Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Cluster detection”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 703 records · Page 39

SpacerExtractor v0.9

The SpacerExtractor tool is meant to robustly identify and extract CRISPR spacers from metagenome short reads. Working from a database of known CRISPR repeats, SpacerExtractor quickly scans short reads for the corresponding repeat sequences, extract the potential spacer between two repeats, apply several quality control, denoising, and clustering steps, and provides a full non-redundant complement of spacers for each detected repeat. Because of the high variability observed at CRISPR loci, this read mining approach typically recovers a much larger diversity of spacers than can be found in assembled contigs. SpacerExtractor also includes commands to run CRISPR-Cas Typer on a new set of genomes or MAGs, and add newly predicted repeats to the repeat database.

Bushnell, Brian↗

Failure detection and isolation methods for redundant gimballed inertial measurement units.

Skewed alignment of two redundant conventional inertial measuring units permits nonambiguous detection and isolation of hard and soft failures in real time by an airborne computer. Accelerometer outputs and gimbal readouts are monitored periodically, and attitude rate and velocity error vectors are computed from these data. Magnitudes of these vectors provide failure detection, and projection of these error vectors onto the coordinate axes of the two clusters permits isolation. A detailed Monte Carlo simulation of one version of the mechanization as applied to Space Shuttle boost trajectories demonstrates effectiveness down to very low levels of inertial instrument performance failures. The results indicate that worst case overall navigation performance occurs when accelerometer failures are of the order of 20 sigma and gyro failures are about 100 sigma for conventional state-of-the-art IMU instruments.

Solov, E. G.↗

Infrared emission from central dominant galaxies in X-ray luminous clusters

IRAS strip scans are used to study the emission properties of 27 dominant galaxies that lie in the center of clusters rich in hot gas. In this sample, 30 percent of the objects were detected at 12/25 microns, while 46 percent were detected at 60/100 microns. The ratio of the IR to optical flux densities is an order of magnitude greater than for elliptical and S0 galaxies. The presence of IR emission is not obviously correlated with z, m(v), Mv, the presence of young stellar populations, emission-line gas, the X-ray luminosity, or the cooling rate of hot gas.

Bregman, Joel N.↗

Cepheids in Magellanic Cloud star clusters - Fundamental and overtone pulsators in NGC 2157

CCD survey data are employed to examine Cepheids in young Magellanic Cloud star clusters. The properties of three Cepheids observed in NGC 2157 are described. It is detected that the two short-period (3 days) Cepheids have photometric properties that correspond to overtone pulsators and the long-period (7.7 days) Cepheid pulses in the fundamental mode. The pulsational masses for the three Cepheids are calculated to be about 5 solar masses. This mass value does not correlate with the average pulsational mass for Cepheids of 3.0 + or - 0.4 solar masses. The potential cause of this deviation in evolutionary/pulsational mass is investigated.

Mateo, Mario↗

New Pulsars from Arecibo Drift Scan Searches

We report new pulsars discovered in drift-scan data taken by two collaborations (Berkeley/Cornell and STScI/NAIC) during the latter stages of the Arecibo upgrade period. The data were taken with the Penn State Pulsar Machine and are being processed on the COBRA cluster at Jodrell Bank. Processing is roughly 70% complete and has resulted in the detection of 10 new and 31 known pulsars, in addition to a number of pulsar candidates. The 10 new pulsars include one pulsar with a spin-period of 55 ms and another with a spin period of 5.8 ms. At the completion of the processing, we expect to have discovered roughly 20 new pulsars. All new pulsars are being subjected to a program of followup observations at Arecibo to determine spin and astrometric parameters.

McLaughlin, M. A.↗

The Interaction of Hot and Cold Gas in the Disk and Halo of Galaxies

Most of the thermal energy in the Galaxy and perhaps most of the baryons in the Universe are found in hot (log T approximately 5.5 - 7) gas. Hot gas is detected in the local interstellar medium, in supernova remnants (SNR), the Galactic halo, galaxy clusters and the intergalactic medium (IGM). In our own Galaxy, hot gas exists in large superbubbles up to several hundred pc in diameter that locally dominate the interstellar medium (ISM) and determine its thermal and dynamic evolution. While X-ray observations using ROSAT, Chandra and XMM have allowed us to make dramatic progress in mapping out the morphology of the hot gas and in understanding some of its spectral characteristics, there remain fundamental questions that are unanswered. Chief among these questions is the way that hot gas interacts with cooler phase gas and the effects these interactions have on hot gas energetics. The theoretical investigations we proposed in this grant aim to explore these interactions and to develop observational diagnostics that will allow us to gain much improved information on the evolution of hot gas in the disk and halo of galaxies. The first of the series of investigations that we proposed was a thorough exploration of turbulent mixing layers and cloud evaporation. We proposed to employ a multi-dimensional hydrodynamical code that includes non-equilibrium ionization (NEI), radiative cooling and thermal conduction. These models are to be applied to high velocity clouds in our galactic halo that are seen to have O VI by FUSE (Sembach et ai. 2000) and other clouds for which sufficient constraining observations exist.

Slavin, Jonathan↗

A comparative bear model for immobility-induced osteopenia

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are seeking solutions to the human problem of osteopenia, or immobility-induced bone loss. Bears, during winter dormancy, appear uniquely exempted from the debilitating effects of immobility osteopenia. NIH and ESA, Inc. are creating a large database of metabolic information on human ambulatory and bedrest plasma samples for comparison with metabolic data obtained from bear plasma samples collected in different seasons. The database generated from NASA's HR113 human bedrest study showed a clear difference between plasma samples of ambulatory and immobile subjects through cluster analysis using compounds determined by high performance liquid chromatography with coulometric electrochemical array detection (HPLC-EC). We collected plasma samples from black bears (Ursus americanus) across 4 seasons and from 3 areas and subjected them to similar analysis, with particular attention to compounds that changed significantly in the NASA human study. We found seasonal differences in 28 known compounds and 33 unknown compounds. A final database contained 40 known and 120 unknown peaks that were reliably assayed in all bear and human samples; these were the primary data set for interspecies comparison. Six unidentified compounds changed significantly but differentially in wintering bears and immobile humans. The data are discussed in light of current theories regarding dormancy, starvation, and anabolic metabolism. Work is in progress by ESA Laboratories on a larger database to confirm these findings prior to a chemical isolation and identification effort. This research could lead to new pharmaceuticals or dietary interventions for the treatment of immobility osteopenia.

NASA Discipline Musculoskeletal↗

Dark Energy Survey Year 6 Results: improved mitigation of spatially varying observational systematics with masking

As photometric surveys reach unprecedented statistical precision, systematic uncertainties increasingly dominate large-scale structure probes relying on galaxy number density. Defining the final survey footprint is critical, as it excludes regions affected by artefacts or suboptimal observing conditions. For galaxy clustering, spatially varying observational systematics, such as seeing, are a leading source of bias. Template maps of contaminants are used to derive spatially dependent corrections, but extreme values may fall outside the applicability range of mitigation methods, compromising correction reliability. The complexity and accuracy of systematics modelling depend on footprint conservativeness, with aggressive masking enabling simpler, robust mitigation. We present a unified approach to define the DES Year 6 joint footprint, integrating observational systematics templates and artefact indicators that degrade mitigation performance. This removes extreme values from an initial seed footprint, leading to the final joint footprint. By evaluating the DES Year 6 lens sample MagLim++ plus plus on this footprint, we enhance the Iterative Systematics Decontamination (ISD) method, detecting non-linear systematic contamination and improving correction accuracy. While the mask's impact on clustering is less significant than systematics decontamination, it remains non-negligible, comparable to statistical uncertainties in certain w(theta) scales and redshift bins. Supporting coherent analyses of galaxy clustering and cosmic shear, the final footprint spans 4031.04 deg2, setting the basis for DES Year 6 1x2pt, 2x2pt, and 3x2pt analyses. This work highlights how targeted masking strategies optimise the balance between statistical power and systematic control in Stage-III and -IV surveys.

Rodríguez-Monroy, M. [Madrid, IFT; IJCLab, Orsay]↗

Functional metal–organic frameworks as effective sensors of gases and volatile compounds

Developing efficient sensor materials with superior performance for selective, fast and sensitive detection of gases and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is essential for human health and environmental protection, through monitoring indoor and outdoor air pollutions, managing industrial processes, controlling food quality and assisting early diagnosis of diseases. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are a unique type of crystalline and porous solid material constructed from metal nodes (metal ions or clusters) and functional organic ligands. They have been investigated extensively for possible use as high performance sensors for the detection of many different gases and VOCs in recent years, due to their large surface area, tunable pore size, functionalizable sites and intriguing properties, such as electrical conductivity, magnetism, ferroelectricity, luminescence and chromism. The high porosity of MOFs allows them to interact strongly with various analytes, including gases and VOCs, thus resulting in easily measurable responses to different physicochemical parameters. Although much of the recent work on MOF-based luminescent sensors have been summarized in several excellent reviews (up to 2018), a comprehensive overview of these materials for sensing gases and VOCs based on chemiresistive, magnetic, ferroelectric, and colorimertic mechanisms is missing. In this review, we highlight the most recent progress in developing MOF sensing and switching materials with an emphasis on sensing mechanisms based on electricity, magnetism, ferroelectricity and chromism. We provide a comprehensive analysis on the MOF–analyte interactions in these processes, which play a key role in the sensing performance of the MOF-based sensors and switches. We discuss in detail possible applications of MOF-based sensing and switching materials in detecting oxygen, water vapor, toxic industrial gases (such as hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide, carbon oxides and carbon disulfide) and VOCs (such as aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons, ketones, alcohols, aldehydes, chlorinated hydrocarbons and N,N'-dimethylformamide). Altogether, this review serves as a timely source of information and provides insight for the future development of advanced MOF materials as next-generation gas and VOC sensors.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Unsupervised Anomaly Detection in High-Dimensional Flight Data Using Convolutional Variational Auto-Encoder

The modern National Airspace System (NAS) is an extremely safe system and the aviation industry has experienced a steady decrease in fatalities over the years. This can be attributed to both improved flight critical systems with redundant hardware and software protections, as well as an increased focus on active monitoring and response to real time and historically identified vulnerabilities by implementing more resilient procedures and protocols. The main approach for identifying vulnerabilities in operations leverages domain expertise using knowledge about how the system should behave within the expected tolerances to known safety margins. This approach works well when the system has a well-defined operating condition. However, the operations in the NAS can be highly complex with various nuances that render it difficult to clearly pre-define all known safety vulnerabilities. With the advancement of data science and machine learning techniques, the potential to automatically identify emerging vulnerabilities in the observed operations has become more practical in recent years. The state-of-the-art anomaly detection approaches in aerospace data usually rely on supervised or semi-supervised learning. However, in many real-world problems such as flight safety, creating labels for the data requires huge amount of effort and is largely impractical. To address this challenge, we developed a Convolutional Variational Auto-Encoder (CVAE), which is an unsupervised learning approach for anomaly detection in high-dimensional heterogeneous time-series data. We validate performance of CVAE compared to the state-of-the-art supervised learning approach as well as unsupervised clustering-based approach using KMeans++ and kernel-based approach using One-Class Support Vector Machine (OC-SVM) on Yahoo!'s benchmark time series anomaly detection data. Finally, we showcase performance of CVAE on a case study of identifying anomalies in the first 60 seconds of commercial flights' take-offs using Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) data.

Memarzadeh, Milad↗

Bragg glass signatures in Pd x ErTe 3 with X-ray diffraction temperature clustering

The Bragg glass phase is a nearly perfect crystal with glassy features predicted to occur in vortex lattices and charge-density-wave systems in the presence of disorder. Detecting it has been challenging, despite its sharp theoretical definition in terms of diverging correlation lengths. Here we present bulk probe evidence supporting a Bragg glass phase in the systematically disordered charge-density-wave material of Pd x ErTe 3 . We do this by using comprehensive X-ray data and a machine-learning-based analysis tool called X-ray diffraction temperature clustering (X-TEC). We establish a diverging correlation length in samples with moderate intercalation over a wide temperature range. To enable this analysis, we introduced a high-throughput measure of inverse correlation length that we call peak spread. The detection of Bragg glass order and the resulting phase diagram advance our understanding of the complex interplay between disorder and fluctuations. Moreover, the use of our analysis technique to target fluctuations through a high-throughput measure of peak spread can revolutionize the study of fluctuations in scattering experiments.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Nova-driven winds in globular clusters

Recent sensitive searches for H-alpha emission from ionized intracluster gas in globular clusters have set upper limits that conflict with theoretical predictions. It is suggested that nova outbursts heat the gas, producing winds that resolve this discrepancy. The incidence of novae in globular clusters, the conversion of kinetic energy of the nova shell to thermal energy of the intracluster gas, and the characteristics of the resultant winds are discussed. Calculated emission from the nova-driven models does not conflict with any observations to date. Some suggestions are made concerning the most promising approaches for future detection of intracluster gas on the basis of these models. The possible relationship of nova-driven winds to globular cluster X-ray sources is also considered.

Scott, E. H.↗

Two Ultra-faint Milky Way Stellar Systems Discovered in Early Data from the DECam Local Volume Exploration Survey

We report the discovery of two ultra-faint stellar systems found in early data from the DECam Local Volume Exploration survey (DELVE). The first system, Centaurus I (DELVE J1238-4054), is identified as a resolved overdensity of old and metal-poor stars with a heliocentric distance of ${\rm D}_{\odot} = 116.3_{-0.6}^{+0.6}$ kpc, a half-light radius of $r_h = 2.3_{-0.3}^{+0.4}$ arcmin, an age of $\tau > 12.85$ Gyr, a metallicity of $Z = 0.0002_{-0.0002}^{+0.0001}$, and an absolute magnitude of $M_V = -5.55_{-0.11}^{+0.11}$ mag. This characterization is consistent with the population of ultra-faint satellites, and confirmation of this system would make Centaurus I one of the brightest recently discovered ultra-faint dwarf galaxies. Centaurus I is detected in Gaia DR2 with a clear and distinct proper motion signal, confirming that it is a real association of stars distinct from the Milky Way foreground; this is further supported by the clustering of blue horizontal branch stars near the centroid of the system. The second system, DELVE 1 (DELVE J1630-0058), is identified as a resolved overdensity of stars with a heliocentric distance of ${\rm D}_{\odot} = 19.0_{-0.6}^{+0.5} kpc$, a half-light radius of $r_h = 0.97_{-0.17}^{+0.24}$ arcmin, an age of $\tau = 12.5_{-0.7}^{+1.0}$ Gyr, a metallicity of $Z = 0.0005_{-0.0001}^{+0.0002}$, and an absolute magnitude of $M_V = -0.2_{-0.6}^{+0.8}$ mag, consistent with the known population of faint halo star clusters. Here, given the low number of probable member stars at magnitudes accessible with Gaia DR2, a proper motion signal for DELVE 1 is only marginally detected. We compare the spatial position and proper motion of both Centaurus I and DELVE 1 with simulations of the accreted satellite population of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and find that neither is likely to be associated with the LMC.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Radio sources in the field of globular clusters

Eleven globular clusters have been surveyed in the continuum at 2695 and 8085 MHz with the NRAO Green Bank interferometer. The nine clusters discussed probably show unresolved sources with flux densities of the order of 10 mJy. Most of them are not at cluster centers. The dual-frequency data are mostly consistent with nonthermal spectra or with partial resolution, at the higher frequency, of sources with flat spectra. The planetary nebula in M15 has been detected. The empirical statistics of cosmic field sources suggest that they may account for some, but not all, of the sources in the field of globular clusters.

Johnson, H. M.↗

Einstein Observatory solid state spectrometer observations of M87 and the Virgo cluster

X-ray observations of the galaxy M87 and of a region in the Virgo cluster displaced 7 minutes from the center of M87 are presented. X-ray spectra are obtained at these two locations with the slid state spectrometer onboard the Einstein Observatory. Emission lines were observed in both locations, indicating the presence of heavy elements at abundances approximately solar (to within a factor of 2). A temperature gradient, T increases from approximately 1.4 keV at the position of M87 to T approximately 3.35 keV 7' away, was detected. There is lower temperature thermal emission at the center of M87 with T approximately 0.6 keV, consistent with models for cooling flows in this cluster. In addition to the thermal emission, a power law component in the spectrum of M87, was detected consistent with that observed by HEAO-1, indicating that this component probably originates in the galaxy itself. The presence of intracluster gas having density approximately .001 cu cm and temperature approximately 30 million K is indicated.

Lea, S. M.↗

Three Gravitationally Lensed Supernovae Behind Clash Galaxy Clusters

We report observations of three gravitationally lensed supernovae (SNe) in the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) Multi-Cycle Treasury program. These objects, SN CLO12Car (z = 1.28), SN CLN12Did (z = 0.85), and SN CLA11Tib (z = 1.14), are located behind three different clusters, MACSJ1720.2+3536 (z = 0.391), RXJ1532.9+3021 (z = 0.345), and A383 (z = 0.187), respectively. Each SN was detected in Hubble Space Telescope optical and infrared images. Based on photometric classification, we find that SNe CLO12Car and CLN12Did are likely to be Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), while the classification of SN CLA11Tib is inconclusive. Using multi-color light-curve fits to determine a standardized SN Ia luminosity distance, we infer that SN CLO12Car was approx. 1.0 +/- 0.2 mag brighter than field SNe Ia at a similar redshift and ascribe this to gravitational lens magnification. Similarly, SN CLN12Did is approx. 0.2 +/- 0.2 mag brighter than field SNe Ia. We derive independent estimates of the predicted magnification from CLASH strong+weak-lensing maps of the clusters (in magnitude units, 2.5 log10 μ): 0.83 +/- 0.16 mag for SN CLO12Car, 0.28 +/- 0.08 mag for SN CLN12Did, and 0.43 +/- 0.11 mag for SN CLA11Tib. The two SNe Ia provide a new test of the cluster lens model predictions: we find that the magnifications based on the SN Ia brightness and those predicted by the lens maps are consistent. Our results herald the promise of future observations of samples of cluster-lensed SNe Ia (from the ground or space) to help illuminate the dark-matter distribution in clusters of galaxies, through the direct determination of absolute magnifications.

Three↗

Real Time Intelligent Target Detection and Analysis with Machine Vision

We present an algorithm for detecting a specified set of targets for an Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) application. ATR involves processing images for detecting, classifying, and tracking targets embedded in a background scene. We address the problem of discriminating between targets and nontarget objects in a scene by evaluating 40x40 image blocks belonging to an image. Each image block is first projected onto a set of templates specifically designed to separate images of targets embedded in a typical background scene from those background images without targets. These filters are found using directed principal component analysis which maximally separates the two groups. The projected images are then clustered into one of n classes based on a minimum distance to a set of n cluster prototypes. These cluster prototypes have previously been identified using a modified clustering algorithm based on prior sensed data. Each projected image pattern is then fed into the associated cluster's trained neural network for classification. A detailed description of our algorithm will be given in this paper. We outline our methodology for designing the templates, describe our modified clustering algorithm, and provide details on the neural network classifiers. Evaluation of the overall algorithm demonstrates that our detection rates approach 96% with a false positive rate of less than 0.03%.

Howard, Ayanna↗

Two Luminous Post-AGB Stars in the Galactic Globular Cluster M19

We report the discovery of a luminous “yellow” post–asymptotic giant branch (PAGB) star in the globular cluster (GC) M19 (NGC 6273), identified during our uBVI survey of Galactic GCs. The uBVI photometric system is optimized to detect stars with large Balmer discontinuities, indicating very low surface gravities and high luminosities. The spectral energy distribution (SED) of the star is consistent with an effective temperature of about 6250 K and a surface gravity of logg=0.5. We use Gaia data to show that the star’s proper motion and radial velocity are consistent with cluster membership. One aim of our program is to test yellow PAGB stars as candidate Population II standard candles for determining extragalactic distances. We derive a visual absolute magnitude of M {sub V} = − 3.39 ± 0.09 for the M19 star. This is in close agreement with the M {sub V} values found for yellow PAGB stars in the GCs ω Cen, NGC 5986, and M79, indicating a very narrow luminosity function. These objects are 4 mag brighter than RR Lyrae variables, and they can largely avoid the issues of interstellar extinction that are a problem for Population I distance indicators. We also identified a second luminous PAGB object in M19, this one a hotter “UV-bright” star. Its SED is consistent with an effective temperature of about 11,750 K and logg=2.0. The two objects have nearly identical bolometric luminosities, logL/L{sub ⊙}=3.24 and 3.22, respectively.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗