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At least 685 records · Page 38

Improved Nondestructive Isotopic Analysis with Practical Microcalorimeter Gamma Spectrometers

Advances in both instrumentation and data analysis software are now enabling the first ultra-high-resolution microcalorimeter gamma spectrometers designed for implementation in nuclear facilities and analytical laboratories. With approximately ten times better energy resolution than high-purity germanium detectors, these instruments can overcome important uncertainty limits. Microcalorimeter gamma spectroscopy is intended to provide nondestructive isotopic analysis capabilities with sufficient precision and accuracy to reduce the need for sampling, chemical separations, and mass spectrometry to meet safeguards and security goals. Key milestones were the development of the SOFIA instrument (Spectrometer Optimized for Facility Integrated Applications) and the SAPPY software (Spectral Analysis Program in PYthon). SOFIA is a compact instrument that combines advances in large multiplexed transition-edge sensor arrays with optimized cryogenic performance to overcome many practical limitations of previous systems. With a 256-pixel multiplexed detector array capable of 5,000 counts per second, measurement time can be comparable to high-purity germanium detectors. SAPPY was developed to determine isotopic ratios in data from SOFIA and other microcalorimeter instruments with an approach similar to the widely-used FRAM software. SAPPY provides a flexible framework with rigorous uncertainty analysis for both microcalorimeter and high purity germanium (HPGe) data, allowing direct comparison. Here, we present current results from the SOFIA instrument, preliminary isotopic analysis using SAPPY, and describe how the technology is being used to explore uncertainty limits of nondestructive isotopic characterization, inform safeguards models, and extract improved nuclear data including gamma-ray branching ratios.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

The context dependence of physics identity: Examining the role of performance/competence, recognition, interest, and sense of belonging for lower and upper female physics undergraduates

Abstract While there is a growing body of work that examines disciplinary identity development, unlike qualitative work in this area, quantitative research has not fully incorporated the importance of different contexts, nor has it uniquely focused on underrepresented groups (in this case, women in physics). This study examines how the constructs posited by prior work as important for physics identity, as well as an additional theorized construct, may interrelate and affect female students' physics identity differently depending on the context. Context in this study refers to two different experiential levels in college. The constructs examined include performance/competence, recognition, and interest, as well as sense of belonging. In particular, we used structural equation modeling to examine the effect that these constructs have on the physics identity of two groups of female physics undergraduates: first year students and senior year students. The results reveal that the relationship of the theorized constructs with physics identity vary between the two groups as well as compared to prior research with broad college student populations (not just physics majors). Unlike broad college student populations, for our sample of female physics undergraduates, interest did not have a direct effect on physics identity while sense of belonging was significant only for senior year students. These results exemplify the importance of examining context or different types of student experiences when studying disciplinary identity development rather than generalizing previous frameworks to all contexts.

Hazari, Zahra↗

Discovery top-down proteomics in symbiotic soybean root nodules

Proteomic methods have been widely used to study proteins in complex biological samples to understand biological molecular mechanisms. Most well-established methods (known as bottom-up proteomics, BUP) employ an enzymatic digestion step to cleave intact proteins into smaller peptides for liquid chromatography (LC) mass spectrometry (MS) detection. In contrast, top-down proteomics (TDP) directly characterizes intact proteins including all possible post-translational modifications (PTMs), thus offering unique insights into proteoform biology where combinations of individual PTMs may play important roles. We performed TDP on soybean root nodules infected by the symbiotic Bradyrhizobium japonicum in both the wildtype bacterium and a nifH- mutant, which lacks the ability to fix nitrogen in the soybean root nodule. TDP captured 1648 proteoforms derived from 313 bacterial genes and 178 soybean genes. Leghemoglobin, the most abundant protein in the sample, existed in many truncated proteoforms. Interestingly, these truncated proteoforms were considerably more abundant in the wildtype relative to the nifH- mutant, implicating protease activity as an important factor in nitrogen fixation. Proteoforms with various PTMs and combinations thereof were identified using an unrestricted open modification search. This included less common PTMs such as myristoylation, palmitoylation, cyanylation, and sulfation. In parallel, we collected high resolution MS imaging (MSI) data of intact proteins and biopolymers (<20 kDa due to current technical limitations) from sections of the soybean root nodules using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) coupled to high resolution Orbitrap. Several detected proteoforms exhibited unique spatial distributions inside the infection zone and cortex, suggesting functional compartmentalization in these regions. A subset of peaks from the MALDI-MSI were assigned to proteoforms detected in TDP LCMS data based on matching accurate masses. Many of the proteins detected in both LCMS and MALDI-MSI are currently uncharacterized in UniProt: the PTM and spatial information presented here will be valuable in understanding their biological functions. Taken together, our study demonstrates how untargeted TDP approach can provide unique insights into plant proteoform biology. On-going technology developments are expected to further improve TDP coverage for more comprehensive high-throughput analysis of proteoforms.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Plant versus local soil inorganic ionic composition: The relationship to biomass smoke

Here, we examine the relationship between soil and plant inorganic chemical composition as a precursor to biomass smoke aerosol particle (PM 2.5 ) properties in desert landscapes of the Southwestern United States. Past work underscored the importance of plant species and in particular the dependence of smoke PM 2.5 water uptake on the water-soluble inorganics important in select plant species (e.g., halophytes) versus absent in other species (e.g., conifers). This study extends this work by looking at a range of soil types and salinity in examining native and invasive species in the Desert Southwest US region. Eighteen plant samples and surrounding soils were taken from four ecosystems in New Mexico, USA. Results here support the conclusion that plant species are the primary controller over the inorganic plant composition that is relevant to biomass smoke and controls its hygroscopicity. The role of soil type is secondary to plant inorganic composition but is found to be important on the ecosystem level in determining what plant species are viable in a given ecosystem. This ultimately affects the smoke properties, including PM 2.5 hygroscopicity (water uptake), produced in landscape fires. Knowledge of ecosystem features including plant species distribution and soil salinity may be combined as a first-order predictor of PM 2.5 hygroscopicity of the primary smoke emissions. This can be particularly useful when combined with knowledge of burn characteristics such as flame temperature, which also plays a key role in determining PM 2.5 water uptake response.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

New Apparatus for Neutron Capture Measurements on Extra Small Radioactive Samples: The DICER Instrument at LANSCE

We report the neutron capture cross section, the probability per unit area a neutron is absorbed by a nucleus followed by the emission of gamma ray(s), is an important quantity in several fields such as astrophysics, nuclear criticality safety, radiochemical diagnostics, nuclear medicine, nuclear forensics and nuclear security. Accurate knowledge of how neutrons interact with matter is a crucial component to understand physical processes in depth. A great example is the understanding of how our universe was created, a quest that requires accurate modeling in which neutron capture cross sections are a key ingredient

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Evaluating the active site-substrate interplay between x-ray crystal structure and molecular dynamics in chorismate mutase

Designing realistic quantum mechanical (QM) models of enzymes is dependent on reliably discerning and modeling residues, solvents, and cofactors important in crafting the active site microenvironment. Interatomic van der Waals contacts have previously demonstrated usefulness toward designing QM-models, but their measured values (and subsequent residue importance rankings) are expected to be influenceable by subtle changes in protein structure. Using chorismate mutase as a case study, this work examines the differences in ligand-residue interatomic contacts between an x-ray crystal structure and structures from a molecular dynamics simulation. Select structures are further analyzed using symmetry adapted perturbation theory to compute ab initio ligand-residue interaction energies. The findings of this study show that ligand-residue interatomic contacts measured for an x-ray crystal structure are not predictive of active site contacts from a sampling of molecular dynamics frames. In addition, the variability in interatomic contacts among structures is not correlated with variability in interaction energies. However, the results spotlight using interaction energies to characterize and rank residue importance in future computational enzymology workflows.

Chemistry↗

Role of washing solvents in defining the magnetic performance of Sm 2 Fe 17 N 3 obtained by reduction diffusion

Calciothermic reduction-diffusion (RD) is one of the leading synthesis methods for Sm 2 Fe 17 N 3 (SmFeN), but sintering of such RD-derived powders is hampered by oxidation and CaO byproducts. Here, we systematically evaluate how post-synthesis washing solvents govern powder chemistry and magnetic performance. RD-synthesized SmFeN powder was washed with several aqueous and non-aqueous solvents using identical washing protocols. This was followed by an assessment of both the as-washed powder as well as after annealing at 425 °C. Phase content was quantified by synchrotron PXRD and Rietveld refinement and SEM/EDS. The oxygen content of the powders was determined via inert gas fusion and the magnetization by DC magnetometry. While all aqueous-based solutions were able to remove CaO, the non-aqueous solutions were only effective with extended washing times. Prior to annealing, the crystalline phases and magnetic properties of the as-washed powders were largely the same regardless of washing solvent. However, differences emerge after annealing, where water-based washing markedly lowers the coercivity (H c ~3.8-4.3 kOe). In contrast, non-aqueous NH 4 Cl-methanol washing protocols were more effective in preserving coercivity (H c ~4.9-5.9 kOe). We attribute this to lower oxygen content in the non-aqueous samples (~9,400 ppm v ~6,400 ppm, respectively) which in turn reduced the formation of α-Fe during annealing. These results highlight the importance of solvent choice in washing RD-synthesized SmFeN and demonstrate that non-aqueous protocols, which better limit oxidation, outperform aqueous solvents despite the need for longer washing times.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Fabrication and thermophysical properties of UO 2 -UB 2 and UO 2 -UB 4 composites sintered via spark plasma sintering

Uranium dioxide (UO 2 ) composites with uranium diboride (UB 2 ) and uranium tetraboride (UB 4 ) have been proposed as advanced fuel candidates due to their high thermal conductivity, high melting point, high fissile density and their ability to incorporate a built-in burnable poison by tailoring the targeted 10 B/ 11 B ratio. As such, it is important to assess the fabrication, and thermal and micromechanical properties of such composites. In this work, UO 2 -UB 2 and UO 2 -UB 4 samples with boride phase fractions of 5, 15 and 30 wt% were fabricated to high densities (above 95 % theoretical density) via spark plasma sintering (SPS). This enabled sintering at relatively low temperatures and short timescales. SPS also aided in maintaining the target phase fractions of the samples as reactions between the constituent phases were suppressed due to the short timescales and reducing environment during sintering. Here, thermal diffusivity measurements from 299 to 1273 K were conducted through laser flash analysis (LFA). The diffusivity increased as a function of boride weight fraction, and UB 2 additions increased the thermal diffusivity of the composites more than UB 4 additions. Assessment of the LFA results indicated in-situ reactions between the UO 2 and boride phases that suppress the thermal diffusivity occur above 800 K for all samples. Oxidation of the boride phase was proposed as the underlying reaction. This was supported by thermodynamic assessments from the literature, as well as microstructural, crystallographic, and nanoindentation characterization performed on these samples.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Exploring viral particle, soil, and extraction buffer physicochemical characteristics and their impacts on extractable viral communities

Viruses are expected to be pivotal members of soil ecosystems, and recent advances in viral size fraction metagenomic (viromic) approaches have improved our ability to interrogate soil viral ecology. However, viromics relies on extraction buffers to effectively desorb viral particles from the soil matrix for downstream analysis, and viral extraction efficiency could be affected by the interplay between viral particles, soils, and extraction buffer chemistry. Here, we investigated whether extraction buffer chemistry affected extractable viral community composition measured by viromics from different soil types, for both biological (samples collected 1 m apart) and technical (subsamples from the same soil homogenate) replicates. We investigated pH manipulation of protein-supplemented phosphate-buffered saline buffer (PPBS, pHs 4.5, 5.5, 6.5, and 7.5) on forest, grassland and wetland soils that exhibited different soil edaphic properties, and we tested different buffer chemistries (PPBS, Carbonated Buffer, Glycine, and Saline Magnesium) on just the wetland soil. Spatial distance (i.e., biological replicate) was the primary driver of extractable viral community composition across all buffers and soils tested. Differences in viral community composition according to extraction buffer properties were only observed in the grassland technical replicates at PPBS buffer pH 4.5, and in both the wetland technical and biological replicates treated with different buffer chemistries, but the effects of buffer chemistry were secondary to spatial distance in the biological replicates. The lack of buffering capacity in the grassland soil technical replicates likely increased sorption of viral particles at pH 4.5, but neither protein composition nor isoelectric point explained this phenomenon. In conclusion, given that most soil viral ecological studies to date include sample collection over distances much farther apart than the 1-m distances considered here, results suggest that extraction buffer chemistry is likely of much lower importance than ecological considerations, such as spatial distance, in the design of future soil viral ecological investigations.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Machine Learning-Guided Optimization of SABRE Hyperpolarization for α-Ketoglutarate in Acetone–Water

Signal amplification by reversible exchange (SABRE) is a hyperpolarization method that polarizes target nuclei of metabolites quickly and efficiently. Recent SABRE advances, including Ace-SABRE, yield biocompatible, aqueous solutions of hyperpolarized markers for metabolic monitoring. Building on recent advancements, expanding the substrate scope of Ace-SABRE is desirable. However, SABRE polarization is sensitive to many different parameters; therefore, traditional optimization approaches are experimentally time-consuming. In this proof-of-concept application of machine learning (ML), Bayesian optimization (BO) is used for four important input parameters to model the complex SABRE dynamics while saving experimental time. The presented ML model also provides chemical insights that enable predictions of sample compositions for increased polarization levels. In this paper, we transition from an original average free polarization of p = ∼0.90% to a maximum observed free polarization of p = ∼6.6% for 1- 13 C alpha-ketoglutarate (AKG) with 13 C at natural abundance, utilizing both direct outputs as well as chemical insights revealed by the ML model.

Catalysts↗

Access and Capture of Layered Double Perovskite Polytypic Phase through High-Pressure Engineering

Engineering halide perovskites through external pressure is as an effective means to tune the crystal structure, thus optoelectronic properties of the material. In this work, we studied the structural and optical property evolutions of Cs 4 M II Bi 2 Cl 12 (M II : Cd, Cd 0.8 Mn 0.2 , Mn) layered double perovskite (LDP) crystalline powders under high pressure. A novel polytypic phase transition was observed featuring lateral interlayer sliding of the Bi–M II –Bi trilayer units, resulting in a new LDP-12R phase. Importantly, this high-pressure induced LDP-12R crystal phase can be preserved after complete decompression and captured at ambient conditions. Moreover, the LDP samples showed a pressure-dependent photoluminescence property. Finally, our findings exemplified a new perovskite polytype that can be accessed and captured through high-pressure processing, advocating the uniqueness of LDP materials with soft and transformable crystal lattices.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Influence of Water Sorption on Ionic Conductivity in Polyether Electrolytes at Low Hydration

Ion-containing polymers are subject to a wide range of hydration conditions across electrochemical and water treatment applications. Significant work on dry polymer electrolytes for batteries and highly swollen membranes for water purification has informed our understanding of ion transport under extreme conditions. However, knowledge of intermediate conditions (i.e., low hydration) is essential to emerging applications (e.g., electrolyzers, fuel cells, and lithium extraction). Ion transport under low levels of hydration is distinct from the extreme conditions typically investigated, and the relevant physics cannot be extrapolated from existing knowledge, stifling materials design. In this study, we conducted ion transport measurements in LiTFSI-doped polyethers that were systematically hydrated from dry conditions. A semiautomated apparatus that performs parallel measurements of water uptake and ionic conductivity in thin-film polymers under controlled humidity was developed. For the materials and swelling range considered in this study (i.e., <0.07 g water/g dry polymer electrolyte), ionic conductivity depends nonlinearly on water uptake, with the initial sorbed water weakly affecting conductivity. With additional increases in swelling, more significant increases in conductivity were observed. Remarkably, changes in conductivity induced by water sorption were correlated with the number of water molecules per lithium ion, with the normalized molar conductivity of different samples effectively collapsing onto one another until this unit of hydration exceeded the solvation number of lithium ions under aqueous conditions. Furthermore, these results provide important knowledge regarding the effects of trace water contamination on conductivity measurements in polymer electrolytes and demonstrate that the lithium-ion solvation number marks a key transition point regarding the influence of water on ion transport in ion-containing polymers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Proton stopping measurements at low velocity in warm dense carbon

Abstract Ion stopping in warm dense matter is a process of fundamental importance for the understanding of the properties of dense plasmas, the realization and the interpretation of experiments involving ion-beam-heated warm dense matter samples, and for inertial confinement fusion research. The theoretical description of the ion stopping power in warm dense matter is difficult notably due to electron coupling and degeneracy, and measurements are still largely missing. In particular, the low-velocity stopping range, that features the largest modelling uncertainties, remains virtually unexplored. Here, we report proton energy-loss measurements in warm dense plasma at unprecedented low projectile velocities. Our energy-loss data, combined with a precise target characterization based on plasma-emission measurements using two independent spectroscopy diagnostics, demonstrate a significant deviation of the stopping power from classical models in this regime. In particular, we show that our results are in closest agreement with recent first-principles simulations based on time-dependent density functional theory.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Benchmarking the performance of a high-Q cavity qudit using random unitaries

High-coherence cavity resonators are excellent resources for encoding quantum information in higher-dimensional Hilbert spaces, moving beyond traditional qubit-based platforms. A natural strategy is to use the Fock basis to encode information in qudits. One can perform quantum operations on the cavity mode qudit by coupling the system to a non-linear ancillary transmon qubit. However, the performance of the cavity-transmon device is limited by the noisy transmons. It is, therefore, important to develop practical benchmarking tools for these qudit systems in an algorithm-agnostic manner. We gauge the performance of these qudit platforms using sampling tests such as the heavy output generation test as well as the linear cross-entropy benchmark, by way of simulations of such a system subject to realistic dominant noise channels. We use selective number-dependent arbitrary phase and unconditional displacement gates as our universal gateset. Our results show that contemporary transmons comfortably enable controlling a few tens of Fock levels of a cavity mode. This framework allows benchmarking even higher dimensional qudits as those become accessible with improved transmons.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Extension of Complex Refractive Index Measurements to the Near-Infrared for Liquids: Methodology and Uncertainty Analysis

Optical identification of liquid droplets, aerosols, or thin films is important for many applications. While reference spectra are sometimes available for such measurements, they are not always applicable to the observed spectrum or the given sample morphology. Reference spectra for many forms can be modeled, however, if the n/k vectors (real and imaginary refractive indices) are available. In previous work we have reported protocols to determine the n/k vectors for dozens of liquids, primarily in the mid-infrared (MIR) spectral range from 7500 to 400 cm –1 . In this work we extend the spectral range into the near-infrared (NIR) region, demonstrating a method to measure and merge the data sets to create composite n/k data ranging from 10 000 to 400 cm –1 (1.0 to 25 µm) with absorbance fidelity spanning over four orders of magnitude, and vastly improved signal-to-noise in the NIR. The precision of the composite data is evaluated for three different liquids, focusing primarily on the steps for converting the raw absorbance spectra to k values. The variability in both MIR and NIR data as well as in the final n/k vectors is also investigated for several liquids. For typical liquids, the overall variability (reported as 2σ) in the final n and k-vectors is determined to be ∼0.4% and 3%, respectively. Finally, the derived n/k data are used to calculate absorbance spectra for aerosol droplets, showing marginal variability due to the typical measurement errors in the final n/k vectors.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

GADRAS Batch Inject Tool User Guide

Gamma Detector Response and Analysis Software (GADRAS) is used by the radiation detection and emergency response community to perform modeling and spectral analysis for gamma detector systems. Built into GADRAS is the ability to define a detector, geometry, background characteristics and source composition to generate synthetic spectra for drills and exercises (injects). Consequence Management is currently in development of a sample result data simulator tool in which a deposition model is probed for source conditions at moments in time and locations in space. These values are used to generate realistic sample results for use in drills and exercises. In addition to sample results, there is a need to simulate the actual spectra that would be observed in the field by downlooking HPGe instruments given a deposition activity. This way, the FRMAC Gamma Spectroscopist can practice their process of generating quantified results from spectra on realistic data as well. Recognizing the decades of work done in GADRAS to accurately generate synthetic spectra, this team decided to build a link between the new simulator and GADRAS to generate these spectra quickly and easily. The simulator tool will generate a file that specifies the name of the spectra, its location, date/time of measurement, duration of measurement, height off the ground, and the deposition activity and age for every radionuclide in the simulation. Then, a new tool within the Inject Tab of GADRAS was developed to read in this file given a detector selection and generate In-Situ spectra for each row in the file in any file format the user chooses. This way, simulation cell staff can take these files and then upload them to the appropriate data system (RAMS or RadResponder) for use during drills and exercises. An advanced feature of this tool allows for generating any spectra given an appropriate model and mapping of source to model layer in the batch inject tool. This way, spectra from field sample counts, mobile laboratories, or even fixed laboratories can be generated in bulk given an estimate of the radioactivity concentration or total radioactivity in an import file. This expands the capabilities of this tool a great deal and will make it a more useful tool for CM and others to help estimate detector response for nearly any situation. This user guide will explain the steps needed to perform a batch inject file generation.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

Leptospira borgpetersenii serovar Hardjo and Leptospira santarosai serogroup Pyrogenes isolated from bovine dairy herds in Puerto Rico

Leptospirosis is one of the most common zoonotic diseases in the world and endemic in the Caribbean Islands. Bovine leptospirosis is an important reproductive disease. Globally, cattle are recognized as a reservoir host for L. borgpetersenii serovar Hardjo, which is transmitted via urine, semen, and uterine discharges, and can result in abortion and poor reproductive performance. The dairy industry in Puerto Rico comprises up to 25% of agriculture-related income and is historically the most financially important agricultural commodity on the island. In this study, we report the isolation of two different pathogenic Leptospira species, from two different serogroups, from urine samples collected from dairy cows in Puerto Rico: L. borgpetersenii serogroup Sejroe serovar Hardjo and L. santarosai serogroup Pyrogenes. Recovered isolates were classified using whole-genome sequencing, serotyping with reference antisera and monoclonal antibodies, and immunoblotting. These results demonstrate that dairy herds in Puerto Rico can be concurrently infected with more than one species and serovar of Leptospira, and that bacterin vaccines and serologic diagnostics should account for this when applying intervention and diagnostic strategies.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Mass Dependence of Galaxy–Halo Alignment in LOWZ and CMASS

We measure the galaxy-ellipticity (GI) correlations for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 12 LOWZ and CMASS samples with the shape measurements from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys. We model the GI correlations in an N-body simulation with our recent accurate stellar–halo mass relation from the Photometric object Around Cosmic webs (PAC) method. The large data set and our accurate modeling turns out an accurate measurement of the alignment angle between central galaxies and their host halos. We find that the alignment of central elliptical galaxies with their host halos increases monotonically with galaxy stellar mass or host halo mass, which can be well described by a power law for the massive galaxies. We also find that central elliptical galaxies are more aligned with their host halos in LOWZ than in CMASS, which might indicate an evolution of galaxy–halo alignment, though future studies are needed to verify this is not induced by the sample selections. In contrast, central disk galaxies are aligned with their host halos about 10 times more weakly in the GI correlation. These results have important implications for intrinsic alignment (IA) correction in weak lensing studies, IA cosmology, and theory of massive galaxy formation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗