Results for “effective interactions” — Page 35

DOE OSTI2023

Nitrogen addition alters soil fungal communities, but root fungal communities are resistant to change

Plants are colonized by numerous microorganisms serving important symbiotic functions that are vital to plant growth and success. Understanding and harnessing these interactions will be useful in both managed and natural ecosystems faced with global change, but it is still unclear how variation in environmental conditions and soils influence the trajectory of these interactions. In this study, we examine how nitrogen addition alters plant-fungal interactions within two species of Populus - Populus deltoides and P. trichocarpa. In this experiment, we manipulated plant host, starting soil (native vs. away for each tree species), and nitrogen addition in a fully factorial replicated design. After ~10 weeks of growth, we destructively harvested the plants and characterized plant growth factors and the soil and root endosphere fungal communities using targeted amplicon sequencing of the ITS2 gene region. Overall, we found nitrogen addition altered plant growth factors, e.g., plant height, chlorophyll density, and plant N content. Interestingly, nitrogen addition resulted in a lower fungal alpha diversity in soils but not plant roots. Further, there was an interactive effect of tree species, soil origin, and nitrogen addition on soil fungal community composition. Starting soils collected from Oregon and West Virginia were dominated by the ectomycorrhizal fungi Inocybe (55.8% relative abundance), but interestingly when P. deltoides was grown in its native West Virginia soil, the roots selected for a high abundance of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Rhizophagus. These results highlight the importance of soil origin and plant species on establishing plant-fungal interactions.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2017

Cusps in the center of galaxies: a real conflict with observations or a numerical artefact of cosmological simulations?

Galaxy observations and N-body cosmological simulations produce conflicting dark matter halo density profiles for galaxy central regions. While simulations suggest a cuspy and universal density profile (UDP) of this region, the majority of observations favor variable profiles with a core in the center. In this paper, we investigate the convergency of standard N-body simulations, especially in the cusp region, following the approach proposed by [1]. We simulate the well known Hernquist model using the SPH code Gadget-3 and consider the full array of dynamical parameters of the particles. We find that, although the cuspy profile is stable, all integrals of motion characterizing individual particles suffer strong unphysical variations along the whole halo, revealing an effective interaction between the test bodies. This result casts doubts on the reliability of the velocity distribution function obtained in the simulations. Moreover, we find unphysical Fokker-Planck streams of particles in the cusp region. The same streams should appear in cosmological N-body simulations, being strong enough to change the shape of the cusp or even to create it. Our analysis, based on the Hernquist model and the standard SPH code, strongly suggests that the UDPs generally found by the cosmological N-body simulations may be a consequence of numerical effects. A much better understanding of the N-body simulation convergency is necessary before a 'core-cusp problem' can properly be used to question the validity of the CDM model.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2013

Site-dependent Si KL{sub 23}L{sub 23} resonant Auger electron spectra following inner-shell excitation of Cl{sub 3}SiSi(CH{sub 3}){sub 3}

Spectator resonant Auger electron spectra with the Si 1s photoexcitation of Cl{sub 3}SiSi(CH{sub 3}){sub 3} have been measured using an electron spectroscopic technique combined with undulator radiation. The transition with the highest intensity in the total ion yield (TIY) spectrum, coming from excitation of a Si 1s electron on the Cl-side into a vacant valence orbital, generates the resonant Auger decay in which the excited electron remains in this valence orbital. Photoexcitation of 1s electrons into some Rydberg orbitals induces Auger shake-down transitions, because higher-lying Rydberg orbitals in the two Si atoms closely positioned hold spatially overlapping considerably. A broad TIY peak slightly above the 1s ionization thresholds appreciably yields resonant Auger decays in which a slow photoelectron is re-captured into a higher-lying Rydberg orbital. The normal Auger peak shape at this photon energy is distorted due to a post-collision interaction effect. These findings provide a clear understanding on properties of the excited orbitals which are ambiguous in the measurement of the TIY only.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2015

Ab initio O(N) elongation-counterpoise method for BSSE-corrected interaction energy analyses in biosystems

An Elongation-counterpoise (ELG-CP) method was developed for performing accurate and efficient interaction energy analysis and correcting the basis set superposition error (BSSE) in biosystems. The method was achieved by combining our developed ab initio O(N) elongation method with the conventional counterpoise method proposed for solving the BSSE problem. As a test, the ELG-CP method was applied to the analysis of the DNAs’ inter-strands interaction energies with respect to the alkylation-induced base pair mismatch phenomenon that causes a transition from G⋯C to A⋯T. It was found that the ELG-CP method showed high efficiency (nearly linear-scaling) and high accuracy with a negligibly small energy error in the total energy calculations (in the order of 10{sup −7}–10{sup −8} hartree/atom) as compared with the conventional method during the counterpoise treatment. Furthermore, the magnitude of the BSSE was found to be ca. −290 kcal/mol for the calculation of a DNA model with 21 base pairs. This emphasizes the importance of BSSE correction when a limited size basis set is used to study the DNA models and compare small energy differences between them. In this work, we quantitatively estimated the inter-strands interaction energy for each possible step in the transition process from G⋯C to A⋯T by the ELG-CP method. It was found that the base pair replacement in the process only affects the interaction energy for a limited area around the mismatch position with a few adjacent base pairs. From the interaction energy point of view, our results showed that a base pair sliding mechanism possibly occurs after the alkylation of guanine to gain the maximum possible number of hydrogen bonds between the bases. In addition, the steps leading to the A⋯T replacement accompanied with replications were found to be unfavorable processes corresponding to ca. 10 kcal/mol loss in stabilization energy. The present study indicated that the ELG-CP method is promising for performing effective interaction energy analyses in biosystems.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2016

Bumble bee colony growth and reproduction depend on local flower dominance and natural habitat area in the surrounding landscape

Conservation measures for bees often focus on increasing the diversity and abundance of floral resources. But it has not been clear if observed benefits of floral enhancements result from greater population growth, which is critical for the long-term success of conservation, or from mobile foragers aggregating in high-resource locations. Experimental evidence is only beginning to emerge in favor of the former mechanism and it is not well-established how different aspects of floral resources affect population growth. For example, bumble bee colonies may benefit from greater overall floral abundance, richness, or relative dominance of resource species. Because bumble bees are highly mobile, resource variability in the surrounding landscape is also important for colonies and may mediate local-scale effects. We experimentally assessed the growth and reproduction of bumble bee colonies (Bombus impatiens) deployed in grasslands in different local- and landscape-scale resource environments. Furthermore, we found that floral dominance, rather than the overall abundance or richness of floral resources, was the most important local factor for colony growth and reproduction. This may reflect more efficient foraging on a few numerically dominant and abundant resource species. Local- and landscape-scale predictor variables had interacting effects on colony growth and reproduction, suggesting that foraging distance depends on where in the landscape efficiently used resources are located. Our results provide further evidence that conservation strategies aimed at enhancing floral resources can increase bumble bee population growth. However, the most effective form of floral enhancement may vary among bee species.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2016

SANS study on the solvated structure and molecular interactions of a thermo-responsive polymer in a room temperature ionic liquid

Here, we utilized small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) to quantitatively characterize the LCST-type phase behavior of the poly(benzyl methacrylate) (PBnMA) derivative poly(2-phenylethyl methacrylate) (PPhEtMA) in the deuterated ionic liquid (IL) d 8 -1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide (d 8 -[C 2 mIm + ][TFSA - ]). The SANS curves showed a discontinuous change from those characteristics of dispersed polymer chains to those of large aggregates of PPhEtMA chains suspended in the IL solution, indicating that phase separation occurs discontinuously at T c . We also evaluated the enthalpic and entropic contributions to the effective interaction parameter χ eff of PPhEtMA in [C 2 mIm + ][TFSA - ] and compared them with those of PBnMA. The absolute value of the enthalpic contribution observed for PPhEtMA was smaller than that for PBnMA. This difference in the enthalpic term can be attributed to the unfavorable interaction between the IL and the alkyl group in the side chain of PPhEtMA. In addition, the temperature dependence of χ eff was smaller than the previously reported value for a thermo-responsive polymer in an aqueous system. Finally, it was found out that the strong dependence of T c on the chemical structure in IL systems originated from the relatively smaller temperature dependence of χ eff .

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NASA NTRS1979

Human comfort response to random motions with combined yawing and rolling motions

The effects of random yawing and rolling velocities on passenger ride comfort responses were examined on a visual motion simulator. The effects of power spectral density shape and frequency ranges of peak power from 0 to 2 Hz were studied. The subjective rating data and the physical motion data obtained are presented. No attempt at interpretation or detailed analysis of the data is made. There existed during this study motions in all other degrees of freedom as well as the yawing and rolling motions, because of the characteristics of the simulator. These unwanted motions may have introduced some interactive effects on passenger responses which should be considered in any analysis of the data.

Stone, R. W., Jr.↗

DOE OSTI2020

Cascade of electronic transitions in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene

Magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene exhibits a variety of electronic states, including correlated insulators, superconductors and topological phases. Understanding the microscopic mechanisms responsible for these phases requires determination of the interplay between electron–electron interactions and quantum degeneracy (the latter is due to spin and valley degrees of freedom). Signatures of strong electron–electron correlations have been observed at partial fillings of the flat electronic bands in recent spectroscopic measurements, and transport experiments have shown changes in the Landau level degeneracy at fillings corresponding to an integer number of electrons per moiré unit cell. However, the interplay between interaction effects and the degeneracy of the system is currently unclear. Here in this paper we report a cascade of transitions in the spectroscopic properties of magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene as a function of electron filling, determined using high-resolution scanning tunnelling microscopy. We find distinct changes in the chemical potential and a rearrangement of the low-energy excitations at each integer filling of the moiré flat bands. These spectroscopic features are a direct consequence of Coulomb interactions, which split the degenerate flat bands into Hubbard sub-bands. We find these interactions, the strength of which we can extract experimentally, to be surprisingly sensitive to the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field, which strongly modifies the spectroscopic transitions. The cascade of transitions that we report here characterizes the correlated high-temperature parent phase from which various insulating and superconducting ground-state phases emerge at low temperatures in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2016

Control Strategies to Reduce the Energy Consumption of Central Domestic Hot Water Systems

Domestic hot water (DHW) heating is the second largest energy end use in U.S. buildings, exceeded only by space conditioning. Recirculation systems consisting of a pump and piping loop(s) are commonly used in multifamily buildings to reduce wait time for hot water at faucets; however, constant pumping increases energy consumption by exposing supply and return line piping to continuous heat loss, even during periods when there is no demand for hot water. In this study, ARIES installed and tested two types of recirculation controls in a pair of buildings in order to evaluate their energy savings potential. Demand control, temperature modulation controls, and the simultaneous operation of both were compared to the baseline case of constant recirculation. Additionally, interactive effects between DHW control fuel reductions and space conditioning (heating and cooling) were estimated in order to make more realistic predictions of the payback and financial viability of retrofitting DHW systems with these controls. Results showed that DHW fuel consumption reduced by 7% after implementing the demand control technique, 2% after implementing temperature modulation, and 15% after implementing demand control and temperature modulation techniques simultaneously; recirculation pump runtime was reduced to 14 minutes or less per day. With space heating and cooling interactions included, the estimated annual cost savings were 8%, 1%, and 14% for the respective control techniques. Possible complications in the installation, commissioning and operation of the controls were identified and solutions offered.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2016

Control Strategies to Reduce the Energy Consumption of Central Domestic Hot Water Systems

Domestic hot water (DHW) heating is the second largest energy end use in U.S. buildings, exceeded only by space conditioning. Recirculation systems consisting of a pump and piping loop(s) are commonly used in multifamily buildings to reduce wait time for hot water at faucets; however, constant pumping increases energy consumption by exposing supply and return line piping to continuous heat loss, even during periods when there is no demand for hot water. In this study, ARIES installed and tested two types of recirculation controls in a pair of buildings in order to evaluate their energy savings potential. Demand control, temperature modulation controls, and the simultaneous operation of both were compared to the baseline case of constant recirculation. Additionally, interactive effects between DHW control fuel reductions and space conditioning (heating and cooling) were estimated in order to make more realistic predictions of the payback and financial viability of retrofitting DHW systems with these controls. Results showed that DHW fuel consumption reduced by 7% after implementing the demand control technique, 2% after implementing temperature modulation, and 15% after implementing demand control and temperature modulation techniques simultaneously; recirculation pump runtime was reduced to 14 minutes or less per day. With space heating and cooling interactions included, the estimated annual cost savings were 8%, 1%, and 14% for the respective control techniques. Possible complications in the installation, commissioning and operation of the controls were identified and solutions offered.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2016

Building America Case Study: Control Retrofits for Multifamily Domestic Hot Water Recirculation Systems, Brooklyn, New York

Domestic hot water (DHW) heating is the second largest energy end use in U.S. buildings, exceeded only by space conditioning. Recirculation systems consisting of a pump and piping loop(s) are commonly used in multifamily buildings to reduce wait time for hot water at faucets; however, constant pumping increases energy consumption by exposing supply and return line piping to continuous heat loss, even during periods when there is no demand for hot water. In this study, ARIES installed and tested two types of recirculation controls in a pair of buildings in order to evaluate their energy savings potential. Demand control, temperature modulation controls, and the simultaneous operation of both were compared to the baseline case of constant recirculation. Additionally, interactive effects between DHW control fuel reductions and space conditioning (heating and cooling) were estimated in order to make more realistic predictions of the payback and financial viability of retrofitting DHW systems with these controls. Results showed that DHW fuel consumption reduced by 7% after implementing the demand control technique, 2% after implementing temperature modulation, and 15% after implementing demand control and temperature modulation techniques simultaneously; recirculation pump runtime was reduced to 14 minutes or less per day. With space heating and cooling interactions included, the estimated annual cost savings were 8%, 1%, and 14% for the respective control techniques. Possible complications in the installation, commissioning and operation of the controls were identified and solutions offered.

ARIES↗

DOE OSTI2021

Reversing sintering effect of Ni particles on γ-Mo 2 N via strong metal support interaction

Reversing the thermal induced sintering phenomenon and forming high temperature stable fine dispersed metallic centers with unique structural and electronic properties is one of the ever-lasting targets of heterogeneous catalysis. Here we report that the dispersion of metallic Ni particles into under-coordinated two-dimensional Ni clusters over γ-Mo 2 N is a thermodynamically favorable process based on the AIMD simulation. A Ni-4nm/γ-Mo 2 N model catalyst is synthesized and used to further study the reverse sintering effect by the combination of multiple in-situ characterization methods, including in-situ quick XANES and EXAFS, ambient pressure XPS and environmental SE/STEM etc. The under-coordinated two-dimensional layered Ni clusters on molybdenum nitride support generated from the Ni-4nm/γ-Mo 2 N has been demonstrated to be a thermally stable catalyst in 50 h stability test in CO 2 hydrogenation, and exhibits a remarkable catalytic selectivity reverse compared with traditional Ni particles-based catalyst, leading to a chemo-specific CO 2 hydrogenation to CO.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2016

Building America Case Study: Control Retrofits for Multifamily Domestic Hot Water Recirculation Systems, Brooklyn, New York

Domestic hot water (DHW) heating is the second largest energy end use in U.S. buildings, exceeded only by space conditioning. Recirculation systems consisting of a pump and piping loop(s) are commonly used in multifamily buildings to reduce wait time for hot water at faucets; however, constant pumping increases energy consumption by exposing supply and return line piping to continuous heat loss, even during periods when there is no demand for hot water. In this study, ARIES installed and tested two types of recirculation controls in a pair of buildings in order to evaluate their energy savings potential. Demand control, temperature modulation controls, and the simultaneous operation of both were compared to the baseline case of constant recirculation. Additionally, interactive effects between DHW control fuel reductions and space conditioning (heating and cooling) were estimated in order to make more realistic predictions of the payback and financial viability of retrofitting DHW systems with these controls. Results showed that DHW fuel consumption reduced by 7 percent after implementing the demand control technique, 2 percent after implementing temperature modulation, and 15 percent after implementing demand control and temperature modulation techniques simultaneously; recirculation pump runtime was reduced to 14 minutes or less per day. With space heating and cooling interactions included, the estimated annual cost savings were 8 percent, 1 percent, and 14 percent for the respective control techniques. Possible complications in the installation, commissioning and operation of the controls were identified and solutions offered.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2015

Self-Consistent Simulation of Transport and Energy Deposition of Intense Laser-Accelerated Proton Beams in Solid-Density Matter

Here, the first self-consistent hybrid particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation of intense proton beam transport and energy deposition in solid-density matter is presented. Both the individual proton slowing-down and the collective beam-plasma interaction effects are taken into account with a new dynamic proton stopping power module that has been added to a hybrid PIC code. In this module, the target local stopping power can be updated at each time step based on its thermodynamic state. For intense proton beams, the reduction of target stopping power from the cold condition due to continuous proton heating eventually leads to broadening of the particle range and energy deposition far beyond the Bragg peak. For tightly focused beams, large magnetic field growth in collective interactions results in self-focusing of the beam and much stronger localized heating of the target.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Testing shell-model interactions at high excitation energy and low spin: Nuclear resonance fluorescence in Ge 74

With their complex low-spin structure, the germanium isotopes have accrued a large number of experimental data which challenge nuclear models. The structure of the 74 Ge isotope is investigated here with nuclear resonance fluorescence as part of an extensive campaign of experimental tests of the shell model in the germanium isotopic chain using a number of complementary techniques. Levels were excited with 3.10 – 5.44 MeV photon beams provided by the High Intensity Gamma-Ray Source at TUNL. Many new levels were identified and their spins, parities, branching ratios, and associated scattering cross section values were determined. Large-scale shell-model calculations, which include jj44b and JUN45 effective interactions developed to describe nuclei in this mass region, predict the new data satisfactorily. Herein this study extends the validation of these two interactions, which are candidates for computation of matrix elements to be used in the interpretation of neutrinoless double-β decay experiments in 76 Ge, into the low-spin, high excitation energy domain.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

NASA NTRS1999

Interaction of Burning Metal Particles

Physical characteristics of the combustion of metal particle groups have been addressed in this research. The combustion behavior and interaction effects of multiple metal particles has been studied using a microgravity environment, which presents a unique opportunity to create an "aerosol" consisting of relatively large particles, i.e., 50-300 micrometer diameter. Combustion behavior of such an aerosol could be examined using methods adopted from well-developed single particle combustion research. The experiment included fluidizing relatively large (order of 100 micrometer diameter) uniform metal particles under microgravity and igniting such an "aerosol" using a hot wire igniter. The flame propagation and details of individual particle combustion and particle interaction have been studied using a high speed movie and video-imaging with cameras coupled with microscope lenses to resolve individual particles. Interference filters were used to separate characteristic metal and metal oxide radiation bands form the thermal black body radiation. Recorded flame images were digitized and employed to understand the processes occurring in the burning aerosol. The development of individual particle flames, merging or separation, and extinguishing as well as induced particle motion have been analyzed to identify the mechanisms governing these processes. Size distribution, morphology, and elemental compositions of combustion products were characterized and used to link the observed in this project aerosol combustion phenomena with the recently expanded mechanism of single metal particle combustion.

Dreizin, Edward L.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Interaction of Burning Metal Particles

Physical characteristics of the combustion of metal particle groups have been addressed in this research. The combustion behavior and interaction effects of multiple metal particles has been studied using a microgravity environment, which presents a unique opportunity to create an "aerosol" consisting of relatively large particles, i.e., 50-300 m diameter. Combustion behavior of such an aerosol could be examined using methods adopted from well-developed single particle combustion research. The experiment included fluidizing relatively large (order of 100 m diameter) uniform metal particles under microgravity and igniting such an "aerosol" using a hot wire igniter. The flame propagation and details of individual particle combustion and particle interaction have been studied using a high speed movie and video-imaging with cameras coupled with microscope lenses to resolve individual particles. Interference filters were used to separate characteristic metal and metal oxide radiation bands from the thermal black body radiation. Recorded flame images were digitized and various image processing techniques including flame position tracking, color separation, and pixel by pixel image comparison were employed to understand the processes occurring in the burning aerosol. The development of individual particle flames, merging or separation, and extinguishment as well as induced particle motion have been analyzed to identify the mechanisms governing these processes. Size distribution, morphology, and elemental compositions of combustion products were characterized and used to link the observed in this project aerosol combustion phenomena with the recently expanded mechanism of single metal particle combustion.

Dreizin, Edward L.↗

DOE OSTI2015

Measurement of tritium penetration through concrete material covered by various paints coating

The present study aims at obtaining fundamental data on tritium migration in porous materials, which include soaking effect, interaction between tritium and cement paste coated with paints and transient tritium sorption in porous cement. The amounts of tritium penetrated into or released from cement paste with epoxy and urethane paint coatings were measured. The tritium penetration amounts were increased with the HTO (tritiated water) exposure time. Time to achieve a saturated value of tritium sorption was more than 60 days for cement paste coated with epoxy paint and with urethane paint, while that for cement paste without any paint coating took 2 days to achieve it. The effect of tritium permeation reduction by the epoxy paint was higher than that of the urethane. Although their paint coatings were effective for reduction of tritium penetration through the cement paste which was exposed to HTO for a short period, it was found that the amount of tritium trapped in the paints became large for a long period. Tritium penetration rates were estimated by an analysis of one-dimensional diffusion in the axial direction of a thickness of a sample. Obtained data were helpful for evaluation of tritium contamination and decontamination. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗