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At least 451 records · Page 25

An Analytic Collaborative Framework for the Earth System Observatory

NASA's Earth System Observatory groundbreaking observations will provide critical measurements to address societal relevant problems in climate change, natural hazard mitigation, fighting forest fires, and improving real-time agricultural processes. Central to the ESO vision is the notion of Open-Source Science (OSS), a collaborative culture enabled by technology that promotes the open sharing of data, information, and knowledge aiming to facilitate and accelerate scientific understanding, and the agile development of applications for the benefit of society. The larger vision of an Earth System Digital Twin (ESDT) calls for integrated Earth science frameworks that mirror the Earth by a proxy digital construct that includes km-scale resolution Earth system models and data assimilation systems along with an integrated set of analytic tools to enable the next generation of science discoveries and evidence-based decision making. The goal of this project is to develop an Analytic Collaborative Framework for ESO missions, based on realistic, science-based observing system simulations and the Program of Record (PoR). Tying it all together is a cloud-based cyberinfrastructure that will enable each uniquely designed satellite in the Earth System Observatory to work in tandem to create a 3D, holistic view of Earth. In this presentation, we lay the technological groundwork for enabling such a vision. Our approach consists of the 3 main interconnected building blocks: 1. Cloud-optimized representative datasets for ESO missions and the PoR to serve as basis for developing and prototyping an Analytic Collaborative Framework. 2. An Algorithm Workbench for enabling experimentation and exploration of synergistic algorithms not only for instruments within a mission, but also including the PoR and other ESO missions. 3. A series of concrete Open-Source Science demonstrations including use cases that span science discovery and end-user applications with direct societal impact. While our ultimate goal is to include all of the main missions comprising the Earth System Observatory, in our initial 2 years we will focus on AOS and SBG, two missions for which specific synergisms have been identified in a recent workshop. In this presentation we will describe our approach and discuss some illustrative examples of our framework.

Arlindo da SIlva↗

Scientific Content Curation in an Open Science Era

Today’s open science environment, in combination with the Big Data era, means more scientific data, software, tools, documentation, publications and other resources are available than ever. The promise of the open science era is that scientists will spend less time reinventing the wheel and more time doing actionable research. Yet navigating this vast and complex information landscape can feel overwhelming to scientists trying to get their bearings. In this presentation, we define and discuss the importance of scientific content curation for enhancing discovery and use of scientific data and information. We also share two examples of scientific content curation in action: the Catalog of Archived Suborbital Earth Science Investigations (CASEI) and the Science Discovery Engine (SDE).

Kaylin Bugbee↗

Publicly Available Molten Salt Data/Benchmarks

This presentation summarizes data for three molten salt reactors that has been made publicly available by Copenhagen Atomics. This information will be shared with the participants of the OECD/NEA International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation (IRPhE) Technical Review Group.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Test–retest reliability for a social discounting of personal information task

Increasing cybercrime rates means identifying potential victims is critically important. Social discounting tasks show that individuals share less personally identifying information as social distance increases. However, the test–retest reliability and uniqueness of this measure is unclear. The current study assessed social discounting for personally identifying information (SDPII), delay discounting, risk taking, and personality at two measurement waves 30 days apart for 64 undergraduate students. Test–retest reliability was statistically significant for the SDPII and all other measures, replicating previous studies. SDPII rates were not significantly correlated with other measures during both measurement waves, showing discriminant validity. SDPII rates were lower than those reported in a previous study but were still well described by a hyperbolic discounting function, suggesting replicability across studies. Furthermore, the high test–retest reliability, uniqueness, and replicability of the SDPII suggests that it may quantitatively identify cybercrime victimization. Future research should test which measure or combination of measures can accurately predict scam and cybercrime victimization to inform data-based interventions.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Development of Employee Health Services Scorecards and Dashboards for Sandia National Laboratories (SAND2020-2243 J)

The mission of Employee Health Services (EHS) at Sandia National Laboratories is to positively and efficiently impact the health of Sandia through patient-centered, cost-effective, community-connected care in support of its mission and people. We strive to continuously improve the delivery of health and wellness services. For the past few years, we have modeled our health programs around findings from the 2010 World Economics Forum (WEF): there are 8 top health risks and behaviors that drive 15 chronic conditions which account for 80% of the total health-care costs for all chronic illness worldwide. The WEF goes on to state that information and innovation are the keys to prevention, and EHS has decided to take a strong stand in both categories by utilizing health scorecards and department dashboards to visualize and share metrics with Sandia Leadership to foster improvements in employee wellness and optimize wellness offerings. Finally, these 2 types of information-sharing tools allow us to track the dollars spent and saved on our wellness programs, and show leadership where there is risk, where there is progress, and where there is need by providing current data that gives monthly, quarterly, and yearly feedback.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Curb Allocation and Pick-Up Drop-Off Aggregation for a Shared Autonomous Vehicle Fleet

Advances in information technologies and vehicle automation have birthed new transportation services, including shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs). Shared autonomous vehicles are on-demand self-driving taxis, with flexible routes and schedules, able to replace personal vehicles for many trips in the near future. The siting and density of pick-up and drop-off (PUDO) points for SAVs, much like bus stops, can be key in planning SAV fleet operations, since PUDOs impact SAV demand, route choices, passenger wait times, and network congestion. Unlike traditional human-driven taxis and ride-hailing vehicles like Lyft and Uber, SAVs are unlikely to engage in quasi-legal procedures, like double parking or fire hydrant pick-ups. In congested settings, like central business districts (CBD) or airport curbs, SAVs and others will not be allowed to pick up and drop off passengers wherever they like. This paper uses an agent-based simulation to model the impact of different PUDO locations and densities in the Austin, Texas CBD, where land values are highest and curb spaces are coveted. In this paper 18 scenarios were tested, varying PUDO density, fleet size and fare price. The results show that for a given fare price and fleet size, PUDO spacing (e.g., one block vs. three blocks) has significant impact on ridership, vehicle-miles travelled, vehicle occupancy, and revenue. A good fleet size to serve the region’s 80 core square miles is 4000 SAVs, charging a $1 fare per mile of travel distance, and with PUDOs spaced three blocks of distance apart from each other in the CBD.

Hunter, Christian B.↗

Virtual Agents-Based Attack-Resilient Distributed Control for Islanded AC Microgrid

Due to its dependence on a communication network, distributed secondary control of microgrids is susceptible to denial-of-service (DoS) attacks in channel shutdown mode, which may negatively impact the network connectivity and thus deteriorate the coordination and power sharing among distributed generators (DGs). Honeypot is a common method for cyber deception by introducing fake targets. However, in the context of microgrid, the misleading information spread by honeypots will also impact the system performance. This paper proposes an attack-resilient distributed control for AC microgrids utilizing virtual agents (VAs) to counteract both DoS edge and node attacks. The VAs are designed to not impact the system’s steady state during normal operation but to share information among neighboring real agents and serve as dummy targets for DoS attacks. The control with VAs is implemented by a primal-dual gradient based distributed algorithm to efficiently obtain a practical solution for voltage/frequency regulation and power sharing. The simulation results on a 4-DG test system and a modified IEEE 34-bus system show that 1) VAs do not impact the normal functionality of the test system, and 2) deploying VAs can enhance the resilience of the microgrid control against DoS edge and node attacks.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Distributed Automatic Generation Control Considering DPV Using T&D Dynamic Co-Simulation

The increasing adoption of distributed energy resources (DERs) over the last decade warrants a reconsideration of control of generation resources. This paper proposes a distributed Automatic Generation Control (AGC) using transmission-and-distribution (T&D) dynamic co-simulation framework for the efficient DPV frequency regulation services. The co-simulation framework allows AGC units to exchange the information for distributed AGC, based on their adopted communication network topology. As a result, a cost-effective automatic generation control is achieved with DPV and conventional generators. The proposed distributed AGC is based on the gossip algorithm in which the neighboring AGC units share the relevant local information with each other and updates their share of AGC regulation signal. Distributed photovoltaics (DPV) unit contribute to AGC response based on their headroom capacity via DER aggregators. The algorithm is tested on IEEE-14 bus transmission system under conditions of generation failure and random load variation to observe effective frequency regulations service offered by DPVs and other AGC units. The study shows that DPV can effectively participate in AGC with the proposed distributed control framework.

automatic generation control↗

Distributed Visualization Project

Distributed Visualization allows anyone, anywhere to see any simulation at any time. Development focuses on algorithms, software, data formats, data systems and processes to enable sharing simulation-based information across temporal and spatial boundaries without requiring stakeholders to possess highly-specialized and very expensive display systems. It also introduces abstraction between the native and shared data, which allows teams to share results without giving away proprietary or sensitive data. The initial implementation of this capability is the Distributed Observer Network (DON) version 3.1. DON 3.1 is available for public release in the NASA Software Store (https://software.nasa.gov/software/KSC-13775) and works with version 3.0 of the Model Process Control specification (an XML Simulation Data Representation and Communication Language) to display complex graphical information and associated Meta-Data.

Tech Port↗

NEPATEC2.0: NEPA Text Corpus v2.0

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), is a major environmental law in the United States, requiring Federal agencies to consider and document potential environmental impacts before deciding on a proposed action. Modernization of NEPA and permitting processes faces significant challenges due to the lack of standardized formats and interoperable systems for organizing and sharing NEPA-related information across agencies. Much of the information gathered during NEPA reviews is written into documents such as categorical exclusions, environmental assessments, and environmental impact statements, then filed in predominately independent agency file stores that may or may not be publicly accessible. The application of metadata and data standards, such as those recommended by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), to NEPA documents offers a shared vocabulary and structure for key entities like projects, processes, and documents that can streamline information exchange and enhance collaboration across systems. In this work, we publicly release NEPATEC2.0, an expanded corpus of NEPA documents with associated metadata. NEPATEC2.0 encompasses approximately 120,000 documents from 60,000 projects prepared by more than 60 different agencies. Modeled to align with CEQ metadata standards, NEPATEC2.0 promotes consistency in environmental reviews and supports the ongoing effort to modernize permitting technologies by facilitating more transparent, efficient, and data-driven decision-making. Importantly, NEPATEC2.0 demonstrates the possibilities and limitations of large language model-based prompting to extract information from NEPA documents at scale.

environmental review↗

NEPATEC v2.0: Standardized Metadata and Text Corpus of National Environmental Policy Act Documents

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), is a major environmental law in the United States, requiring Federal agencies to consider and document potential environmental impacts before deciding on a proposed action. Modernization of NEPA and permitting processes faces significant challenges due to the lack of standardized formats and interoperable systems for organizing and sharing NEPA-related information across agencies. Much of the information gathered during NEPA reviews is written into documents such as categorical exclusions, environmental assessments, and environmental impact statements, then filed in predominately independent agency file stores that may or may not be publicly accessible. The application of metadata and data standards, such as those recommended by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), to NEPA documents offers a shared vocabulary and structure for key entities like projects, processes, and documents that can streamline information exchange and enhance collaboration across systems. In this work, we publicly release NEPATEC2.0, an expanded corpus of NEPA documents with associated metadata. NEPATEC2.0 encompasses approximately 120,000 documents from 60,000 projects prepared by more than 60 different agencies. Modeled to align with CEQ metadata standards, NEPATEC2.0 promotes consistency in environmental reviews and supports the ongoing effort to modernize permitting technologies by facilitating more transparent, efficient, and data-driven decision-making. Importantly, NEPATEC2.0 demonstrates the possibilities and limitations of large language model-based prompting to extract information from NEPA documents at scale.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

A quasi-linear control theory analysis of timesharing skills

Performance with practice on two dual-task combinations, dual-axis tracking and two discrete information processing tasks, is examined in an effort to identify the presence and development of specific time sharing skills, such as parallel information processing or rapid intertask switching. The generality of time sharing skills also is investigated by examining transfer of these skills between the two qualitatively different task combinations.

Damos, D.↗

CENDI - A strategic interagency alliance in the 1990s

The goals, functions, and accomplishments of the CENDI Group, a government interagency cooperative organization formed to improve federal research and development productivity and R&D information management systems through information exchange, are briefly reviewed. The five member agencies are the Departments of Commerce, Energy, Defense, and Health and Human Services, and NASA. CENDI provides a means for its members to share technologies, resources, ideas, information, management activities, and standards. The top priorities of CENDI are: work with R&D managers to improve productivity; provide technical data and information to all users; improve the effectiveness and efficiency of all CENDI agency operations; and familiarize R&D managers and policy makers with the value of STI.

Caponio, Joseph↗

The Spacecraft Materials Selector: An Artificial Intelligence System for Preliminary Design Trade Studies, Materials Assessments, and Estimates of Environments Present

Institutions need ways to retain valuable information even as experienced individuals leave an organization. Modern electronic systems have enough capacity to retain large quantities of information that can mitigate the loss of experience. Performance information for long-term space applications is relatively scarce and specific information (typically held by a few individuals within a single project) is often rather narrowly distributed. Spacecraft operate under severe conditions and the consequences of hardware and/or system failures, in terms of cost, loss of information, and time required to replace the loss, are extreme. These risk factors place a premium on appropriate choice of materials and components for space applications. An expert system is a very cost-effective method for sharing valuable and scarce information about spacecraft performance. Boeing has an artificial intelligence software package, called the Boeing Expert System Tool (BEST), to construct and operate knowledge bases to selectively recall and distribute information about specific subjects. A specific knowledge base to evaluate the on-orbit performance of selected materials on spacecraft has been developed under contract to the NASA SEE program. The performance capabilities of the Spacecraft Materials Selector (SMS) knowledge base are described. The knowledge base is a backward-chaining, rule-based system. The user answers a sequence of questions, and the expert system provides estimates of optical and mechanical performance of selected materials under specific environmental conditions. The initial operating capability of the system will include data for Kapton, silverized Teflon, selected paints, silicone-based materials, and certain metals. For situations where a mission profile (launch date, orbital parameters, mission duration, spacecraft orientation) is not precisely defined, the knowledge base still attempts to provide qualitative observations about materials performance and likely exposures. Prior to the NASA contract, a knowledge base, the Spacecraft Environments Assistant (SEA,) was initially developed by Boeing to estimate the environmental factors important for a specific spacecraft mission profile. The NASA SEE program has funded specific enhancements to the capability of this knowledge base. The SEA qualitatively identifies over 25 environmental factors that may influence the performance of a spacecraft during its operational lifetime. For cases where sufficiently detailed answers are provided to questions asked by the knowledge base, atomic oxygen fluence levels, proton and/or electron fluence and dose levels, and solar exposure hours are calculated. The SMS knowledge base incorporates the previously developed SEA knowledge base. A case history for previous flight experiment will be shown as an example, and capabilities and limitations of the system will be discussed.

Pippin, H. G.↗

The Synchronic Web

The Synchronic Web is a distributed network for securing data provenance on the World Wide Web. By enabling clients around the world to freely commit digital information into a single shared view of history, it provides a foundational basis of truth on which to build decentralized and scalable trust across the Internet. Its core cryptographical capability allows mutually distrusting parties to create and verify statements of the following form: “I commit to this information—and only this information—at this moment in time.” The backbone of the Synchronic Web infrastructure is a simple, small, and semantic-free blockchain that is accessible to any Internet-enabled entity. The infrastructure is maintained by a permissioned network of well-known servers, called notaries, and accessed by a permissionless group of clients, called journals. Through an evolving stack of flexible and composable semantic specifications, the parties cooperate to generate synchronic commitments over arbitrary data. When integrated with existing infrastructures, adapted to diverse domains, and scaled across the breadth of cyberspace, the Synchronic Web provides a ubiquitous mechanism to lock the world’s data into unique points in discrete time and digital space. This document provides a technical description of the core Synchronic Web system. The distinguishing innovation in our design—and the enabling mechanism behind the model—is the novel use of verifiable maps to place authenticated content into canonically defined locations off-chain. While concrete specifications and software implementations of the Synchronic Web continue to evolve, the information covered in the body of this document should remain stable. We aim to present this information clearly and concisely for technical non-experts to understand the essential functionality and value proposition of the network. In the interest of promoting discourse, we take some liberty in projecting the potential implications of the new model.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Digital Information Platform (DIP) Overview

On March 24, 2021, NASA’s Digital Information Platform (DIP) released a Request for Information (RFI) to the aviation community. The RFI was intended to request two things: 1) DIP concept input such as current challenges and needs for data and services and 2) Interest in participating in collaborative demonstrations. On July 29, 2021, DIP team will meet with Airlines for America (A4A) to share a summary of information received from the RFI responses. The objective of the meeting is to follow up with respondents with takeaways the DIP team identified that will inform the concept and demonstration plans. The forum will give participants an opportunity to add on and provide feedback to the summary. The meeting will also describe the roadmap for the Collaborative Demonstrations and next steps for partner engagement.

Digital Information Platform (DIP) RFI summary↗

Strategies for Information Retrieval and Virtual Teaming to Mitigate Risk on NASA's Missions

Following the loss of NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, it was determined that problems in the agency's organization created an environment that led to the accident. One component of the proposed solution resulted in the formation of the NASA Engineering Network (NEN), a suite of information retrieval and knowledge sharing tools. This paper describes the implementation of this set of search, portal, content management, and semantic technologies, including a unique meta search capability for data from distributed engineering resources. NEN's communities of practice are formed along engineering disciplines where users leverage their knowledge and best practices to collaborate and take informal learning back to their personal jobs and embed it into the procedures of the agency. These results offer insight into using traditional engineering disciplines for virtual teaming and problem solving.

communities of practices↗