to detect any deterioration taking place in the condition of steam turbine blades. A failure of a rotating blade can lead to severe turbine damage followed by extensive repairs and loss of power production. A blade vibration monitoring system can help early detection of abnormal blade vibration behavior. In conjunction with a health monitoring system, the vibration characteristics can be analyzed to support a pro-active maintenance and inspection schedule. While the feasibility of this inspection technique has been amply demonstrated, there is a need to install induction probes to magnetize the blade for signal output. Siemens, in partnership with Raytheon Technologies Research Corporation (RTRC), proposes a holistic approach to develop embedded sensors to utilize radio frequency for not only coupling to sensors, but as the sensing modality. The goal of this project is to “embed” the novel sensing approach by using either additively manufactured or extruded waveguides on rotating blades for recording, evaluation and monitoring of blade vibrations in Low Pressure turbines, with applications extending to aero engines

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

DOE OSTI2024

Engineered plants provide a photosynthetic platform for the production of diverse human milk oligosaccharides

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are a diverse class of carbohydrates which support the health and development of infants. The vast health benefits of HMOs have made them a commercial target for microbial production; however, producing the approximately 200 structurally diverse HMOs at scale has proved difficult. Here we produce a diversity of HMOs by leveraging the robust carbohydrate anabolism of plants. This diversity includes high-value and complex HMOs, such as lacto-N-fucopentaose I. HMOs produced in transgenic plants provided strong bifidogenic properties, indicating their ability to serve as a prebiotic supplement with potential applications in adult and infant health. Technoeconomic analyses demonstrate that producing HMOs in plants provides a path to the large-scale production of specific HMOs at lower prices than microbial production platforms. Our work demonstrates the promise in leveraging plants for the low-cost and sustainable production of HMOs.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2022

Analysis of Energy Justice and Equity Impacts from Replacing Peaker Plants with Energy Storage

Transitions to low-carbon energy systems are essential to mitigating and adapting to climate change. Energy storage systems are a key component in achieving a viable decarbonized electric grid. However, decarbonization alone does not guarantee a fairer, more inclusive, or socially just energy system. Energy equity and justice should be integrated in energy system transitions to ensure benefits and burdens are shared equitably. In this paper, we discuss the relationship between energy storage and social equity by assessing the use of energy storage to replace natural gas-fired (NG) peaker plants. Peaker plants are disproportionately located near disadvantaged communities and tend to be older and high emitters of health-affecting fine particulate matter and other pollutants. This paper investigates the equity implications of NG peaker plant replacements with battery energy storage in the context of Washington State’s peaker plants to highlight the human-centered values of retiring the plants. The study performed production cost simulations using the latest Western Electric Coordinating Council Anchor Dataset 2030 case and found that total generation cost, locational marginal price, and total annual emissions were reduced with the replacements. These reductions will have equity benefits on local communities including access to clean air, enhanced health outcomes, and energy burden reductions.

Tarekegne, Bethel W.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Space radiation health research, 1991-1992

The present volume is a collection of 227 abstracts of radiation research sponsored by the NASA Space Radiation Health Program for the period 1991-1992. Each abstract has been categorized within one of three discipline areas: Physics, Biology and Risk Assessment. Topic areas within each discipline have been assigned as follows: Physics - Atomic Physics, Theory, Cosmic Ray and Astrophysics, Experimental, Environments and Environmental Models, Solar Activity and Prediction, Experiments, Radiation Transport and Shielding, Theory and Model Development, Experimental Studies, and Instrumentation. Biology - Biology, Molecular Biology, Cellular Radiation Biology, Transformation, Mutation, Lethality, Survival, DNA Damage and Repair, Tissue, Organs, and Organisms, In Vivo/In Vitro Systems, Carcinogenesis and Life Shortening, Cataractogenesis, Genetics/Developmental, Radioprotectants, Plants, and Other Effects. Risk Assessment - Risk Assessment, Radiation Health and Epidemiology, Space Flight Radiation Health Physics, Inter- and Intraspecies Extrapolation and Radiation Limits and Standards. Section I contains refereed journals; Section II contains reports/meetings. Keywords and author indices are provided. A collection of abstracts spanning the period 1986-1990 was previously issued as NASA Technical Memorandum 4270.

Jablin, M. H.↗

DOE OSTI2024

A Novel Membrane-Associated Protein Aids Bacterial Colonization of Maize

The soil environment affected by plant roots and their exudates, termed the rhizosphere, significantly impacts crop health and is an attractive target for engineering desirable agricultural traits. Engineering microbes in the rhizosphere is one approach to improving crop yields that directly minimizes the number of genetic modifications made to plants. Soil microbes have the potential to assist with nutrient acquisition, heat tolerance, and drought response if they can persist in the rhizosphere in the correct numbers. Unfortunately, the mechanisms by which microbes adhere and persist on plant roots are poorly understood, limiting their application. This study examined the membrane proteome shift upon adherence to roots in two bacteria of interest, Klebsiella variicola and Pseudomonas putida. From this surface proteome data, we identified a novel membrane protein from a non-laboratory isolate of P. putida that increases binding to maize roots using unlabeled proteomics. When this protein was moved from the environmental isolate to a common lab strain (P. putida KT2440), we observed increased binding capabilities of P. putida KT2440 to both abiotic mimic surfaces and maize roots. We observed a similar increased binding capability to maize roots when the protein was heterologously expressed in K. variicola and Stutzerimonas stutzeri. With the discovery of this novel binding protein, we outline a strategy for harnessing natural selection and wild isolates to build more persistent strains of bacteria for field applications and plant growth promotion.

rhizosphere, colonization, membrane proteome, plan↗

DOE OSTI2023

Predictive Analytics for Hydropower Fleet Intelligence

A primary challenge in hydropower industry is the ability to maintain cost-competitiveness, reliability, and security of hydropower assets through evolving power system contexts and aging of the fleet. Maintaining cost-effective and reliable operations under these conditions is expected to require new modernization and maintenance paradigms for changing contexts. Changes in existing practices for O&M will require an understanding of the current state and health of hydropower assets, and the impact of changing paradigms on asset health and reliability. The Hydropower Fleet Intelligence project is developing and evaluating standardized methodologies and analysis tools for data-driven asset reliability and management technologies for hydropower, leading to eventual predictive maintenance planning, repair/replacement decision making, and asset-reliability and cost-optimized operations. A key question is the feasibility of using existing data sets at hydropower facilities to perform assessments of asset reliability. This document uses data from hydropower facilities to assess the potential for using available analytics methods for asset reliability estimates. In addition to reliability assessments, the feasibility of using existing analytics techniques for several other potential applications is discussed. Finally, a case study that a data-driven model is trained to learn nominal operations via vibration data from an asset of a certain plant, and then utilized to identify anomalies on a similar asset from a different plant, highlighting the generic use of proposed Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) approaches.

Yucesan, Yigit↗

DOE OSTI2025

A plant-specific cytochrome b 5 –like protein is essential for phytosterol biosynthesis

Sterols are essential isoprenoid derivatives that contribute to membrane structure and function. In plants, they also serve as precursors to phytohormones and specialized metabolites important for development, defense, and health. Although the sterol biosynthetic pathway is considered well-characterized, we report the discovery of a plant-specific cytochrome b 5 –like protein, CB5LP, as a critical component of phytosterol biosynthesis. Loss of CB5LP in Arabidopsis causes embryonic defects, seedling lethality, and accumulation of 14α-methyl-sterols, with reduced levels of sitosterol and stigmasterol—indicating a defect in sterol 14α-demethylation. TurboID-based proximity labeling and in vitro assays show that CB5LP physically and functionally interacts with CYP51, a cytochrome P450 enzyme catalyzing this demethylation step. Unlike canonical cytochrome b 5 proteins, CB5LP has a reversed topology and is exclusive to plants, acting as an evolutionarily distinct electron donor. This discovery reveals an uncharacterized redox partnership essential for sterol biosynthesis and highlights a promising target for the development of selective herbicide.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Space Crop Production and Interdisciplinary Teamwork

As astronauts venture farther from Earth, and stay for longer periods, the space food system will increase in importance. Crop production can supplement a packaged diet to provide additional nutrients and dietary variety for astronauts. Several unique challenges exist for growth of plants in microgravity and on other planetary surfaces and solving these requires skills and abilities from different fields as diverse as microgravity fluid physics to human behavioral and psychological health. Research on the ground and tests with the Veggie and Advanced Plant Habitat chambers on the International Space Station are allowing us to understand the impacts of gravity and spaceflight on hardware, crop growth, nutritional content, food acceptability, and the importance of plants to astronauts living and working away from our blue home planet. Working through setbacks with interdisciplinary teams is critical to make progress in this challenging applied science area.

Gioia Donna Massa↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Space Crop Production and Interdisciplinary Teamwork

Gioia Massa↗

DOE OSTI2024

Argonaute and Dicer are essential for communication between Trichoderma atroviride and fungal hosts during mycoparasitism

ABSTRACT Trichoderma species are known for their mycoparasitic activity against phytopathogenic fungi that cause significant economic losses in agriculture. During mycoparasitism, Trichoderma spp. recognize molecules produced by the host fungus and release secondary metabolites and hydrolytic enzymes to kill and degrade the host’s cell wall. Here, we explored the participation of the Trichoderma atroviride RNAi machinery in the interaction with six phytopathogenic fungi of economic importance. We determined that both Argonaute-3 and Dicer-2 play an essential role during mycoparasitism. Using an RNA-Seq approach, we identified that perception, detox, and cell wall degradation depend on the T. atroviride -RNAi when interacting with Alternaria alternata, Rhizoctonia solani AG2 , and R. solani AG5. Furthermore, we constructed a gene co-expression network that provides evidence of two gene modules regulated by RNAi, which play crucial roles in essential processes during mycoparasitism. In addition, based on small RNA-seq, we conclude that siRNAs regulate amino acid and carbon metabolism and communication during the Trichoderma -host interaction. Interestingly, our data suggest that siRNAs might regulate allorecognition ( het ) and transport genes in a cross-species manner. Thus, these results reveal a fine-tuned regulation in T. atroviride dependent on siRNAs that is essential during the biocontrol of phytopathogenic fungi, showing a greater complexity of this process than previously established. IMPORTANCE There is an increasing need for plant disease control without chemical pesticides to avoid environmental pollution and resistance, and the health risks associated with the application of pesticides are increasing. Employing Trichoderma species in agriculture to control fungal diseases is an alternative plant protection strategy that overcomes these issues without utilizing chemical fungicides. Therefore, understanding the biocontrol mechanisms used by Trichoderma species to antagonize other fungi is critical. Although there has been extensive research about the mechanisms involved in the mycoparasitic capability of Trichoderma species, there are still unsolved questions related to how Trichoderma regulates recognition, attack, and defense mechanisms during interaction with a fungal host. In this work, we report that the Argonaute and Dicer components of the RNAi machinery and the small RNAs they process are essential for gene regulation during mycoparasitism by Trichoderma atroviride .

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2025

Digital Transformation for the Existing Fleet: Where to Start?

To remain economically viable in today’s electricity marketplace, nuclear power plants are replacing old analog equipment with modern digital tools. Having information available in an electronic format allows most work processes to become more efficient by automating simple, time-consuming tasks. However, with thousands of routine work processes performed every day, it can be difficult for the plants to know where to begin. We partnered with a nuclear utility to develop a novel assessment tool that measures seven health indicators for each work process performed, providing a rapid digital status report of the plant. The assessment tool is inexpensive and user-friendly, administered remotely, and automatically customized to each employee. Data from 167 employees representing different perspectives were analyzed to identify optimal candidates for digital initiatives that yield the highest payback for increased process efficiencies. We ranked by a priority index to ensure that processes with a good combination of time savings and digital opportunity were at the top. The focus was on determining a maximum investment to ensure that the cost savings from these initiatives are positive over a specified period. We identified potential cost savings of $2.6m, $1.3m and $1.2m for our top priority processes. By using our novel assessment tool to determine the digital status of the plant’s work processes, they were provided with a starting point for target candidates that would most benefit from a digital initiative. Our analysis helps stakeholders understand the financial impact of digital initiatives and identify maximum investment amounts when seeking technical solutions.

assessment↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Open Science for Life in Space: Data Sharing and Tools for Knowledge Discovery

The next era in human space exploration is rapidly approaching. The use of health countermeasures and biomonitoring systems for space missions are required to counteract space health hazards and to support life to thrive in deep space (e.g., humans, animals, plants, crops; entire ecosystems within spacecrafts/habitats/spacesuits). The development of these mission components will be highly dependent on our understanding of basic biological and health responses to myriad space hazards (ionizing radiation, altered gravitational fields, altered day-night cycles, confined isolation, hostile-closed environments, distance-duration from Earth, planetary dust-regolith, and extreme temperatures/atmospheres). The fast-growing array of space biological and mission telemetry data, which in the past was simply archived after minimal analysis, holds great potential once applied to these mission challenges if it can be reorganized and formatted for Open Science. Organizing the data for such analysis is a challenge because of its multi-hierarchical, multi-modal, and heterogenous nature (molecular, cellular, tissue, organ, whole organism, behavior, ecosystem, microbiome; tabular, omics, imaging, video, biospecimen, environmental physical-chemical telemetry). This session focuses on current approaches in this domain such as: making space biological data FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable), effective data ingestion/dissemination, observational versus experimental data, Open Science collaborations, data analysis techniques, AI/ML/knowledge graph/modeling methods, and data integration/discovery tools.

open science↗

NASA NTRS1972

The use of remote sensors to relate biological and physical indicators to environmental and public health problems

Relationships between biological, ecological and botanical structures, and disease organisms and their vectors which might be detected and measured by remote sensing are determined. In addition to the use of trees as indicators of disease or potential disease, an attempt is made to identify environmental factors such as soil moisture and soil and water temperatures as they relate to disease or health problems and may be detected by remote sensing. The following three diseases and one major health problem are examined: Malaria, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Encephalitis and Red Tide. It is shown that no single species of vascular plant nor any one environmental factor can be used as the indicator of disease or health problems. Entire vegetation types, successional stages and combinations of factors must be used.

Source record↗

DOE OSTI2023

Astrovirology: how viruses enhance our understanding of life in the Universe

Abstract Viruses are the most numerically abundant biological entities on Earth. As ubiquitous replicators of molecular information and agents of community change, viruses have potent effects on the life on Earth, and may play a critical role in human spaceflight, for life-detection missions to other planetary bodies and planetary protection. However, major knowledge gaps constrain our understanding of the Earth's virosphere: (1) the role viruses play in biogeochemical cycles, (2) the origin(s) of viruses and (3) the involvement of viruses in the evolution, distribution and persistence of life. As viruses are the only replicators that span all known types of nucleic acids, an expanded experimental and theoretical toolbox built for Earth's viruses will be pivotal for detecting and understanding life on Earth and beyond. Only by filling in these knowledge and technical gaps we will obtain an inclusive assessment of how to distinguish and detect life on other planetary surfaces. Meanwhile, space exploration requires life-support systems for the needs of humans, plants and their microbial inhabitants. Viral effects on microbes and plants are essential for Earth's biosphere and human health, but virus–host interactions in spaceflight are poorly understood. Viral relationships with their hosts respond to environmental changes in complex ways which are difficult to predict by extrapolating from Earth-based proxies. These relationships should be studied in space to fully understand how spaceflight will modulate viral impacts on human health and life-support systems, including microbiomes. In this review, we address key questions that must be examined to incorporate viruses into Earth system models, life-support systems and life detection. Tackling these questions will benefit our efforts to develop planetary protection protocols and further our understanding of viruses in astrobiology.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2024

Arsenic stress triggers active exudation of arsenic–phytochelatin complexes from Lupinus albus roots

Abstract Arsenic (As) contamination of soils threatens the health of millions globally through accumulation in crops. While plants detoxify As via phytochelatin (PC) complexation and efflux of arsenite from roots, arsenite efflux mechanisms are not fully understood. Here, white lupin (Lupinus albus) was grown in semi-hydroponics, and exudation of glutathione (GSH) derivatives and PCs in response to As was measured using LC-MS/MS. Inhibiting synthesis of the PC precursor GSH with l-buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) or ABC transporters with vanadate drastically reduced (>22%) GSH derivative and PC2 exudation, but not PC3 exudation. This was accompanied by As hypersensitivity in plants treated with BSO and moderate sensitivity with vanadate treatment. Investigating As–PC complexation revealed two distinct As–PC complexes, As bound to GSH and PC2 (GS–As–PC2) and As bound to PC3 (As–PC3), in exudates of As-treated lupin plants. Vanadate inhibited As–PC exudation, while BSO inhibited both the synthesis and exudation of As–PC complexes. These results demonstrate a role for GSH derivatives and PC exudation in lupin As tolerance and reveal As–PC exudation as a new potential mechanism contributing to active As efflux in plants. Overall, this study uncovers insights into rhizosphere As detoxification with potential to help mitigate pollution and reduce As accumulation in crops.

Plant Sciences↗

DOE OSTI2022

Introduction to Carbon Sensing in Soil. A surface-level review of traditional and alternative methods of soil carbon measurement

Soil carbon can be divided into two categories: organic and inorganic. Soil inorganic carbon (SIC) is present in carbonate minerals in the soil and is often found in dry, arid regions. Examples of SIC include calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) and magnesium carbonate (MgCO 3 ), both of which play important roles in soil health. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is found in fresh plant matter (available SOC) and as humus or charcoal (inert SOC). Both types of carbon act as storage in the global carbon cycle. As a carbon sink, soil carbon has the potential to store carbon that would otherwise remain in the atmosphere as CO 2 , one of the primary greenhouse emissions. As such, soil is under increasing attention and research to be used as a sequestration (i.e., isolation) method to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. This type of carbon sequestration is called biological sequestration. SOC typically stores carbon for several decades (depending on decomposition rates) while SIC can store carbon for more than 70,000 years. Common sequestration techniques for SOC usually fall under the category of land management: planting perennials, keeping plant residue and composting, reducing tilling, and other agricultural practices that vary by region. SIC sequestration through carbonates naturally takes thousands of years but there have been studies to increase SIC sequestration through the addition of silicates.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

NASA NTRS1997

Radiation Transport and Shielding for Space Exploration and High Speed Flight Transportation

Transportation of ions and neutrons in matter is of direct interest in several technologically important and scientific areas, including space radiation, cosmic ray propagation studies in galactic medium, nuclear power plants and radiological effects that impact industrial and public health. For the proper assessment of radiation exposure, both reliable transport codes and accurate data are needed. Nuclear cross section data is one of the essential inputs into the transport codes. In order to obtain an accurate parametrization of cross section data, theoretical input is indispensable especially for processes where there is little or no experimental data available. In this grant period work has been done on the studies of the use of relativistic equations and their one-body limits. The results will be useful in choosing appropriate effective one-body equation for reaction calculations. Work has also been done to improve upon the data base needed for the transport codes used in the studies of radiation transport and shielding for space exploration and high speed flight transportation. A phenomenological model was developed for the total absorption cross sections valid for any system of charged and/or uncharged collision pairs for the entire energy range. The success of the model is gratifying. It is being used by other federal agencies, national labs and universities. A list of publications based on the work during the grant period is given below and copies are enclosed with this report.

Maung, Khin Maung↗

NASA NTRS2009

Chlorophyll Meters Aid Plant Nutrient Management

On December 7, 1972, roughly 5 hours and 6 minutes after launch, the crew of Apollo 17 took one of history s most famous photographs. The brilliant image of the fully illuminated Earth, the African and Antarctic continents peering out from behind swirling clouds, came to be known as the Blue Marble. Today, Earth still sometimes goes by the Blue Marble nickname, but as the satellites comprising NASA s Earth Observing System (EOS) scan the planet daily in ever greater resolutions, it is often the amount of green on the planet that is a focus of researchers attention. Earth s over 400,000 known plant species play essential roles in the planet s health: They absorb carbon dioxide and release the oxygen we breathe, help manage the Earth s temperature by absorbing and reflecting sunlight, provide food and habitats for animals, and offer building materials, medication, and sustenance for humans. As part of NASA s efforts to study our own planet along with the universe around it, the Agency s EOS satellites have been accumulating years of valuable data about Earth s vegetation (not to mention its land features, oceans, and atmosphere) since the first EOS satellite launched in 1997. Among the powerful sensors used is the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board the NASA Terra and Aqua satellites. MODIS sweeps the entire Earth every few days, beaming back information gathered across 36 bands of visible and infrared light, yielding images that let scientists track how much of Earth is green over the course of seasons and years. Monitoring the density and distribution of vegetation on Earth provides a means of determining everything from the impact of natural and human-induced climate change to the potential outbreak of disease. (Goddard Space Flight Center and U.S. Department of Defense researchers have determined, for example, that vegetation density can be used to pinpoint regions of heavy rainfall in Africa regions ripe for outbreaks of rainfall-correlated diseases like mosquito-borne Rift Valley fever.) While the Space Agency is continually seeking to upgrade the power and scope of its satellite sensors, it is also finding ways to bring that potent information-gathering capacity down to Earth. Scientists at Stennis Space Center developed one such tool that is placing some of those sensor capabilities in the hands of farmers and agricultural researchers on the ground.

Source record↗