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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2012

Sizing and Lifecycle Cost Analysis of an Ares V Composite Interstage

The Interstage Element of the Ares V launch vehicle was sized using a commercially available structural sizing software tool. Two different concepts were considered, a metallic design and a composite design. Both concepts were sized using similar levels of analysis fidelity and included the influence of design details on each concept. Additionally, the impact of the different manufacturing techniques and failure mechanisms for composite and metallic construction were considered. Significant details were included in analysis models of each concept, including penetrations for human access, joint connections, as well as secondary loading effects. The designs and results of the analysis were used to determine lifecycle cost estimates for the two Interstage designs. Lifecycle cost estimates were based on industry provided cost data for similar launch vehicle components. The results indicated that significant mass as well as cost savings are attainable for the chosen composite concept as compared with a metallic option.

Mann, Troy↗
DOE OSTI2022

Data from: "Lab and Field Warming Similarly Advance Germination Date and Limit Germination Rate for High and Low Elevation Provenances of Two Widespread Subalpine Conifers"

This archive contains data used to draw conclusions in “Lab and Field Warming Similarly Advance Germination Date and Limit Germination Rate for High and Low Elevation Provenances of Two Widespread Subalpine Conifers”, by Kueppers et al. 2017. Cone collection and field experiments were conducted on Niwot Ridge, Colorado, with the latter completed within the Alpine Treeline Warming Experiment (ATWE). Laboratory germination experiments were conducted at the University of California Merced. Geospatial files are also provided for additional geographical context.There are four data file formats in this package: comma-separated values (.csv), Microsoft Excel (.xlsx), keyhole markup language (.kml), and ESRI shapefile (.shp). The latter two are geospatial file formats. .csv files can be opened using any simple text editor program such as TextEdit (Mac) and Notepad (Windows), and .xlsx files can be opened using Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. The .kml file contains coordinate data, and is compatible with Google Earth and Google Maps. ESRI shapefiles (.shp) are compatible with any geospatial software able to read the file type, such as QGIS and ESRI’s ArcGIS Suite. This data user’s guide is available in as a .pdf, and can be opened using software such as Adobe Acrobat Reader.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Accurately predicting upslope shifts in subalpine tree ranges with warming requires understanding how future forest populations will be affected by climate change, as these are the seed sources for new tree line and alpine populations. Early life history stages are particularly sensitive to climate and are also influenced by genetic variation among populations. We tested the climate sensitivity of germination and initial development for two widely distributed subalpine conifers, using controlled-environment growth chambers with one temperature regime from subalpine forest in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and one 5 °C warmer, and two soil moisture levels. We tracked germination rate and timing, rate of seedling development, and seedling morphology for two seed provenances separated by ~300 m elevation. Warming advanced germination timing and initial seedling development by a total of ~2 weeks, advances comparable to mean differences between provenances. Advances were similar for both provenances and species; however, warming reduced the overall germination rate, as did low soil moisture, only for Picea engelmannii. A three-year field warming and watering experiment planted with the same species and provenances yielded responses qualitatively consistent with the lab trials. Together these experiments indicate that in a warmer, drier climate, P. engelmannii germination, and thus regeneration, could decline, which could lead to declining subalpine forest populations, while Pinus flexilis forest populations could remain robust as a seed source for upslope range shifts.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2018

File Specification for M2AMIP Products: Version Number - 1.0

The Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) is an atmospheric reanalysis computed with the Goddard Earth Observing (EOS) System, Version 5.12.4 (GEOS) data assimilation system (Gelaro et al., 2017). To supplement the reanalysis, the GEOS General Circulation Model (GCM) used in MERRA-2 has been used to generate a 10-member ensemble of simulations, configured following the convention of the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP; Gates et al., 1992). Each ensemble member was initialized using meteorological fields from a different date in November 1979. The AMIP simulations used the sea-surface temperature (SST) and sea-ice boundary conditions that were used in MERRA-2 (Bosilovich et al., 2016). This 10-member ensemble of AMIP simulations, denoted M2AMIP, is available for download in a group of self-describing files, which are documented in this office note. All data collections are provided on the same horizontal grid as MERRA-2. This grid has 576 points in the longitudinal direction and 361 points in the latitudinal direction, corresponding to a resolution of 0.625 degrees by 0.5 degrees. Although data collections are available at this grid, all fields are computed on a cubed-sphere grid with an approximate resolution of 50 km by 50 km and are then spatially interpolated to the latitude-longitude grid. There are no changes in the vertical grids used: variables are provided on either the native vertical grid of 72 model layers, or interpolated to 42 standard pressure levels. Unlike MERRA, no data collections are available at the vertical layer edges. More details on the grid are provided in Section 4. MERRA-2 introduced observation-based precipitation forcing for the land surface parameterization and the corresponding variable PRECTOTCORR in the MERRA-2 FLX (surface turbulent fluxes and related quantities) and LFO (land-surface forcing) collections (see Section 6; Reichle et al., 2017). While this variable is still available for M2AMIP, there was no observation-based forcing, making the value identical to the model derived precipitation, PRECTOT. Similarly, without data assimilation, the values for the analysis increments, D*DTANA, in the tendency and vertically integrated file collections are zero. The M2AMIP data are available for download online through the NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) DataPortal (https://portal.nccs.nasa.gov/datashare/gmao_m2amip/). Data are arranged in subdirectories based on ensemble member, followed by year and month. Control files that are compatible with the Grid Analysis and Display System (GrADS) are available in the ctl_daily and ctl_monthly directories for the hourly, three hourly, and monthly mean data. Control files for the monthly mean diurnal cycle can be found in the ctl_diurnal subdirectory within the directory for each individual ensemble member.

M2AMIP↗
NASA NTRS1993

Orbital performance of communication satellite microwave power amplifiers (MPAs)

This paper presents background data on the performance of microwave power amplifiers (MPAs) used as transmitters in currently operating commercial communication satellites. Specifically aspects of two competing MPA types are discussed. These are well known TWTA (travelling wave tube amplifier) and the SSPA (solid state power amplifier). Extensive in-orbit data has been collected from over 2000 MPAs in 1991 and 1993. The study in 1991 invovlved 75 S/C (spacecraft) covering 463 S/C years. The 1993 'second-look' study encompassed a slightly different population of 72 S/C with 497 S/C years of operation. A surprising result of both studies was that SSPAs, although quite reliable, did not achieve the reliability of TWTAs were one-third more reliable in the 1993 study. This was at C-band with comparable power amplifiers, e.g. 6-16W of RF output power and similar gains. Data at K(sub u)-band is for TWTAs only since there are no SSPAs in the current S/C inventory. The other complementary result was that the projected failure rates used as S/C payload design guidelines were, on average, somewhat higher for TWTAs than the actual failure rates uncovered by this study. SSPA rates were as projected.

Strauss, R.↗
NASA NTRS1961

An Investigation of the Influence of Body Size and Indentation Asymmetry of the Effectiveness of Body Indentation in Combination with a Cambered Wing

An investigation has been made of a 450 sweptback cambered wing in combination with an unindented body and a body symmetrically indented with respect to its axes designed for a Mach number of 1.2. The ratio of body frontal area to wing planform area was 0.08 for these wing-body combinations. In order to determine the influence of body size on the effectiveness of indentation, the test data have been compared with previously obtained data for similar configurations having a ratio of body frontal area to wing planform area of 0.04. Also, in order to investigate the relative effectiveness of indentation asymmetry, a specially indented body designed to account for the wing camber and also designed for a Mach number of 1.2 has been included in these tests. The investigation was conducted in the Langley 8-Foot Tunnels Branch at Mach numbers from 0.80 to 1.43 and a Reynolds number of approximately 1.85 x 10(exp 6), based on a mean aerodynamic chord length of 5.955 inches. The data indicate that the configurations with larger ratio of body frontal area to wing planform area had smaller reductions in zero-lift wave drag associated with body indentation than the configurations with smaller ratio of body frontal area to wing planform area. The 0.08-area-ratio configurations also had correspondingly smaller increases in the values of maximum lift-drag ratio than the 0.04-area-ratio configurations. The consideration of wing camber in the body indentation design resulted in a 35.5-percent reduction in zero-lift wave drag, compared with a 21.5-percent reduction associated with the symmetrical indentation, but had a negligible effect on the values of maximum lift-drag ratio.

Patterson, James C., Jr.↗
DOE OSTI2025

From Machine Learning to Machine Reasoning: A Model-based Approach to Analyze Equipment Reliability Data

In current nuclear power plants (NPPs) a large amount of condition-based data which can be used to assess and monitor component health and performance. Assessing component health from such data can be performed with a large variety of methods. While the analysis of numeric data can be performed with several methods, the extraction of information from textual data remains a challenge. Currently employed natural language processing (NLP) methods do not really provide quantitative information that might be contained in IRs. In addition, the integration of numeric and textual data to identify possible causal relationships between data elements is still an unresolved challenge. This paper presents an approach to extract information from textual (e.g., incident or maintenance reports) and numeric data that relies on model based system engineer (MBSE) models. MBSE are diagrams designed to represent system and component dependencies (from both a form and functional point of view). In our approach, MBSE models emulate system engineer knowledge about component/system architecture. NLP methods are employed to perform syntactic and semantic analyses. Syntactic analysis analyzes the grammatical structure of a sentence while semantic analysis is designed to analyze the logic structure of a sentence. An innovative element of our approach is that semantic analysis uses MBSE models to identify links between textual elements. Similarly, numeric data is directly linked to elements of the MBSE models in order to map which functions are being monitored.

97 - MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS1992

Cartography of asteroids and comet nuclei from low resolution data

High resolution images of non-spherical objects, such as Viking images of Phobos and the anticipated Galileo images of Gaspra, lend themselves to conventional planetary cartographic procedures: control network analysis, stereophotogrammetry, image mosaicking in 2D or 3D, and airbrush mapping. There remains the problem of a suitable map projection for bodies which are extremely elongated or irregular in shape. Many bodies will soon be seen at lower resolution (5-30 pixels across the disk) in images from speckle interferometry, the Hubble Space Telescope, ground-based radar, distinct spacecraft encounters, and closer images degraded by smear. Different data with similar effective resolutions are available from stellar occultations, radar or lightcurve convex hulls, lightcurve modeling of albedo variations, and cometary jet modeling. With such low resolution, conventional methods of shape determination will be less useful or will fail altogether, leaving limb and terminator topography as the principal sources of topographic information. A method for shape determination based on limb and terminator topography was developed. It has been applied to the nucleus of Comet Halley and the jovian satellite Amalthea. The Amalthea results are described to give an example of the cartographic possibilities and problems of anticipated data sets.

Stooke, Philip J.↗
NASA NTRS1977

The flow field of an underexpanded H2 jet coaxially injected into a hot free or ducted supersonic jet of air or nitrogen

Experimental data obtained in an investigation of the mixing of an underexpanded hydrogen jet in a supersonic flow both with and without combustion are presented. Tests were conducted in a Mach 2 test stream with both air and nitrogen as test media. Total temperature of the test stream was 2170 K, and static exit pressure was about one atmosphere. The static pressure at the exit of the hydrogen injector's Mach 2 nozzle was about two atmospheres. Primary measurements included shadowgraphs and pitot pressure surveys of the flow field. Pitot surveys and wall static pressures were measured for the case where the entire flow was shrouded. The results are compared to similar experimental data and theoretical predictions for the matched pressure case.

Jenkins, R. V.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Daily grass reference evapotranspiration with Meteosat Second Generation shortwave radiation and reference ET products

Here we assess the accuracy of estimating daily grass reference evapotranspiration (PM-ET o ) using daily shortwave radiation (R s ) and reference evapotranspiration (ET REF ) products provided by the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) geostationary satellite delivered by the Satellite Applications Facility on Land Surface Analysis (LSA-SAF) framework. The accuracy of using reanalysis ERA5 shortwave radiation data (R s ERA5 ) provided by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is also evaluated. The assessments were performed using observed weather variables at 37 weather stations distributed across continental Portugal, where climate conditions range from semi-arid to humid, and 12 weather stations located in Azores islands, characterized by humid, windy and often cloudy conditions. This study&#x27;s use of data from a variety of climate conditions contributed to a unique and innovative assessment of the usability of LSA-SAF and ERA5 products for ET o estimation. The first assessment focused on comparing LSA-SAF estimates of R s (R s LSA-SAF ) against ground stations (R s ground ). The results showed a good matching between the two R s data sets for continental Portugal but a tendency for R s LSA-SAF to under-estimate R s ground in the cloudy islands of Azores. ET o values computed using R s LSA-SAF data and observed temperature, humidity and wind speed (ET o LSA-SAF ) were then compared with PM-ET o estimates with ground-based data, which were used as benchmark; input data of temperature and humidity needed for PM-ET o were quality checked for surface aridity effects. It was observed that ET o LSA-SAF is strongly correlated with PM-ET o (R 2 > 0.97) for most locations in continental Portugal, with regression coefficient of a linear regression forced to the origin ranging between 0.95 and 1.05, mean root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.13 mm d –1 , and Nash and Sutcliff efficiency of modeling (EF) above 0.95. For most Azores locations, ET o LSA-SAF over-estimated PM-ET o . This is likely a consequence of the high spatio-temporal heterogeneity of weather conditions that occur in these oceanic islands together with the different footprints of satellite (averaged over the pixel) and station observations. Reanalysis ERA5 shortwave radiation data presented similar behavior to the LSA-SAF products, however with slightly lower accuracy. The daily LSA-SAF ET REF product (ET REF LSA-SAF ) was assessed and results have shown a good accuracy of this product, with acceptable RMSE and high EF values, for continental Portugal but a low accuracy for the Azores islands. A simplified bias correction approach was shown to improve both ET o derived from the LSA-SAF products, namely for Azores stations, which seem to be representative of smaller areas. The use of the FAO-PM temperature approach (PMT) was also assessed using the R s LSA-SAF and R s ERA5 data, which showed a superiority of the LSA-SAF product for ET o estimations (ET o PMT LSA-SAF ). No significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed in terms of the median value of the RMSE when adopting ET o PMT and ET REF LSA-SAF . Differently, results showed that using the R s LSA-SAF in the PMT approach (ET o PMT LSA-SAF ) produces significantly better RMSE results than ET o PMT and ET REF LSA-SAF . Overall, the performed assessment allows concluding that the use of R s LSA-SAF, and to a lesser extent the use of the R s ERA5 , highly improves the accuracy of computation of ET o when R s observations are not available, including when only temperature data are accessible. The use of the ET REF LSA-SAF product is a good alternative when observed weather data are not available.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Time delay lens modelling challenge

ABSTRACT In recent years, breakthroughs in methods and data have enabled gravitational time delays to emerge as a very powerful tool to measure the Hubble constant H0. However, published state-of-the-art analyses require of order 1 yr of expert investigator time and up to a million hours of computing time per system. Furthermore, as precision improves, it is crucial to identify and mitigate systematic uncertainties. With this time delay lens modelling challenge, we aim to assess the level of precision and accuracy of the modelling techniques that are currently fast enough to handle of order 50 lenses, via the blind analysis of simulated data sets. The results in Rungs 1 and 2 show that methods that use only the point source positions tend to have lower precision ($10\!-\!20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$) while remaining accurate. In Rung 2, the methods that exploit the full information of the imaging and kinematic data sets can recover H0 within the target accuracy (|A| < 2 per cent) and precision (<6 per cent per system), even in the presence of a poorly known point spread function and complex source morphology. A post-unblinding analysis of Rung 3 showed the numerical precision of the ray-traced cosmological simulations to be insufficient to test lens modelling methodology at the percent level, making the results difficult to interpret. A new challenge with improved simulations is needed to make further progress in the investigation of systematic uncertainties. For completeness, we present the Rung 3 results in an appendix and use them to discuss various approaches to mitigating against similar subtle data generation effects in future blind challenges.

Ding, X.↗
NASA NTRS2026

Tracing the Source of Carbon Oxides on the Large Moons of Uranus

The Uranian moons Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon are enriched in CO 2 mixed with CO, but the origin(s) of these carbon oxides, be they primarily native or radiolytic, remain(s) uncertain. Using data collected by NIRSpec on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), we measured the spectral signature of CO 2 and other carbon oxides to help disentangle these hypotheses. Through comparison to laboratory data, we find that many of the detected spectral features are consistent with CO 2 ice, including 12 CO2 scattering peaks (4.15–4.26 μm), multilobe 13 CO 2 bands (4.35–4.43 μm), and CO 2 biphonon and triphonon modes (4.80–5.25 μm). Our measurements show that CO 2 and CO are concentrated on the trailing hemispheres of the inner moons Ariel and Umbriel, potentially supporting a radiolytic production hypothesis, consistent with prior ground-based results. However, many of the identified spectral features are only observed in thick crystalline ice deposits measured in the laboratory, which may be difficult to form via radiolysis of carbon-bearing material mixed in icy regoliths. Similarly, the data exhibit weak 4.02 and 4.40 μm bands, hinting at the presence of carbonate minerals and 13 CO 2 clathrates, respectively, possibly formed in the interiors of these moons. Furthermore, JWST has revealed that CO 2 is widespread at Uranus, present in its system of rings, ring moons, and irregular satellites, consistent with its largest moons accreting CO 2 and other carbon oxides from the Uranian subnebula. We conclude that exposed carbon oxides are potentially native, with their surface distributions shaped by charged particle irradiation and seasonal sublimation–condensation cycles.

Ice spectroscopy↗
NASA NTRS2016

A Note on the Temporary Misregistration of Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Sentinel-2 Multi Spectral Instrument (MSI) Imagery

The Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 sensors provide multi-spectral image data with similar spectral and spatial characteristics that together provide improved temporal coverage globally. Both systems are designed to register Level 1 products to a reference image framework, however, the Landsat-8 framework, based upon the Global Land Survey images, contains residual geolocation errors leading to an expected sensor-to-sensor misregistration of 38 m (2sigma). These misalignments vary geographically but should be stable for a given area. The Landsat framework will be readjusted for consistency with the Sentinel-2 Global Reference Image, with completion expected in 2018. In the interim, users can measure Landsat-to-Sentinel tie points to quantify the misalignment in their area of interest and if appropriate to reproject the data to better alignment.

Storey, James↗
NASA NTRS1987

Effect of long-term exposure to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) space environment

Data obtained from components and materials from the Solar Maximum Mission satellite are presented and compared to data for similar materials obtained from the Advanced Composite Materials Exposure to Space Experiment (ACOMEX) flown on Shuttle mission STS-41G. In addition to evaluation of surface erosion and mass loss that may be of importance to very long-term missions, comparisons of solar absorptance and thermal emittance measurements for both long and short term exposures were made. Although the ratio of absorptance over emittance can be altered by proper choice of materials to ensure a proper operating environment for the spacecraft, once the thermal design is established, it is important that the material properties not change in order to maintain the operating environment for many payload and bus items such as electronics, batteries, fuel, etc. However, data presented show significant changes after short exposure in low Earth environment. Moreover, the measured changes are shown to differ according to the manner of exposure, i.e., normal or oblique, which also affects the resultant eroded surface morphology. These results identify constraints to be considered in development of flight experiments or laboratory testing.

Zimcik, D. G.↗
DOE OSTI2022

EGS Collab Experiment 2: Continuous Broadband Seismic Waveform Data

Two broadband seismometers were installed on the 4100 level and recorded for the duration of EGS Collab Experiment #2. Inspired by published data from similar instruments installed in the Aspo Hard Rock Lab, these long-period instruments aimed to measure the tilting of the drift in response to the injection of fluid into the testbed. One instrument was installed underneath the wellheads in Site A (aka the "battery" alcove) and the other was installed along the east wall of the drift, south of Site B. Due to the feet of gravel (ballast) laid along the floor of the drift, we were unable to anchor the sensors directly to the rock. As a result, the coupling of the sensors to the experiment rock volume is likely poor. In addition, there are a number of noise sources that complicate the interpretation of the data. For example, sensor BBB is installed adjacent (within 3 ft) to the rail line that runs towards the Ross shaft. Trains (motors) run along this line almost daily and produce a large signal in these data. Careful extraction of periods of interest, as well as filtering for specific signals, is necessary. The sensors are Nanometrics Trillium Compact Posthole seismometers, sensitive down to 120 seconds period. They were installed as close to the drift wall and as deep as we could manually excavate (only about 1 ft or so). The holes were leveled with sand and the sensors were placed on a paver before backfilling with sand. The hole was then covered by a bucket filled with insulation to improve the sensor's isolation from daily temperature variations, which are minor but present due to drift ventilation from the surface. Data were recorded on Nanometrics Centaur digitizers at 100 Hz. The full response information is available in the StationXML file provided here, or by querying the sensors through the IRIS DMC (see links below). These instruments were provided free of charge through the IRIS PASSCAL instrument center. The network code is XP and the station codes are BBA and BBB. The waveform data can be queried through the IRIS FDSN server using any method the user likes. One convenient option is to use the Obspy python package: https://docs.obspy.org/packages/obspy.clients.fdsn.html

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1955

Effect of surface roughness on characteristics of spherical shock waves

An investigation has been conducted on a small-scale test layout in which direct observation of the shock wave movement with time could be made in order to determine the effects of surface roughness on the characteristics of spherical shock waves. Data were obtained with 15-gram pentolite charges at four heights of burst, both for a smooth surface and for a surface completely covered with pyramid-shaped roughness elements. The observations resulted in determinations of shock peak overpressure and Mach stem height as a function of distance for each test. Comparison of the smooth-surface data with those obtained for the extremely rough condition showed a small net effort of roughness on the shock peak overpressures at the surface for all burst heights, the effect being to lower the overpressures. The effect of surface roughness on the Mach stem formation and growth was to delay the formation at the greatest charge height and to lower the height of the Mach stem for all heights.Comparison of the free-air shock peak overpressures with larger scale data showed good similarity of the overpressure-distance relationships. The data did not fit a geometrical similarity parameter for the path of the triple point at different heights of burst suggested by other investigators. A simple similarity parameter (relating the horizontal distance to the theoretical point of Mach formation) was found which showed only a small influence of burst height on the path of the triple point. While the data presented provide knowledge of the effect of many surface-roughness elements on the overall shock characteristics, the data do not provide insight into the details of the air-flow characteristics along the surface, nor the relative contribution of individual roughness elements to the results obtained.

Huber, Paul W↗
NASA NTRS2017

The Amorphous Composition of Three Mudstone Samples from Gale Crater: Implications for Weathering and Diagenetic Processes on Mars

The Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, is exploring the lowermost formation of Gale crater's central mound. Within this formation, three samples named Marimba, Quela, and Sebina have been analyzed by the CheMin X-ray diffractometer and the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) to determine mineralogy and bulk elemental chemistry, respectively. Marimba and Quela were also analyzed by the SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) instrument to characterize the type and abundance of volatile phases detected in evolved gas analyses (EGA). CheMin data show similar proportions of plagioclase, hematite, and Ca-sulfates along with a mixture of di- and trioctahedral smectites at abundances of approximately 28, approximately 16, and approximately 18 wt% for Marimba, Quela, and Sebina. Approximately 50 wt% of each mudstone is comprised of X-ray amorphous and trace crystalline phases present below the CheMin detection limit (approximately 1 wt%). APXS measurements reveal a distinct bulk elemental chemistry that cannot be attributed to the clay mineral variation alone indicating a variable amorphous phase assemblage exists among the three mudstones. To explore the amorphous component, the calculated amorphous composition and SAM EGA results are used to identify amorphous phases unique to each mudstone. For example, the amorphous fraction of Marimba has twice the FeO wt% compared to Quela and Sebina yet, SAM EGA data show no evidence for Fe-sulfates. These data imply that Fe must reside in alternate Fe-bearing amorphous phases (e.g., nanophase iron oxides, ferrihydrite, etc.). Constraining the composition, abundances, and proposed identity of the amorphous fraction provides an opportunity to speculate on the past physical, chemical, and/or diagenetic processes which produced such phases in addition to sediment sources, lake chemistry, and the broader geologic history of Gale crater.

Achilles, C. N.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Exploration of a Potential Desirability of Outcome Ranking Endpoint for Complicated Intra-Abdominal Infections Using 9 Registrational Trials for Antibacterial Drugs

Abstract Background Desirability of outcome ranking (DOOR) is a novel approach to clinical trial design that incorporates safety and efficacy assessments into an ordinal ranking system to evaluate overall outcomes of clinical trial participants. Here, we derived and applied a disease-specific DOOR endpoint to registrational trials for complicated intra-abdominal infection (cIAI). Methods Initially, we applied an a priori DOOR prototype to electronic patient-level data from 9 phase 3 noninferiority trials for cIAI submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration between 2005 and 2019. We derived a cIAI-specific DOOR endpoint based on clinically meaningful events that trial participants experienced. Next, we applied the cIAI-specific DOOR endpoint to the same datasets and, for each trial, estimated the probability that a participant assigned to the study treatment would have a more desirable DOOR or component outcome than if assigned to the comparator. Results Three key findings informed the cIAI-specific DOOR endpoint: (1) a significant proportion of participants underwent additional surgical procedures related to their baseline infection; (2) infectious complications of cIAI were diverse; and (3) participants with worse outcomes experienced more infectious complications, more serious adverse events, and underwent more procedures. DOOR distributions between treatment arms were similar in all trials. DOOR probability estimates ranged from 47.4% to 50.3% and were not significantly different. Component analyses depicted risk-benefit assessments of study treatment versus comparator. Conclusions We designed and evaluated a potential DOOR endpoint for cIAI trials to further characterize overall clinical experiences of participants. Similar data-driven approaches can be utilized to create other infectious disease–specific DOOR endpoints.

Immunology↗
NASA NTRS2009

Elevation Change of Drangajokull, Iceland, from Cloud-Cleared ICESat Repeat Profiles and GPS Ground-Survey Data

Located on the Vestfirdir Northwest Fjords), DrangaJokull is the northernmost ice map in Iceland. Currently, the ice cap exceeds 900 m in elevation and covered an area of approx.l46 sq km in August 2004. It was about 204 sq km in area during 1913-1914 and so has lost mass during the 20th century. Drangajokull's size and accessibility for GPS surveys as well as the availability of repeat satellite altimetry profiles since late 2003 make it a good subject for change-detection analysis. The ice cap was surveyed by four GPS-equipped snowmobiles on 19-20 April 2005 and has been profiled in two places by Ice, Cloud. and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) 'repeat tracks,' fifteen times from late to early 2009. In addition, traditional mass-balance measurements have been taken seasonally at a number of locations across the ice cap and they show positive net mass balances in 2004/2005 through 2006/2007. Mean elevation differences between the temporally-closest ICESat profiles and the GPS-derived digital-elevation model (DEM)(ICESat - DEM) are about 1.1 m but have standard deviations of 3 to 4 m. Differencing all ICESat repeats from the DEM shows that the overall elevation difference trend since 2003 is negative with losses of as much as 1.5 m/a from same season to same season (and similar elevation) data subsets. However, the mass balance assessments by traditional stake re-measurement methods suggest that the elevation changes where ICESat tracks 0046 and 0307 cross Drangajokull are not representative of the whole ice cap. Specifically, the area has experienced positive mass balance years during the time frame when ICESat data indicates substantial losses. This analysis suggests that ICESat-derived elevations may be used for multi-year change detection relative to other data but suggests that large uncertainties remain. These uncertainties may be due to geolocation uncertainty on steep slopes and continuing cloud cover that limits temporal and spatial coverage across the area.

Shuman, Christopher A.↗