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At least 487 records · Page 27

Integrating Indigenous Traditional, Local and Scientific Knowledge for Improved Management, Policy and Decision-Making in Reindeer Husbandry in the Russian Arctic

As scientists and policy-makers from both indigenous and non-indigenous communities begin to build closer partnerships to address common sustainability issues such as the health impacts of climate change and anthropogenic activities, it becomes increasingly important to create shared information management systems which integrate all relevant factors for optimal information sharing and decision-making. This paper describes a new GIs-based system being designed to bring local and indigenous traditional knowledge together with scientific data and information, remote sensing, and information technologies to address health-related environment, weather, climate, pollution and land use change issues for improved decision/policy-making for reindeer husbandry. The system is building an easily-accessible archive of relevant current and historical, traditional, local and remotely-sensed and other data and observations for shared analysis, measuring, and monitoring parameters of interest. Protection of indigenous culturally sensitive information will be respected through appropriate data protocols. A mechanism which enables easy information sharing among all participants, which is real time and geo-referenced and which allows interconnectivity with remote sites is also being designed into the system for maximum communication among partners. A preliminary version of our system will be described for a Russian reindeer test site, which will include a combination of indigenous knowledge about local conditions and issues, remote sensing and ground-based data on such parameters as the vegetation state and distribution, snow cover, temperature, ice condition, and infrastructure.

Maynard, Nancy G.↗

Turbulent Jet Flames Into a Vitiated Coflow

Examined is the vitiated coflow flame, an experimental condition that decouples the combustion processes of flows found in practical combustors from the associated recirculating fluid mechanics. The configuration consists of a 4.57 mm diameter fuel jet into a coaxial flow of hot combustion products from a lean premixed flame. The 210 mm diameter coflow isolates the jet flame from the cool ambient, providing a hot environment similar to the operating conditions of advanced combustors; this important high temperature element is lacking in the traditional laboratory experiments of jet flames into cool (room) air. A family of flows of increasing complexity is presented: 1) nonreacting flow, 2) all hydrogen flame (fuel jet and premixed coflow), and 3) set of methane flames. This sequence of experiments provides a convenient ordering of validation data for combustion models. Laser Raman-Rayleigh-LIF diagnostics at the Turbulent Diffusion Flame laboratory of Sandia National Laboratories produced instantaneous multiscalar point measurements. These results attest to the attractive features of the vitiated coflow burner and the well-defined boundary conditions provided by the coflow. The coflow is uniform and steady, isolating the jet flame from the laboratory air for a downstream distance ranging from z/d = 50-70. The statistical results show that differential diffusion effects in this highly turbulent flow are negligible. Complementing the comprehensive set of multiscalar measurements is a parametric study of lifted methane flames that was conducted to analyze flame sensitivity to jet and coflow velocity, as well as coflow temperature. The linear relationship found between the lift-off height and the jet velocity is consistent with previous experiments. New linear sensitivities were found correlating the lift-off height to coflow velocity and temperature. A blow-off study revealed that the methane flame blows off at a common coflow temperature (1260 K), regardless of coflow or jet velocity. An explanation for this phenomenon is that entrainment of ambient air at the high lift-off heights prevents autoignition. Analysis of the results suggests that flame stabilization occurs through a combination of flame propagation, autoignition, and localized extinction processes. Proposed is an expanded view of distributed reaction combustion based on analysis of the distributions of probe volume conditions at the stabilization region of the lifted hydrogen and methane flames. Turbulent eddies the size of the flame thickness mix fuel and hot coflow across the flame front, thereby enhancing the reaction zone with autoignition of reactants at elevated temperatures; this is the reverse effect of turbulent flames in ambient air, where intense turbulence in cool mixtures result in localized extinction. Each of the three processes (i.e., flame propagation, autoignition and localized extinction) contributes to flame stabilization in varying degrees, depending on flow conditions.

Holdeman, James D.↗

Enhancing Distribution System Resiliency Using Grid-Forming Fuel Cell Inverter: Preprint

Legacy inverters interfacing distributed energy re-sources are traditionally grid-following (GFL) in nature. GFL assets typically follow real power and reactive power set points. Recently, inverters with grid-forming (GFM) capability are gaining attention as GFM assets can increase the resiliency of the distribution system under stressed conditions. These GFM inverters can use photovoltaics, batteries, or fuel cells as their energy source. In this paper, we present information on inverters interfacing fuel cell assets, specifically with GFM capability. By introducing a fuel cell powered GFM coupled with hydrogen production and storage, the GFM can continuously provide GFM activities during periods of low renewable resource availability, and/or during power outages exceeding typical electric battery duration. Finally, we present information on the need for updates on interconnection and interoperability standards that can be leveraged by utilities for including fuel cell inverters in their asset mix.

fuel cell inverters↗

VERA neutronics high-fidelity benchmark for a modern PWR core design

Nearly 20 years since the origin of the infamous 'Kord Smith Challenge', and after 10 years and hundreds of millions of dollars invested by the US Department of Energy into the development of the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications (VERA), the capability to accurately simulate a modern pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel cycle at the fuel rod level with high-fidelity Monte Carlo (MC) stochastic transport methods still evades us. The deterministic methods in VERA make approximations that allow it to be successfully benchmarked against measured data from hundreds of PWR fuel cycles, but none of these benchmarks provided information at the local fuel rod level or allowed quantification of these approximations' impact for modern PWR reload designs. Using MPACT to establish the estimated isotopic distributions and thermal hydraulic conditions in a recent and challenging reactor design, a 2D quarter-core benchmark problem was established and solved consistently with both MPACT, the 51-energy group deterministic transport solver in VERA, and Shift, the continuous-energy MC transport solver in VERA. Impacts of energy groups, ray spacing, and scattering treatment were evaluated. Though MPACT has been previously shown to perform well compared to MC methods for initial Cycle 1 cores with only fresh fuel, this is the first benchmark of MPACT for a challenging modern reload core with depleted fuel and burnable absorbers. This work establishes additional credibility for the methods in MPACT and highlights the efficiency of these methods relative to those in use by MC-based tools. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Polarimetric Retrievals of Surface and Cirrus Clouds Properties in the Region Affected by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

In 2010, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) performed several aerial surveys over the region affected by the oil spill caused by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon offshore platform. The instrument was deployed on the NASA Langley B200 aircraft together with the High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL), which provides information on the distribution of the aerosol layers beneath the aircraft, including an accurate estimate of aerosol optical depth. This work illustrates the merits of polarization measurements in detecting variations of ocean surface properties linked to the presence of an oil slick. In particular, we make use of the degree of linear polarization in the glint region, which is severely affected by variations in the refractive index but insensitive to the waviness of the water surface. Alterations in the surface optical properties are therefore expected to directly affect the polarization response of the RSP channel at 2264 nm, where both molecular and aerosol scattering are negligible and virtually all of the observed signal is generated via Fresnel reflection at the surface. The glint profile at this wavelength is fitted with a model which can optimally estimate refractive index, wind speed and direction, together with aircraft attitude variations affecting the viewing geometry. The retrieved refractive index markedly increases over oil-contaminated waters, while the apparent wind speed is significantly lower than in adjacent uncontaminated areas, suggesting that the slick dampens high-frequency components of the ocean wave spectrum. The constraint on surface reflectance provided by the short-wave infrared channels is a cornerstone of established procedures to retrieve atmospheric aerosol microphysical parameters based on the inversion of the RSP multispectral measurements. This retrieval, which benefits from the ancillary information provided by the HSRL, was in this specific case hampered by prohibitive variability in atmospheric conditions (very inhomogeneous aerosol distribution and cloud cover). Although the results presented for the surface are essentially unaffected, we discuss the results obtained by typing algorithms in sorting the complex mix of aerosol types, and show evidence of oriented ice in cirrus clouds present in the area. In this context, polarization measurements at 1880 nm were used to infer ice habit and cirrus optical depth, which was found in the subvisual/threshold-visible regime, confirming the utility of the aforementioned RSP channel for the remote sensing of even thin cold clouds.

Polarization↗

Emergency Voltage Regulation in Power Systems via Ripple-Type Control

With increasing penetrations of volatile renewable generation and cyber-physical disruptions, ensuring the safe operation of bulk power systems has become unprecedentedly challenging. Because communication and computational costs restrict centralized system dispatch to being called upon every few minutes, and because purely local schemes are shown to be insufficient, distributed controls have been advocated for handling unanticipated system conditions in real time. The applicability of distributed control schemes, however, is fundamentally limited by their need for widespread communication and model cognizance. In this context, we put forth a hybrid, low-communication, saturation-driven protocol for the coordination of control agents that are distributed over a physical system and are allowed to communicate with peers over a "hotline" communication network. Under this protocol, when agents observe a constraint violation based on local measurements, they respond locally until their control resources saturate, in which case they send a beacon for assistance to peer agents. The scheme ensures that minor violations are efficiently mitigated via fast local controls, whereas severe violations can be handled by collaboration among a relatively small set of agents. We evaluate the performance of this scheme via numerical tests on the IEEE 14-bus test feeder, where agents act upon noisy measurements under diverse scenarios of load variations and severe low-/high-voltage events.

collaboration↗

Evidence for Spiral Magnetic Structures at the Magnetopause: A Case for Multiple Reconnections

We analyze plasma structures within the low latitude boundary layer (LLBL) observed by the lnterball Tail spacecraft under southward interplanetary magnetic field. Ion velocity distributions observed in the LLBL under these conditions fall into three categories: (a) D-shaped distributions, (b) ion velocity distributions consisting of two counterstreaming magnetosheath-type, and (c) distributions with three components where one of them has nearly zero velocity parallel to magnetic field (VlI), while the other two are counter-streaming components. D-shaped ion velocity distributions (a) correspond to magnetosheath plasma injections into reconnected flux tubes, as influenced by spacecraft location relative to the reconnection site. Simultaneous counter-streaming injections (b) suggest multiple reconnections. Three-component ion velocity distributions (c) and theii evolution with decreasing number density in the LLBL are consistent v behavior expected on long spiral flux tube islands at the magnetopaus as has been proposed and found to occur in magnetopause simulatior We interpret these distributions as a natural consequence of the formation of spiral magnetic flux tubes consisting of a mixture of alternating segments originating from the magnetosheath and magnetospheric plasmas. We suggest that multiple reconnections pla! an important role in the formation of the LLBL.

Vaisberg, O. L.↗

Oxygen Deficiency in Spaceflight & its Impact on Plants’ Adaptive Changes

The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of hypoxic conditions in spaceflight. The distribution of genes involved with hypoxia in Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassica rapa were analyzed with the results from past spaceflight experiments to evaluate genes for future studies. Transcriptomes data of two different spaceflight studies of Arabidopsis thaliana from the NASA GeneLab database, GLDS-7 and GLDS-17, were compared. DNA microarrays were utilized for transcription profiling to conduct these studies. For GLDS-7, the response in spaceflight was studied with approaches that collected gene expression data. Leaves, hypocotyls, and root tissues were compared to the whole plant. For GLDS-17, seedlings and undifferentiated cultured cells were placed in the Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC), specifically BRIC-16. The genes related to hypoxia in Arabidopsis thaliana from these two studies were compared to genes in Brassica rapa with the TOAST database to evaluate similarities. When transcriptomes were analyzed for GLDS-7 and 17, genes that were considered significant had p-values ≤ 0.05 and log fold change values ≤ -1 or ≥1. Sixteen genes fulfilled the criteria. The genes related to hypoxia were alcohol dehydrogenase, elongation factor, ethylene-responsive factor, GUS, heat-shock proteins, NAP, RAP2.12, and RD20. The genes most impacted by spaceflight were heat-shock proteins. These genes were compared with Brassica rapa through Arabidopsis Ensemble Orthology from the TOAST Database. Similarities were seen in alcohol dehydrogenase, elongation factor, ethylene-responsive factor, heat-shock proteins, NAP, and RAP2.12. Overall, transcription profiling indicates that plants’ survival in spaceflight is dependent on adaptive changes with gene expression. This study also indicates that there are similarities in gene expression between Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassica rapa with comparable gene expression. Future studies could include analyzing additional species to understand which genes could be modified to ensure better yield of space crops amid hypoxic conditions.

hypoxia↗

Planning for Seattle at the Convergence of Resilience and Energy

Grid reliability metrics obscure important temporal, spatial, and categorical considerations for increasing energy resilience. Systemwide or feeder-level outage metrics do not identify which kinds of services are affected by outages, where, and for how long. These outage metrics indicate the impacts of outages but cannot measure the consequences to customers that could result from those outages. The consequences of power outages for surrounding community members are caused by disruptions to electricity-dependent critical services, rather than to electricity itself. Power outages can decrease a community's access to healthcare, fuel, safe indoor temperatures, and provisions like food and water. This project developed critical service access, a new consequence-focused resilience metric that quantifies the relative access to critical services provided to households by distribution infrastructure during normal conditions and major disruptions. We use a spatially granular grid analysis that facilitates targeted resilience interventions; dividing feeders into isolatable sections and combining those sections with the critical service access metric allows us to identify where energy improvements like solar-plus-storage microgrids could create the most benefits for community members by protecting access to food, fuel, health, shelter, and public safety services. We identify locations in a South Seattle study area that could be high priorities for resilience investment and summarize their potential neighborhood-scale resilience benefits. This analysis was complemented by direct feedback from study area residents collect through a survey and focus groups. Results can help utilities understand how and where long power outages can create real consequences for customers, set strategic targets based on that understanding, and measure the potential benefits of energy resilience upgrades for more informed decisions.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Tone excited jets. III - Flow measurements

This paper describes the effects of upstream excitation on the flow characteristics of tone-excited jet under static as well as simulated forward velocity conditions. The data presented include axial and radial distributions of mean velocities and turbulence intensities as functions of excitation conditions. Results for both unheated and heated jets are presented. The measured distributions of pressures associated with the large-scale turbulence are also presented for some test conditions.

Lepicovsky, J.↗

Multi-Segment Decentralized Control Strategies for Renewables-Rich Microgrids in Extreme Conditions

Microgrids provide a promising approach to accommodating various distributed energy resources (DERs), while requiring significant communication infrastructures that may be affected by extreme conditions such as natural disasters and cyber-attacks. In this paper, a fully decentralized control strategy without the need for communication is proposed for islanded microgrids with high renewables penetration. First, special multi-segment power/frequency characteristic curves are designed, so that different DERs can be automatically coordinated in a prioritized manner such as renewables first to maintain power balance while DER frequencies are regulated at their reference values. Second, piecewise linear served load versus frequency models are designed to prioritize loads according to their significance, so that only noncritical loads will be curtailed as needed while critical loads are supplied without any interruptions during power deficiency. The proposed strategy can effectively deal with various normal and extreme system conditions including 100% renewables penetration, loads and renewables variations, power deficiencies requiring load curtailments, disconnection of existing DERs, connection of new DERs as well as network sectionalization and reconfiguration. As a result, the proposed control strategy is validated in the real-time digital simulator (RTDS) model of the IIT Campus Microgrid to demonstrate its effectiveness in enhancing the resiliency of renewables-rich microgrids in extreme conditions.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Electrochemical Reduction Selectivity of Crotonaldehyde on Copper

Lignocellulosic waste is a potential feedstock for the generation of fuels and commodity chemicals, but existing conversion methods are too cost-intensive to be viable long-term solutions. Electrochemical reductions are promising for decentralized biomass valorization due to their modular scaling and capacity to run intermittently and without high temperatures or pressures. Using crotonaldehyde as a multi-functional model compound for the many partially unsaturated oxygenates found in processed biomass, we here demonstrate the production of butanal, butanol, butene, and butane (variously useful as commodity chemicals and major components of liquified petroleum gas) under ambient conditions by reductive bulk electrolysis with a copper mesh working electrode. We identify an optimum potential for reduced organic production under the reaction conditions and compare product distributions from reductions of intermediate species to further propose branching reaction pathways. Though butanal is typically the most abundant product from crotonaldehyde reduction, most of the butene and butane appear to result from a pathway involving initial reduction of the aldehyde group. We discuss evidence that selectivity is driven by interplay between crotonaldehyde reduction, local pH shifts due to the hydrogen evolution reaction, and changes in site reactivity and availability due to electrode fouling. This demonstration of model electrochemical biomass valorization also serves to inform further exploration into reduction of multi-functional molecules and electrochemical biomass processing in general.

biomass↗

Kernel-based global sensitivity analysis obtained from a single data set

Results from global sensitivity analysis (GSA) often guide the understanding of complicated input–output systems. Kernel-based GSA methods have recently been proposed for their capability of treating a broad scope of complex systems. In this paper, we develop a new set of kernel GSA tools when only a single set of input–output data is available. Three key advances are made: (1) A new numerical estimator is proposed that demonstrates an empirical improvement over previous procedures. (2) A computational method for generating inner statistical functions from a single data set is presented. (3) A theoretical extension is made to define conditional sensitivity indices, which reveal the degree that the inputs carry shared information about the output when inherent input–input correlations are present. Utilizing these conditional sensitivity indices, a decomposition is derived for the output uncertainty based on what is called the optimal learning sequence of the input variables, which remains consistent when correlations exist between the input variables. Further, while these advances cover a range of GSA subjects, a common single data set numerical solution is provided by a technique known as the conditional mean embedding of distributions. The new methodology is implemented on benchmark systems to demonstrate the provided insights.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Toward Efficient Entropic Recycling by Mastering Ring–Chain Kinetics

Traditional chemical recycling approaches for condensation polymers suffer compounding energy losses and CO 2 emissions across multiple polymerization and depolymerization cycles. Entropic recycling can address these energy losses by entrapping free energy within the deconstruction products. Entropic recycling involves depolymerization to macrocyclic monomers, but such processes have not been feasible due to the high dilutions typically required to generate macrocyclic compounds. Here, we leverage selective catalysis to allow entropic recycling at concentrations 20–2000× higher than typical for macrocyclization reactions. We find that Ru-based olefin metathesis catalysts containing bulky iodine ligands significantly bias the ring–chain kinetic product distribution during ring-closing metathesis (RCM) toward the formation of oligomeric cycloalkenes. Further improvements in reaction concentration and macrocycle yield are obtained by using high catalyst loadings and by predisposing the alkene substrates to undergo favorable macrocyclization. These RCM optimizations translate effectively to cyclodepolymerization (CDP) of an olefin-containing polymer, with RCM and CDP affording similar macrocycle product distributions under identical reaction conditions. Macrocycle polymerization by entropy-driven ring-opening metathesis provides much higher molecular weight polymers than condensation polymerization of linear analogues, reducing the time to achieve high molecular weight from hours to minutes and enabling polymerization at room temperature. Finally, our findings re-emphasize the importance of energy consumption during a polymer’s lifecycle and provide a framework for the design of efficient entropic recycling systems.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Surface and Atmospheric Heating Responses to Spectrally Resolved Albedo of Frozen and Liquid Water Surfaces

Abstract Multiple Earth system models (ESMs) discretize surface albedo into two semi‐broadbands comprising the UV/visible and near‐infrared (NIR) wavelengths. Here, we use an offline single‐column radiative transfer model to investigate the radiative effects of spectrally resolving the surface albedo. We use the Snow, Ice, and Aerosol Radiative model, extended to simulate liquid water, to calculate snow, ice, and liquid water albedo. We flux‐weight the hyperspectral albedo into the coarser spectral bands used by the atmospheric shortwave radiative transfer model. We establish representative atmospheric profiles for the three surface types and compare their shortwave fluxes and atmospheric warming rates with the spectrally resolved albedo to those calculated with the semi‐broadband approximation. Spectrally resolved surface albedo over snow and ice reduces atmospheric warming by darkening the albedo of NIR bands, correcting the too‐strong surface absorption in visible bands, and too‐weak surface absorption in shortwave infrared bands caused by the semi‐broadband approximation. We explore the effects on surface and atmospheric warming rates of varying solar zenith angle, cloud cover, relative humidity, and snow grain/air bubble radii. The semi‐broadband albedo biases can exceed 10% and 2% for the surface and atmospheric net flux respectively, being particularly strong under conditions which alter the distributions of surface insolation (i.e., cloud cover or increased atmospheric water vapor). These results show that transmitting a higher resolution spectral radiation field between the atmosphere and surface reduces biases in surface absorption and atmospheric heating present in ESMs that currently use the semi‐broadband approximation.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Incorporating an Interactive Fire Plume-Rise Model in the DOE's Energy Exascale Earth System Model Version 1 (E3SMv1) and Examining Aerosol Radiative Effect

The vertical distribution of biomass burning aerosol (BBA) is important in regulating their impacts on weather and climate. The plume-rise process affects the injection height of BBA and interacts with the air parcel lifting and cloud processes. However, these processes are not represented in most global climate models. In this study, we replaced the fixed vertical profiles of monthly BBA emissions in the Department of Energy's Energy Exascale Earth System Model version 1 (E3SMv1) with an interactive fire plume-rise model. The vertical distribution of BBA emissions was calculated as a function of ambient thermodynamic conditions from the host E3SMv1, with distributions of fire sizes and sensible heat fluxes derived from the observations. The maximum fire radiative power (FRP) technique was used to determine the fire size. Scaling-FRP technique is used to calculate the wildfire heat release. Daily BBA emission, superimposed with a fire diurnal cycle retrieved from the satellite observation, was included in model simulations. The model shows improved agreement with satellite retrievals and in situ measurement during the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Wildfire Experiment for Cloud chemistry, Aerosol absorption, and Nitrogen campaign. The model-observation comparison demonstrates the importance of the plume-rise model and fire diurnal cycle assumption in determining the BBA fields. We also find that E3SMv1 with new features produces a larger carbonaceous aerosol burden, leading to 0.13 W m –2 warming at the top of atmosphere compared to the default E3SMv1. This highlights the importance of accurately representing the BBA injection height and indicates a no-linear nature in the BBA-induced radiative effect.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Rotational state-to-state transition rate coefficients for H 2 O + H 2 O collisions at nonequilibrium conditions

Aims.The goal is to develop a database of rate coefficients for rotational state-to-state transitions in H 2 O + H 2 O collisions that is suitable for the modeling of energy transfer in nonequilibrium conditions, in which the distribution of rotational states of H 2 O deviates from local thermodynamic equilibrium. Methods.A two-temperature model was employed that assumed that although there is no equilibrium between all possible degrees of freedom in the system, the translational and rotational degrees of freedom can be expected to achieve their own equilibria independently, and that they can be approximately characterized by Boltzmann distributions at two different temperatures,T kin andT rot . Results.Upon introducing our new parameterization of the collisional rates, taking into account their dependence on bothT kin andT rot , we find a change of up to 20% in the H 2 O rotational level populations for both ortho and para-H 2 O for the part of the cometary coma where the nonequilibrium regime occurs.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

Sputter-deposited low-stress boron carbide films

Significant challenges have been faced in the manufacturing of low-stress B 4 C films. Here, we demonstrate a set of process parameters for direct-current magnetron sputter deposition of smooth, high-purity, amorphous B 4 C films with near-zero total residual stress and with thicknesses up to 10 μm. Films are characterized by a combination of high-energy ion scattering, x-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and stress measurements based on substrate curvature. In order to facilitate the process transfer to other sputtering geometries, the favorable deposition conditions are correlated with distributions of landing energies and incident angles of depositing species estimated by Monte Carlo simulations of ballistic collisions and gas phase atomic transport. Based on such simulations, a decrease in compressive stress with increasing Ar working gas pressure is attributed to the corresponding broadening of the angular distribution of depositing species and associated atomic shadowing effects.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗