Welcome to Los Alamos Where Discoveries are Made [Slides]
Presentation about LANL for Interview Candidates since onsite interviews aren't happening currently due to the COVID -19 Pandemic.
96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗
SEARCH · Engineering Papers
Results for “pandemics”
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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Lessons from the COVID Era and Visions for the Future
In December 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science convened a virtual Roundtable of its 27 operating scientific user facilities to discuss facility challenges and lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as facility responses, best practices, and innovations that could be adopted going forward. Roundtable participants included facility staff, users, and user executive committee chairs. This report summarizes their discussions, which encompassed topics such as user research and facility operations in virtual and physically distanced contexts; user training and engagement; computation, data, and network resources; and crosscutting issues.
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
2020 Virtual CSEWG Meeting Minutes
The 2020 Annual CSEWG Meeting was an unusual meeting in most respects. It was the most highly attended CSEWG since the 1990s (194 registered attendees with a peak attendance of 170), it was 100% virtual, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and it was by all accounts highly successful. In fact, the virtual platform allowed many to participate who otherwise would not have been able to travel for an in-person meeting. We thank the BNL IT team and NNDC staff for making this meeting happen. In these minutes, you will find both a summary of the meeting and lists of action items from this and past CSEWG meetings. Please take a moment and note any actions for which you or others at your institution may be responsible.
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
FLC Award: QED: Quantum Ensured Defense of the Smart Electric Grid
A reliable electric power supply is crucial for modern day life as well as national security, economic productivity, and life-and-death essentials. During the COVID pandemic, internet and cell communications became a “must-have” for government and business operations, education, and communicating COVID testing for vaccine information. Loss of electric power quickly leads to human health and national security emergencies. When a major winter storm hit Texas in mid-February 2021, the system was overwhelmed and over 4M people lost power. Although this crisis arose from an unprecedented weather event - not a cyberattack - it serves as a vivid illustration of the impact power disruption can have on our American way of life. The recent cyberattack on the Colonial Oil Pipeline also provides a stark reminder that infrastructure supporting our daily lives has vulnerabilities.
24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
Reducing COVID-19 Transmission in Homes
Owners and renters all over the world are being encouraged to stay home as much as possible to mitigate the spread of the SARS CoV-2 virus and the COVID-19 disease. It is prudent to take reasonable precautions at home to decrease risks during the pandemic because most COVID-19 transmission happens in the home (see “learn more”). This is particularly true for households with infected or sensitive members. Furthermore, because people infected with COVID-19 can be asymptomatic you may have an infected person in your home for several days before you know it.
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
Evidence of Completion of Milestone 3: Experimental Testbed
Construction and deployment of the experimental testbed encountered scheduling delays, and completion was subsequently further delayed by curtailment of LANL operations due to the COVID–19 pandemic. Between March and October, LANL was in a state of “Limited Operations” such that only certain “mission–critical” work was performed with approximately 25% on–site staffing. In spite of this, much of the lab space preparation was executed and the five initial model house” units were constructed and installed during this period. Still, the pace of construction was impacted by difficulty in coordinating personnel and minimizing contact between workers.
24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
Notes from the GEM Chair
I hope this letter finds you all safe and healthy. Due to the continuing uncertainties with the COVID-19 pandemic, the GEM Steering Committee (SC) decided, similarly to last year, to once again hold a fully virtual workshop. The GEM 2021 summer workshop will occur from July 26 to July 30, with Sunday July 25 as the Student Day. We will follow the original format of GEM, with plenary sessions in the morning, Focus Group (FG) breakout sessions in the afternoon, and poster sessions in the evening. We encourage you to take this opportunity to share your research, technical efforts, and ideas with the GEM community. Although we realize that the big celebration will happen once we are able to meet in person again, this year is the 30th anniversary of the first GEM meeting and we envision a program that celebrates this significant milestone!
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
COVID-19 Testing R&D (Final Report)
Eleven Labs within the US Department of Energy (DOE), National Virtual Biotechnology Laboratory (NVBL), came together as a team to address significant R&D gaps in COVID-19 testing. Beginning in March 2020, the NVBL COVID Testing Team developed an R&D agenda, worked with DOE and other agencies to set priorities, and collaborated to deliver timely results. Priority was given to quick implementation as well as development of novel capabilities for immediate and evolving pandemic needs without placing additional burden on operational performers. Priority elements capitalized on DOE National Laboratory strengths and expertise. The Team delivered: testing and evaluation that enabled decisions on testing options, forwardleaning approaches to prepare for future scale-up needs, and models and experiments that supported prioritization of diagnostic and therapeutic candidates.
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
Gleaming new facility delivers expertise now and into the future
On Tuesday, July 27, leadership from the Prototype Fabrication (PF) division welcomed a band of machinists, managers, project managers, members of Lab leadership, and NNSA to celebrate the official opening of a facility like no other at the Laboratory, and unique across the globe. The Mark Quality Manufacturing Center (MQMC) was developed throughout 2020 in support of weapons production capabilities, and is the Lab’s new home for high-precision non-nuclear components manufacturing. Work has been occurring there for several months, but with pandemic restrictions easing, it was finally time to celebrate.
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
Disease Precognition [Slides]
How can we reduce the health and economic impacts future epidemics and pandemics? Global Real-Time Disease Forecasting is not just for weather anymore! Disease precognition technology is discussed.
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
Remote Home Energy Score Assessments (Feasibility Study)
The delivery of Home Energy Scores (HES) has been significantly impacted over the last year by the recent pandemic and ongoing limitations to person-to-person interactions. There are also historic challenges in providing HES to more remote geographies where assessor infrastructure is not in place. Alternative approaches to in-person, on-site home energy assessments could help address these current restrictions, while also potentially providing opportunities for the efficient delivery of HES in certain use cases after COVID-related restrictions are lifted. From the program administrator’s perspective, there needs to be confidence that the remote scores closely match what they would have been if the assessment had been performed on-site. The recommendations shown on a report generated from a remote score should closely match those of an onsite assessment. A remote assessment should be an option for all HES Partners and have direction on how to deliver those scores. From the HES partner’s and assessor’s perspective, there needs to be understanding of what level of experience is needed, what system infrastructure is required, the time expenditure of the remote assessment process, and the limitations of a remote assessment. From the homeowner’s perspective, there needs to be an awareness and comfort with the time commitment, the level of knowledge of the home, the equipment needed, and any physical requirements of the remote assessment process. During this study, Earth Advantage assessed methods for delivering Home Energy Score assessments remotely through web-based technology platforms and resident interaction in a diverse array of home types in different geographic locations. Earth Advantage developed remote assessment test protocols and integrated those testing protocols into existing Home Energy Score programs being overseen by USDOE Home Energy Score partners New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA), the Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE), and the City of Portland (PDX). Earth Advantage staff acted as the Remote assessor and gathered HES data remotely during the video sessions with participants. Authorized Home Energy Score assessors performed the onsite assessments that were then used to compare with the remote assessment data. This allowed the research to effectively test the efficacy of various remote assessment approaches in a diverse array of home-types. Earth advantage identified the key components of a remote assessment infrastructure which included Remote Home Energy Score Assessments Page vi processes, tools, services, methods and mechanisms that would better enable remote assessments. This report details methods, results, and findings of the HES remote assessment research. In addition, the report provides recommendations and best practices that could be used as guidance for the Home Energy Score administrator and the HES partners seeking to effectively conduct remote assessments.
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
Science and Technology Review June 2021
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists came together, leveraging many different disciplines and technologies to address this global challenge. Livermore focused on three areas of research: creating alternatives for medical equipment in short supply, such as ventilators and nasal swabs; developing methods to help detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for COVID-19; and designing medical countermeasures such as antibodies and antivirals to combat the disease.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Physiological Characterization of Language Comprehension
In this project, our goal was to develop methods that would allow us to make accurate predictions about individual differences in human cognition. Understanding such differences is important for maximizing human and human-system performance. There is a large body of research on individual differences in the academic literature. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to connect this literature to applied problems, where we must predict how specific people will perform or process information. In an effort to bridge this gap, we set out to answer the question: can we train a model to make predictions about which people understand which languages? We chose language processing as our domain of interest because of the well- characterized differences in neural processing that occur when people are presented with linguistic stimuli that they do or do not understand. Although our original plan to conduct several electroencephalography (EEG) studies was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to collect data from one EEG study and a series of behavioral experiments in which data were collected online. The results of this project indicate that machine learning tools can make reasonably accurate predictions about an individual?s proficiency in different languages, using EEG data or behavioral data alone.
42 ENGINEERING↗
Spatio-temporal Estimates of Disease Transmission Parameters for COVID-19 with a Fully-Coupled, County-Level Model of the United States
Sandia National Laboratories has developed a capability to estimate parameters of epidemiological models from case reporting data to support responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. A differentiating feature of this work is the ability to simultaneously estimate county-specific disease transmission parameters in a nation-wide model that considers mobility between counties. The approach is focused on estimating parameters in a stochastic SEIR model that considers mobility between model patches (i.e., counties) as well as additional infectious compartments. The inference engine developed by Sandia includes (1) reconstruction and (2) transmission parameter inference. Reconstruction involves estimating current population counts within each of the compartments in a modified SEIR model from reported case data. Reconstruction produces input for the inference formulations, and it provides initial conditions that can be used in other modeling and planning efforts. Inference involves the solution of a large-scale optimization problem to estimate the time profiles for the transmission parameters in each county. These provide quantification of changes in the transmission parameter over time (e.g., due to impact of intervention strategies). This capability has been implemented in a Python-based software package, epi_inference, that makes extensive use of Pyomo [5] and IPOPT [10] to formulate and solve the inference formulations.
42 ENGINEERING↗
Brine Availability Test in Salt (BATS) FY21 Update
This report summarizes the 2021 fiscal year (FY21) status of ongoing borehole heater tests in salt funded by the disposal research and development (R&D) program of the Office of Spent Fuel & Waste Science and Technology (SFWST) of the US Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy’s (DOE-NE) Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition (SFWD). This report satisfies SFWST milestone M2SF- 21SN010303052 by summarizing test activities and data collected during FY21. The Brine Availability Test in Salt (BATS) is fielded in a pair of similar arrays of horizontal boreholes in an experimental area at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). One array is heated, the other unheated. Each array consists of 14 boreholes, including a central borehole with gas circulation to measure water production, a cement seal exposure test, thermocouples to measure temperature, electrodes to infer resistivity, a packer-isolated borehole to add tracers, fiber optics to measure temperature and strain, and piezoelectric transducers to measure acoustic emissions. The key new data collected during FY21 include a series of gas tracer tests (BATS phase 1b), a pair of liquid tracer tests (BATS phase 1c), and data collected under ambient conditions (including a period with limited access due to the ongoing pandemic) since BATS phase 1a in 2020. A comparison of heated and unheated gas tracer test results clearly shows a decrease in permeability of the salt upon heating (i.e., thermal expansion closes fractures, which reduces permeability).
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
Supercritical CO2 sterilization of N95 Masks
A preliminary investigation of the use of supercritical carbon dioxide for treating of 3M 1860 N95 masks was undertaken to evaluate a potential route to low-cost, scalable, sterilization of personal protective equipment for multiple reuse in hospital settings. Upon entering the supercritical regime, the normally distinct liquid and gaseous phases of CO 2 merge into a single homogeneous phase that has density, short-range order, and solvation capacity of a liquid, but the volume-filling and permeation properties that of a gas. This enables supercritical CO2 to function as a vehicle for delivery of biocidal agents such peracetic acid into microporous structures. The potentially adverse effect of a liquid-to-gas phase transition on mask filter media is avoided by conducting cleaning operations above 31 C, the critical temperature for carbon dioxide. A sample of fifteen 3M 1860 N95 masks was subjected to ten consecutive cycles of supercritical CO 2 cleaning to determine its effect on mask performance. These 15 masks, along with 5 control samples then underwent a battery of standardized tests at the CDC NIOSH NPPTL research facility in Pittsburgh, PA. The data from these tests strongly suggest (but do not prove) that supercritical carbon dioxide do not damage 3M 1860 N95 masks. Additional tests conducted during this project confirmed the compatibility of supercritical CO 2 with ventilator tubing that, like N95 masks, has been in short supply during portions of the COVID-19 pandemic and cannot be sterilized by conventional means. Finally, a control experiment was also conducted to examine the effect of supercritical CO 2 on a BSL-2 surrogate virus, vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), Indiana serotype strain. In the absence of biocidal additives, supercritical CO 2 exhibited no measurable lethality against VSV. This surrogate virus experiment suggests that a biocidal additive such as peracetic acid will be necessary to achieve required sterilization metrics.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Emergent Recursive Multiscale Interaction in Complex Systems
This project studied the potential for multiscale group dynamics in complex social systems, including emergent recursive interaction. Current social theory on group formation and interaction focuses on a single scale (individuals forming groups) and is largely qualitative in its explanation of mechanisms. We combined theory, modeling, and data analysis to find evidence that these multiscale phenomena exist, and to investigate their potential consequences and develop predictive capabilities. In this report, we discuss the results of data analysis showing that some group dynamics theory holds at multiple scales. We introduce a new theory on communicative vibration that uses social network dynamics to predict group life cycle events. We discuss a model of behavioral responses to the COVID-19 pandemic that incorporates influence and social pressures. Finally, we discuss a set of modeling techniques that can be used to simulate multiscale group phenomena.
42 ENGINEERING↗
County Economic Impact Index: Measuring the ongoing economic effects of COVID-19
The County Economic Impact Index (CEII) estimates the change in overall county-level economic activity during the COVID-19 pandemic relative to January 2020. It shows which counties may be more susceptible to large reductions in economic activity compared to normal conditions by looking at which industries make up each county’s economy and then tracking monthly changes in industry employment at the national level. Economic activity in the CEII is measured by the total value added of all industries within the county. Counties with economic activities dominated by industries experiencing rising unemployment can expect larger direct impacts to their local economies, particularly if the industries account for a large portion of the economic output of that county. Results are available for all U.S. counties, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico municipios, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗