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At least 433 records · Page 24

Azobenzene-based sinusoidal surface topography drives focal adhesion confinement and guides collective migration of epithelial cells

Surface topography is a key parameter in regulating the morphology and behavior of single cells. At multicellular level, coordinated cell displacements drive many biological events such as embryonic morphogenesis. However, the effect of surface topography on collective migration of epithelium has not been studied in detail. Mastering the connection between surface features and collective cellular behaviour is highly important for novel approaches in tissue engineering and repair. Herein, we used photopatterned microtopographies on azobenzene-containing materials and showed that smooth topographical cues with proper period and orientation can efficiently orchestrate cell alignment in growing epithelium. Furthermore, the experimental system allowed us to investigate how the orientation of the topographical features can alter the speed of wound closure in vitro. Our findings indicate that the extracellular microenvironment topography coordinates their focal adhesion distribution and alignment. These topographic cues are able to guide the collective migration of multicellular systems, even when cell–cell junctions are disrupted.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Improvement in the photocurrent collection due to enhanced absorption of light by synthesizing staggered layers of silver nanoclusters in silicon

The quest for increased efficiency of solar cells has driven the research in synthesizing photovoltaic cells involving Si based materials. The efficiency of solar cells involving crystalline Si is stalled around 25% for the last decade. Recently Shi et al. had shown that light trapping can be enhanced by fabricating double layers of Ag nanoparticles in silicon based materials. The light trapping is critically important in a photo devices such as solar cells in order to increase light absorption and efficiency. In the present work, we report enhancement in the absorption of light in Ag ion implanted Si substrates. Multiple low energies Ag ions, ranging from ∼80 keV to ∼30 keV, with different fluences ranging from ∼1 × 10{sup 16} to ∼1 × 10{sup 17} atoms/cm{sup 2} were sequentially implanted into commercially available Si (100) substrates followed by post-thermal annealing to create different sizes of Ag nanoclusters (NC) at different depths in the top 100 nm of the Si. The absorbance of light is increased in Ag implanted Si with a significant increase in the current collection in I-V (current-voltage) photo switching measurements. The experimental photovoltaic cells fabricated with the Ag-implanted Si samples were optically characterized under AM (air mass) 1.5 solar radiation conditions (∼1.0 kW/m{sup 2}). An enhancement in the charge collection were measured in the annealed samples, where prominent Ag NCs were formed in the Si matrix compared to the as-implanted samples with amorphous layers. We believe the enhancement of the photo-current density from the samples with Ag NC is due to the improvement of efficiency of charge collection of e{sup −}-h{sup +} pairs produced by the incident light.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Unexpected Rise in Nuclear Collectivity from Short-Range Physics

We discover a surprising relation between the collective motion of nucleons within atomic nuclei, traditionally understood to be driven by long-range correlations, and short-range nucleon-nucleon interactions. Specifically, we find that quadrupole collectivity in low-lying states of 6 Li and 12 C, calculated with state-of-the-art ab initio techniques, is significantly influenced by two opposing 𝑆-wave contact couplings that subtly alter the surface oscillations of one largely deformed nuclear shape, without changing that shape’s overall contribution within the nucleus. The results offer new insights into the nature of emergent nuclear collectivity and its link to the underlying nucleon-nucleon interaction at short distances.

Ab initio calculations↗

Lattice collective modes from a continuum model of magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene

Here, we show that the insulating states of magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene support a series of collective modes corresponding to local particle-hole excitations on triangular lattice sites. Our theory is based on a continuum model of the magic angle flat bands. When the system is insulating at moiré band filling ν = -3, our calculations show that the ground state supports seven low-energy modes that lie well below the charge gap throughout the moiré Brillouin zone, one of which couples strongly to THz photons. The low-energy collective modes are faithfully described by a model with a local SU(8) degree of freedom in each moiré unit cell that we identify as the direct product of spin, valley, and an orbital pseudospin. Apart from spin and valley-wave modes, the collective mode spectrum includes a low-energy intraflavor exciton mode associated with transitions between flat valence and conduction band orbitals.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Nanosecond isomers and the evolution of collectivity in stable, even- A Hg isotopes

Isomeric states and associated collective structures have been studied up to high spin in 198,200,202 Hg using multinucleon transfer reactions and the Gammasphere array. A coupled rotational band, with possible four-quasiparticle character, is established in 198 Hg. Sequences built on two-quasiparticle, positive- and negative-parity levels are assigned to 202 Hg. New isomers in 202 Hg with I π = (7 – ) and (9 – ), and T 1/2 = 10.4(4) ns and 1.4(3) ns, respectively, have been identified. A half-life of 1.0(3) ns is established for the I π = 12 + state in 200 Hg. B(E2) values deduced from isomeric transitions in Hg isotopes indicate that, while collectivity near the ground state gradually diminishes from N = 112 to N = 124, it is found to increase for the 12 + and 9 – states up to N = 118, followed by a reduction for higher neutron numbers. Calculations using the ultimate cranker code provide insight into the variation of deformation with spin and allow for an understanding of observed band crossings. As a result, the evolution of collectivity with spin, and along the isotopic chain, is described.

190 ≤ A ≤ 219↗

Investigation of octupole collectivity near the A = 72 shape-transitional point

Enhanced octupole collectivity is expected in the neutron-deficient Ge, Se and Kr isotopes with neutron number N ≈ 40 and has indeed been observed for 70,72 Ge. Shape coexistence and configuration mixing are, however, a notorious challenge for theoretical models trying to reliably predict octupole collectivity in this mass region, which is known to feature rapid shape changes with changing nucleon number and spin of the system. To further investigate the microscopic configurations causing the prolate-oblate-triaxial shape transition at A ≈ 72 and their influence on octupole collectivity, the rare isotopes 72 Se and 74,76 Kr were studied via inelastic proton scattering in inverse kinematics. While significantly enhanced octupole strength of ≈32 Weisskopf units (W.u.) was observed for 72 Se, only strengths of ≈15 W.u. were observed for 74,76 Kr. In combination with existing data, the new data clearly question a simple origin of enhanced octupole strengths around N = 40. Furthermore, the present work establishes two regions of distinct octupole strengths with a sudden strength increase around the A = 72 shape transitional point.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Fourier coefficients of noninterdependent collective motions in heavy-ion collisions

Here, we present a scenario in heavy-ion collisions where different modes of collective motions are noninterdependent, driven by factorized actions in the created nuclear medium. Such physics mechanisms could each dominate at a distinct evolution stage, or coexist simultaneously. If the probability of particle emission is modulated by each nondependent collective motion with a single-harmonic Fourier expansion, the particle azimuthal distribution should be the product of all these expansions. Consequently, nonleading cross terms between collectivity modes appear, and their contributions to experimental observables could be significant. In particular, we argue that the chiral magnetic effect (CME) and elliptic flow can develop separately, with their convolution affecting the observable that is sensitive to the shear-induced CME. We will use the event-by-event anomalous-viscous fluid dynamics model to illustrate the effects of this scenario. Besides giving insights into searches for the CME, we also propose feasible experimental tests based on conventional flow harmonics, and demonstrate the emergence of nonleading cross terms with a multiphase transport model.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Minimal conditions for collectivity in e + e – and p + p collisions

Signatures of collective behavior have been measured in highly relativistic p + p collisions, as well as in p + A, d + A, and 3 He + A collisions. Numerous particle correlation measurements in these systems have been successfully described by calculations based on viscous hydrodynamic and transport models. Here, these observations raise the question of the minimum necessary conditions for a system to exhibit collectivity. Recently, numerous scientists have raised the question of whether the quarks and gluons generated in e + e - collisions may satisfy these minimum conditions. In this paper we explore possible signatures of collectivity, or lack thereof, in e + e - collisions utilizing A Multi-Phase Transport (AMPT) framework which comprises melted color strings, parton scattering, hadronization, and hadron re-scattering.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Improving MPI Collective I/O for High Volume Non-Contiguous Requests With Intra-Node Aggregation

Two-phase I/O is a well-known strategy for implementing collective MPI-IO functions. It redistributes I/O requests among the calling processes into a form that minimizes the file access costs. As modern parallel computers continue to grow into the exascale era, the communication cost of such request redistribution can quickly overwhelm collective I/O performance. In this study, this effect has been observed from parallel jobs that run on multiple compute nodes with a high count of MPI processes on each node. Furthermore, to reduce the communication cost, we present a new design for collective I/O by adding an extra communication layer that performs request aggregation among processes within the same compute nodes. This approach can significantly reduce inter-node communication contention when redistributing the I/O requests. We evaluate the performance and compare it with the original two-phase I/O on Cray XC40 parallel computers (Theta and Cori) with Intel KNL and Haswell processors. Using I/O patterns from two large-scale production applications and an I/O benchmark, we show our proposed method effectively reduces the communication cost and hence maintains the scalability for a large number of processes.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Collective input/output under memory constraints

Compared with current high-performance computing (HPC) systems, exascale systems are expected to have much less memory per node, which can significantly reduce necessary collective input/output (I/O) performance. In this study, we introduce a memory-conscious collective I/O strategy that takes into account memory capacity and bandwidth constraints. The new strategy restricts aggregation data traffic within disjointed subgroups, coordinates I/O accesses in intranode and internode layers, and determines I/O aggregators at run time considering memory consumption among processes. We have prototyped the design and evaluated it with commonly used benchmarks to verify its potential. The evaluation results demonstrate that this strategy holds promise in mitigating the memory pressure, alleviating the contention for memory bandwidth, and improving the I/O performance for projected extreme-scale systems. Given the importance of supporting increasingly data-intensive workloads and projected memory constraints on increasingly larger scale HPC systems, this new memory-conscious collective I/O can have a significant positive impact on scientific discovery productivity.

collective input/output↗

On noise and the performance benefit of nonblocking collectives

Relaxed synchronization offers the potential of maintaining application scalability by allowing many processes to make independent progress when some processes suffer delays. Yet, the benefits of this approach in important parallel workloads have not been investigated in detail. In this paper, we use a validated simulation approach to explore the noise mitigation effects of idealized nonblocking collectives in workloads where these collectives are a major contributor to total execution time. In conclusion, although nonblocking collectives are unlikely to provide significant noise mitigation to applications in the low-OS-noise environments expected in next-generation HPC systems, we show that they can potentially improve application runtime with respect to other noise types.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Utah FORGE: LBNL Reports on VEMP Electromagnetic Data Collection and Processing - 2024

This archive contains reports related to Vertical Electromagnetic Profiling (VEMP) tool data collection and processing at Utah FORGE in 2024. The first report describes LBNL's effort to collect electromagnetic geophysical data with the tool in well 78-32B and a downhole electrode in well 16A. The second report describes the final data acquisition and processing of the VEMP electromagnetic data collected at the Utah FORGE site in May of 2024. Also included are a noise analysis as well as a comparison of the data to numerical models. This was originally presented as a paper at the 2025 Stanford Geothermal Workshop.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Offshore Gulf of Mexico Data Collection

Spatial data acquired from credible sources and created using analytical methods for the Gulf of Mexico. This collection contains information on public and industrial infrastructure, environmental, and socioeconomic factors. Much of these data were originally collected to measure the potential impacts of oil spills and the collection has continued to build into a robust and wide-ranging spatial database available on EDX Spatial.

data collection↗

Permanganate Oxidation of Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) Recycle Collection Tank (RCT) Simulants – Protocol Runs for Nominal and Chemical Process Cell (CPC) Foamover Conditions

Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has completed a work scope in support of the Savannah River Remediation (SRR) Nitric-Glycolic flowsheet. Glycolic acid will replace formic acid as a reducing agent in the pre-processing of High-Level Waste sludge performed at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). Glycolic acid will perform the same function as formic acid, namely reduction of mercury and adjustment of feed rheology and melter oxidation/reduction potential, while significantly reducing the potential for hydrogen generation in DWPF processing. Development testing has demonstrated glycolic acid virtually eliminates hydrogen production in the pre-processing steps. The Nitric-Glycolic flowsheet significantly improves DWPF’s ability to address one of the Savannah River Site’s key challenges - the incorporation of effluent received from the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF). SWPF will deliver significant effluent volume to DWPF, resulting in a concurrent increase in DWPF effluent returned to the Concentration, Storage and Transfer Facilities (CSTF). This work scope demonstrates that glycolate can be destroyed under the Nitric-Glycolic flowsheet prior to returning the DWPF recycle stream to CSTF. To avoid potential flammability issues due to thermolysis of glycolate in CSTF, SRR tasked SRNL to quantify and mitigate glycolate returns via DWPF’s recycle stream. The development of a strategy for glycolic mitigation was initiated with a system’s engineering workshop. Various chemical and/or physical solutions for how and where to destroy glycolate were considered – consistent with DWPF’s operational capabilities and process requirements. The workshop identified chemical oxidation of glycolate within the DWPF Recycle Collection Tank (RCT) as the most promising option. (The RCT collects offgas condensate from pre-processing, vitrification, and other unit operations performed in DWPF and is the singular return vessel delivering recycle effluent back to CSTF.) A series of down-select experimental tests were performed that showed sodium permanganate was the most effective oxidant. This work was performed to identify an appropriate operational protocol for DWPF implementation. Building upon the downselect experiments, the work targeted an improved description of suitable RCT conditions prior to the strike (pH, etc.), permanganate addition rate, and destruction reaction kinetics. Data collected were also used to determine the best expression of reaction stoichiometry and the effective minimum permanganate addition required.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Real Space and Time Imaging of Collective Headgroup Dipole Motions in Zwitterionic Lipid Bilayers

Lipid bilayers are supramolecular structures responsible for a range of processes, such as transmembrane transport of ions and solutes, and sorting and replication of genetic materials, to name just a few. Some of these processes are transient and currently, cannot be visualized in real space and time. Here, we developed an approach using 1D, 2D, and 3D Van Hove correlation functions to image collective headgroup dipole motions in zwitterionic phospholipid bilayers. We show that both 2D and 3D spatiotemporal images of headgroup dipoles are consistent with commonly understood dynamic features of fluids. However, analysis of the 1D Van Hove function reveals lateral transient and re-emergent collective dynamics of the headgroup dipoles—occurring at picosecond time scales—that transmit and dissipate heat at longer times, due to relaxation processes. At the same time, the headgroup dipoles also generate membrane surface undulations due a collective tilting of the headgroup dipoles. A continuous intensity band of headgroup dipole spatiotemporal correlations—at nanometer length and nanosecond time scales—indicates that dipoles undergo stretching and squeezing elastic deformations. Importantly, the above mentioned intrinsic headgroup dipole motions can be externally stimulated at GHz-frequency scale, enhancing their flexoelectric and piezoelectric capabilities (i.e., increased conversion efficiency of mechanical energy into electric energy). In conclusion, we discuss how lipid membranes can provide molecular-level insights about biological learning and memory, and as platforms for the development of the next generation of neuromorphic computers.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Photo-Switching of Protein Dynamical Collectivity

We examine changes in the picosecond structural dynamics with irreversible photobleaching of red fluorescent proteins (RFP) mCherry, mOrange2 and TagRFP-T. Measurements of the protein dynamical transition using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy show in all cases an increase in the turn-on temperature in the bleached state. The result is surprising given that there is little change in the protein surface, and thus, the solvent dynamics held responsible for the transition should not change. A spectral analysis of the measurements guided by quasiharmonic calculations of the protein absorbance reveals that indeed the solvent dynamical turn-on temperature is independent of the thermal stability/photostate however the protein dynamical turn-on temperature shifts to higher temperatures. This is the first demonstration of switching the protein dynamical turn-on temperature with protein functional state. The observed shift in protein dynamical turn-on temperature relative to the solvent indicates an increase in the required mobile waters necessary for the protein picosecond motions, that is, these motions are more collective. Melting-point measurements reveal that the photobleached state is more thermally stable, and structural analysis of related RFP’s shows that there is an increase in internal water channels as well as a more uniform atomic root mean squared displacement. These observations are consistent with previous suggestions that water channels form with extended light excitation providing O2 access to the chromophore and subsequent fluorescence loss. We report that these same channels increase internal coupling enhancing thermal stability and collectivity of the picosecond protein motions. The terahertz spectroscopic characterization of the protein and solvent dynamical onsets can be applied generally to measure changes in collectivity of protein motions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

The Influence of Spatial Variations of Diffusion Length on Charge Collected by Diffusion from Ion Tracks

Charge collected by diffusion from ion tracks in a semiconductor substrate may be influenced by the substrate diffusion length, which is related to recombination losses. A theoretical analysis shows that, excluding some extreme cases, charge collection is insensitive to spatial variations in the diffusion length funciton, so it is possible to define an effective diffusion length having the property that collected charge can be approximated by assuming a uniform diffusion length equal to this effective value.

SRAMs epi SRAMs ion tracks charge collection↗

Marco… Polo, Collecting location data 78 times in 28 days

We report the results of a survey test conducted in advance of a series of community response tests (CRTs) to evaluate response to noise from NASA’s X-59 aircraft. The CRTs will require a substantial number of observations to generate a dose response curve for noise exposure and related annoyance levels and the timeframe is limited due to resource and scheduling constraints with an experimental aircraft. Respondents will be asked to fill out the surveys either on the web or as part of an application they are able to download onto their mobile phones. Respondents will be asked to fill out a survey each time the plane flies over the targeted area. The sample will be drawn targeting households within a specific ‘fly-over’ area. However, respondents may travel during the day, sometimes outside the targeted area. For the observations to be useful respondents need to be within a target area during flights. To collect the location data, respondents will be asked to identify where they were at the time of the flyover. The survey test followed the proposed methodology of the CRTs. We will describe how location data was collected using Google Maps API and evaluate reported rates of location at home, work or other places and whether these were inside or outside the target area. We will also compare how these rates varied across web and app respondents. We will use the results of this work to confirm or improve the design of the CRTs, ensuring the collection of data needed by NASA to evaluate the impact of this innovative technology.

Google Maps↗