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At least 451 records · Page 25

Workshop on Integrated Sensor Systems for Manufacturing Applications (Workshop Report)

On January 25th and 26th, the Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) held the first in a series of workshops on different topics related to semiconductor research and development (R&D). This workshop focused on integrated sensor system R&D for manufacturing applications. As AMO is housed within the office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), the workshop addressed not only industry needs and R&D opportunities, but also the impacts that improvements in sensor systems can have on energy efficiency and greenhouse gas production. The output of this workshop will inform AMO’s future portfolio of R&D investments, provide perspectives on trends, drivers, and challenges for next generation semiconductor sensor systems, and help the stakeholder community understand the opportunities on the horizon.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

PMR Extended Shelf Life Technology Given 2000 R and D 100 Award

An approach developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center for extending the shelf life of PMR polyimide solutions and prepregs received an R&D 100 Award this year. PMR polyimides, in particular PMR-15, have become attractive materials for a variety of aerospace applications because of their outstanding high-temperature stability and performance. PMR-15 can be used in components with exposures to temperatures as high as 290 C, which leads to substantial reductions in weight, as much as 30 percent over metal components. PMR-15 composites are used widely in aerospace applications ranging from ducts and external components in aircraft engines to an engine access door for the Space Shuttle Main Engine. A major barrier to more widespread use of these materials is high component costs. Recent efforts at Glenn have addressed the various factors that contribute to these costs in an attempt to more fully utilize these lightweight, high-temperature materials.

Meador, Michael A.↗

Issues in assessing the contribution of research and development to productivity growth

The article outlines the production function approach to the estimation of the returns to R&D and then proceeds to discuss in turn two very difficult problems: the measurement of output in R&D intensive industries and the definition and measurement of the stock of R&D 'capital'. Multicollinearity and simultaneity are taken up in the next section and another section is devoted to estimation and inference problems arising more specifically in the R&D context. Several recent studies of returns to R&D are then surveyed, and the paper concludes with suggestions for ways of expanding the current data base in this field.

Griliches, Z.↗

Output orientation in R and D: A better approach?

Research and development management is examined as it might be performed under an output-oriented approach in which the company's needs for innovations in various product and production areas were identified. It is shown that a company's R and D program is the aggregate of its needs in various areas of its business. The planning, programming and budgeting approach is applied to R and D. The state of theory on R and D decision making in economics is summarized. Abstracts of articles concerning R and D in industry are included.

Black, G.↗

Evolution user requirements for the restructured space station

Space Station Freedom (SSF) is designed to be an Earth orbiting multidisciplinary R&D facility capable of evolving to accommodate a variety of potential uses. In order to identify SSF evolution requirement and define potential growth configurations, NASA-Langley is analyzing user resource requirements for the post-PMC time frame. The analysis goal is to define resource levels, including crew, power, and volume, which allow full utilization of SSF capabilities commensurate with minimum essential user requirements. Multiple scenarios were studied including core R&D and combined SEI plus R&D utilization. An analysis is presented of a core R&D utilization scenario. Included are discussions of resource allocation assumptions for specific R&D disciplines, user requirements trends, and growth resource projections. These preliminary results show total resource requirements of 13 crew, 150 kW power, and additional lab volume equivalent to a second U.S. lab module. Additionally, orthogonal growth structure was identified as required to support SSF systems and users.

Leath, K.↗

Evaluation of Engineered Barrier Systems (FY19 Report)

This report describes research and development (R&D) activities conducted during fiscal year 2019 (FY19) specifically related to the Engineered Barrier System (EBS) R&D Work Package in the Spent Fuel and Waste Science and Technology (SFWST) Campaign supported by the United States (U.S.) Department of Eneregy (DOE). The R&D activities focus on understanding EBS component evolution and interactions within the EBS, as well as interactions between the host media and the EBS. A primary goal is to advance the development of process models that can be implemented directly within the Genreric Disposal System Analysis (GDSA) platform or that can contribute to the safety case in some manner such as building confidence, providing further insight into the processes being modeled, establishing better constraints on barrier performance, etc.The FY19 EBS activities involved not only modeling and analysis work, but experimental work as well. The report documents the FY19 progress made in seven different research areas as follows: (1) thermal analysis for the disposal of dual purpose canisters (DPCs) in sedimentary host rock using the semianalytical method, (2) tetravalent uranium solubility and speciation, (3) modeling of high temperature, thermal-hydrologic-mechanical-chemical (THMC) coupled processes, (4) integration of coupled thermalhydrologic- chemical (THC) model with GDSA using a Reduced-Order Model, (5) studying chemical controls on montmorillonite structure and swelling pressure, (6) transmission x-ray microscope for in-situ nanotomography of bentonite and shale, and (7) in-situ electrochemical testing of uranium dioxide under anoxic conditions. The R&D team consisted of subject matter experts from Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM), the University of California Berkeley, and Mississippi State University. In addition, the EBS R&D work leverages international collaborations to ensure that the DOE program is active and abreast of the latest advances in nuclear waste disposal. For example, the FY19 work on modeling coupled THMC processes at high temperatures relied on the bentonite properties from the Full-scale Engineered Barrier EXperiment (FEBEX) Field Test conducted at the Grimsel Test Site in Switzerland. Overall, significant progress has been made in FY19 towards developing the modeling tools and experimental capabilities needed to investigate the performance of EBS materials and the associated interactions in the drift and the surrounding near-field environment under a variety of conditions including high temperature regimes.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Lowest-order QED radiative corrections in unpolarized elastic electron–deuteron scattering beyond the ultra-relativistic limit for the proposed deuteron charge radius measurement at Jefferson laboratory

Analogous to the well-known proton charge radius puzzle, a similar puzzle exists for the deuteron charge radius, r d . There are discrepancies observed in the results of r d , measured from electron-deuteron (e - d) scattering experiments, as well as from atomic spectroscopy. In order to help resolve the charge radius puzzle of the deuteron, the PRad collaboration at Jefferson Lab has proposed an experiment for measuring r d , named DRad. This experiment is designed to measure the unpolarized elastic e - d scattering cross section in a low-Q 2 region. To extract the cross section with a high precision, having reliable knowledge of QED radiative corrections is important. Here, in this paper, we present complete numerical calculations of the lowest-order radiative corrections in e - d scattering for the DRad kinematics. The calculations have been performed within a covariant formalism and beyond the ultra-relativistic approximation ($m^2_e$ $\ll$ Q 2 ). Besides, we present a systematic uncertainty on r d arising from higher-order radiative corrections, estimated based on our cross-section results.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Evaluation of Engineered Barrier Systems (FY2022 Report)

This report describes research and development (R&D) activities conducted during Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) specifically related to the Engineered Barrier System (EBS) R&D Work Package in the Spent Fuel Waste Science and Technology (SFWST) Campaign supported by the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE). The R&D activities focus on understanding EBS component evolution and interactions within the EBS, as well as interactions between the host media and the EBS. The R&D team represented in this report consists of individuals from Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and Vanderbilt University. EBS R&D work also leverages international collaborations to ensure that the DOE program is active and abreast of the latest advances in nuclear waste disposal.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

FY24 Status of Engineered Barrier Systems Research

This report describes research and development (R&D) activities conducted during Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) specifically related to the Engineered Barrier System (EBS) R&D Work Package in the Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste Disposition Campaign supported by the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE). The R&D activities focus on understanding EBS component evolution and interactions within the EBS, as well as interactions between the host media and the EBS. The R&D team represented in this report consists of individuals from Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and Vanderbilt University. EBS R&D work also leverages international collaborations to ensure that the DOE program is active and abreast of the latest advances in nuclear waste disposal.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Space Station Freedom integrated research and development growth

Space Station Freedom is designed to be an Earth-orbiting multidiscipline research and development (R&D) facility capable of evolution to accommodate a variety of potential uses. One evolution scenario is growth to an enhanced R&D facility. In support of the Space Station Freedom Program Preliminary Design Review, the NASA Langley Research Center Space Station Office is analyzing growth requirements and evaluating configurations for this R&D utilization. This paper presents a summary of this analysis including time-phased growth plans, R&D growth issues and configurations, and recommendations for the program baseline design which will facilitate evolutionary R&D growth.

Saucillo, Rudy J.↗

Analysis of the effectiveness of industrial R and D

The criteria used by private industry in evaluating and selecting proposed research and development projects for implementation, and also in determining which R and D facilities are to be acquired were investigated. Conceptual and practical issues inherent in any quantitative analysis of the contribution of R and D to economic growth were identified in order to assist NASA in developing approaches for analzying the economic implication of its own R and D efforts.

Fisher, W. H.↗

Evidence of Three-Dimensional Asymmetries Seeded by High-Density Carbon-Ablator Nonuniformity in Experiments at the National Ignition Facility

Inertial confinement fusion implosions must achieve high in-flight shell velocity, sufficient energy coupling between the hot spot and imploding shell, and high areal density ( ρ R = ∫ ρ d r ) at stagnation. Asymmetries in ρ R degrade the coupling of shell kinetic energy to the hot spot and reduce the confinement of that energy. In this study, we present the first evidence that nonuniformity in the ablator shell thickness ( ~ 0.5 % of the total thickness) in high-density carbon experiments is a significant cause for observed 3D ρ R asymmetries at the National Ignition Facility. These shell-thickness nonuniformities have significantly impacted some recent experiments leading to ρ R asymmetries on the order of ~ 25 % of the average ρ R and hot spot velocities of ~ 100 km / s . This work reveals the origin of a significant implosion performance degradation in ignition experiments and places stringent new requirements on capsule thickness metrology and symmetry.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Creating Portfolio Management Concepts for Highly Agile and Innovative Government Research Programs Using Design Thinking and Lean Startup Methodologies

Managing a research and development (R&D) portfolio presents numerous challenges, such as prioritizing research areas, remaining agile, strategic workforce planning, and measuring return on investment, impact, and innovation. One government R&D program is charged with producing a high degree of innovative, transformational breakthroughs in aviation technology. A practical, structured methodology for strategically prioritizing emerging aviation R&D in such an environment is lacking. The existing multi-criteria decision aid tools are primarily utilized at an enterprise level, take months to set up and collect data, require large teams of experts, are used on an infrequent basis, and are not conducive to a highly innovative, high-risk portfolio. Prior to audaciously creating a new portfolio prioritization process, the exact challenges with portfolio management for R&D projects were identified using the design thinking and lean start-up methods. A key part of this discovery process was interviewing stakeholders, as well as other managers of organizations charged with producing innovative portfolios. These interviews, as well as additional techniques, were used to develop a deeper understanding of the challenges and, subsequently, lay the foundation for development of an effective portfolio prioritization process. Four potential concepts that represent key findings emerged: carefully selected criteria for portfolio assessment and selection, targeted portfolio turnover rate, dynamic portfolio prioritization framework, and streamlined transition or commercialization of R&D. Acting on any one of the resulting portfolio management concepts will increase the transparency and confidence in portfolio decisions and, ideally, result in a greater degree of transformational breakthroughs in aviation technology.

project portfolio management↗

NASA gateway requirements analysis

NASA devotes approximately 40 percent of its budget to R&D. Twelve NASA Research Centers and their contractors conduct this R&D, which ranges across many disciplines and is fueled by information about previous endeavors. Locating the right information is crucial. While NASA researchers use peer contacts as their primary source of scientific and technical information (STI), on-line bibliographic data bases - both Government-owned and commercial - are also frequently consulted. Once identified, the STI must be delivered in a usable format. This report assesses the appropriateness of developing an intelligent gateway interface for the NASA R&D community as a means of obtaining improved access to relevant STI resources outside of NASA's Remote Console (RECON) on-line bibliographic database. A study was conducted to determine (1) the information requirements of the R&D community, (2) the information sources to meet those requirements, and (3) ways of facilitating access to those information sources. Findings indicate that NASA researchers need more comprehensive STI coverage of disciplines not now represented in the RECON database. This augmented subject coverage should preferably be provided by both domestic and foreign STI sources. It was also found that NASA researchers frequently request rapid delivery of STI, in its original format. Finally, it was found that researchers need a better system for alerting them to recent developments in their areas of interest. A gateway that provides access to domestic and international information sources can also solve several shortcomings in the present STI delivery system. NASA should further test the practicality of a gateway as a mechanism for improved STI access.

Duncan, Denise R.↗

Role of Computational Fluid Dynamics and Wind Tunnels in Aeronautics R and D

The purpose of this report is to investigate the status and future projections for the question of supplantation of wind tunnels by computation in design and to intuit the potential impact of computation approaches on wind-tunnel utilization all with an eye toward reducing the infrastructure cost at aeronautics R&D centers. Wind tunnels have been closing for myriad reasons, and such closings have reduced infrastructure costs. Further cost reductions are desired, and the work herein attempts to project which wind-tunnel capabilities can be replaced in the future and, if possible, the timing of such. If the possibility exists to project when a facility could be closed, then maintenance and other associated costs could be rescheduled accordingly (i.e., before the fact) to obtain an even greater infrastructure cost reduction.

Malik, Murjeeb R.↗

Improving Customer Satisfaction in an R and D Environment

Satisfying customer needs is critical to the sustained competitive advantage of service suppliers. It is therefore important to understand the types of customer needs which, if fulfilled or exceeded, add value and contribute to overall customer satisfaction. This study identifies the needs of various research and development (R&D) customers who contract for engineering and design support services. The Quality Function Deployment (QFD) process was used to organize and translate each customer need into performance measures that, if implemented, can improve customer satisfaction. This study also provides specific performance measures that will more accurately guide the efforts of the engineering supplier. These organizations can either implement the QFD methodology presented herein or extract a few performance measures that are specific to the quality dimensions in need of improvement. Listening to 'what' customers talk about is a good first start.

Alexander, Anita↗

The economic impact of NASA R and D spending Appendices

Seven appendices related to a previous report on the economic impact of NASA R and D spending were presented. They dealt with: (1) theoretical and empirical development of aggregate production functions, (2) the calculation of the time series for the rate of technological progress, (3) the calculation of the industry mix variable, (4) the estimation of distributed lags, (5) the estimation of the equations for gamma, (6) a ten-year forecast of the U.S. economy, (7) simulations of the macroeconomic model for increases in NASA R and D spending of $1.0, $.0.5, and 0.1 billions.

Evans, M. K.↗