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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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At least 703 records · Page 39

Separating Real and Apparent Effects of Cloud, Humidity, and Dynamics on Aerosol Optical Thickness near Cloud Edges

Aerosol optical thickness (AOT) is one of aerosol parameters that can be measured on a routine basis with reasonable accuracy from Sun-photometric observations at the surface. However, AOT-derived near clouds is fraught with various real effects and artifacts, posing a big challenge for studying aerosol and cloud interactions. Recently, several studies have reported correlations between AOT and cloud cover, pointing to potential cloud contamination and the aerosol humidification effect; however, not many quantitative assessments have been made. In this study, various potential causes of apparent correlations are investigated in order to separate the real effects from the artifacts, using well-maintained observations from the Aerosol Robotic Network, Total Sky Imager, airborne nephelometer, etc., over the Southern Great Plains site operated by the U.S. Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program. It was found that aerosol humidification effects can explain about one fourth of the correlation between the cloud cover and AOT. New particle genesis, cloud-processed particles, atmospheric dynamics, and aerosol indirect effects are likely to be contributing to as much as the remaining three fourth of the relationship between cloud cover and AOT.

Jeong, Myeong-Jae↗

Pressure-Driven Changes in the Electronic Bonding Environment of GeO 2 Glass above Megabar Pressures

Noncrystalline oxides under pressure undergo gradual structural modifications, highlighted by the formation of a dense noncrystalline network topology. The nature of the densified networks and their electronic structures at high pressures may account for the mechanical hardening and the anomalous changes in electromagnetic properties. Despite its importance, direct probing of the electronic structures in amorphous oxides under compression above the Mbar pressure (>100 GPa) is currently lacking. Here, we report the observation of pressure-driven changes in electronic configurations and their delocalization around oxygen in glasses using inelastic X-ray scattering spectroscopy (IXS). In particular, the first O K-edge IXS spectra for compressed GeO 2 glass up to 148 GPa, the highest pressure ever reached in an experimental study of GeO 2 glass, reveal that the glass densification results from a progressive increase of oxygen proximity. While the triply coordinated oxygen [3] O is dominant below ~50 GPa, the IXS spectra resolve multiple edge features that are unique to topologically disordered [4] O upon densification above 55 GPa. Topological compaction in GeO 2 glass above 100 GPa results in pronounced electronic delocalization, revealing the contribution from Ge d-orbitals to oxide densification. Strong correlations between the glass density and the electronic configurations beyond the Mbar conditions highlight the electronic origins of densification of heavy-metal-bearing oxide glasses. Furthermore, current experimental breakthroughs shed light on the direct probing of the electronic density of states in high-Z oxides above 1 Mbar, offering prospects for studies on the pressure-driven changes in magnetism, superconductivity, and electronic transport properties in heavy-metal-bearing oxides under compression.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Portable Parallel Algorithms and Frameworks for Exascale Graph Analytics

Graphs (or networks) are a tool used to model the interactions among various entities. Efficiently processing large graphs has recently attracted significant attention due to the applications of graphs in various domains, such as biology, chemistry, and cyber-security. Analyzing the structure and properties of these graphs is an important component of many scientific computing pipelines. With the explosion in the volume of data, graphs have become very large and can contain hundreds of billions of vertices and trillions of edges. Therefore, it is crucial to develop high-performance methods to enable graph analysis to be done quickly and energy-efficiently. Furthermore, these solutions should be highly parallel in order to take advantage of modern parallel machines. However, designing efficient solutions is not enough. With the wide variety of computing environments available, each with different programmability and performance characteristics, it is necessary to develop solutions that are portable in terms of both performance (i.e., provide theoretical guarantees) and programmability (i.e., provide high level abstractions).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Threat Hunt Guide for BESS Environments

The rapid digitalization of the electric grid - driven by the integration of inverter-based resources (IBRs), battery energy storage systems (BESS), and advanced grid control platforms - has significantly enhanced grid efficiency, visibility, and flexibility. However, this evolution also introduces new cybersecurity risks, particularly through supply chain dependencies and operational blind spots at the grid edge. To address these challenges, Idaho National Laboratory (INL), through the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) Rapid Risk initiative, conducted a series of rapid risk assessment engagements with energy organizations across the United States. Drawing on lessons learned from these engagements, INL developed the following threat hunting guide for asset owners and operators (AOOs) to enhance their cybersecurity visibility within BESS and IBR systems. The guide demonstrates how to use passive network monitoring to baseline device behavior, detect adversarial activity, and investigate anomalies without disrupting operations. By implementing these practices, energy sector stakeholders can improve coordination between cybersecurity and operations teams and strengthen the resilience of distributed energy resources (DERs) within the modern power grid. Prior to implementing any network monitoring, packet capture, or threat hunting activity described in this guide, AOOs are strongly advised to review applicable governance frameworks, legal requirements, and organizational policies. This guide is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It does not replace compliance with any federal, state, or local cybersecurity mandates or industry standards. Implementation of described configurations, technologies, or analytic workflows is performed at the discretion and responsibility of the asset owner and operator.

25 - ENERGY STORAGE↗

A Simple and Accurate Energy-Detector-Based Transient Waveform Detection for Smart Grids: Real-World Field Data Performance

Integration of distributed energy sources, advanced meshed operation, sensors, automation, and communication networks all contribute to autonomous operations and decision-making processes utilized in the grid. Therefore, smart grid systems require sophisticated supporting structures. Furthermore, rapid detection and identification of disturbances and transients are a necessary first step towards situationally aware smart grid systems. This way, high-level monitoring is achieved and the entire system kept operational. Even though smart grid systems are unavoidably sophisticated, low-complexity algorithms need to be developed for real-time sensing on the edge and online applications to alert stakeholders in the event of an anomaly. In this study, the simplest form of anomaly detection mechanism in the absence of any a priori knowledge, namely, the energy detector (also known as radiometer in the field of wireless communications and signal processing), is investigated as a triggering mechanism, which may include automated alerts and notifications for grid anomalies. In contrast to the mainstream literature, it does not rely on transform domain tools; therefore, utmost design and implementation simplicity are attained. Performance results of the proposed energy detector algorithm are validated by real power system data obtained from the DOE/EPRI National Database of power system events and the Grid Signature Library.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Slot spiral antenna modeling using hybrid/mixed FE-BI technique

This report is concerned with the numerical simulation of the printed slot spiral antenna (SSA) using the finite element - boundary integral (FE-BI) analysis. It has been reported that the FE-BI technique is suited for modeling microstrip patch antennas of any shape, printed on layered planar structure or cylindrical platform and fed with a coaxial cable or a microstripline network underneath the radiating elements. However, direct application of the hybrid FE-BI technique to thin slot spirals requires excessive sampling rates to accurately simulate the geometry. To alleviate the meshing/modeling difficulties encountered with cavity-backed slot antennas, we describe a mixed finite element-boundary integral formulation. As in the past, the boundary integral is used to describe the radiation of the slot above the cavity. However the cavity is now modeled using a suitable mix of edge and node elements. The latter are used only at the aperture of the thin slot so that the nodes follow the center line of the slot. In this manner, regular size elements can be used regardless of the slot's width and any meshing restrictions are substantially relaxed. The proposed mixed element FE-BI formulation introduces three different computational regions and as expected this complicates the generation of the discrete system.

Gong, Jian↗

Intensive disc-reverberation mapping of Fairall 9: first year of Swift and LCO monitoring

We present results of time-series analysis of the first year of the Fairall 9 intensive disc-reverberation campaign. We used Swift and the Las Cumbres Observatory global telescope network to continuously monitor Fairall 9 from X-rays to near-infrared at a daily to subdaily cadence. The cross-correlation function between bands provides evidence for a lag spectrum consistent with the τ ∝ λ^(4/3) scaling expected for an optically thick, geometrically thin blackbody accretion disc. Decomposing the flux into constant and variable components, the variable component’s spectral energy distribution is slightly steeper than the standard accretion disc prediction. We find evidence at the Balmer edge in both the lag and flux spectra for an additional bound-free continuum contribution that may arise from reprocessing in the broad-line region. The inferred driving light curve suggests two distinct components, a rapidly variable (<4 d) component arising from X-ray reprocessing, and a more slowly varying (>100 d) component with an opposite lag to the reverberation signal.

J V Hernández Santisteban↗

Unveiling X-ray absorption signatures of boron nitride via first-principles simulation and machine learning

Boron nitride (BN) allotropes hold great promise in many advanced applications ranging from optical and photonic devices to energy storage and battery systems to tribological components. The diverse functionalities of this material stem from BN’s highly tunable structural and electronic properties, which are governed by the versatile boron–nitrogen bonding configurations. Exploring the structural landscape of BN can unveil novel structures possessing unique properties suited for specific applications, therefore accelerating the design of next-generation advanced functional materials. In this work, we leverage boron K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) as an effective probe for local structural features and chemical environments. A total of 210 BN crystal structures are generated via analogies to the extensive array of carbon allotropes, and XAS is simulated for each unique local motif within the resulting collection of structures. A mapping between structural features and spectral signatures was established by synergizing first-principle simulations with data-driven based post-analysis approaches. Specifically, we developed a neural network model that can satisfactorily predict spectra line shapes from local structural descriptors. Toward automatic spectroscopic interpretation of any new BN structures, supervised machine learning models, trained on this structure–spectrum dataset, can accurately infer local coordination environments from simulated XAS, highlighting the strength of this unique approach of combining high-fidelity first-principles simulation and machine-learning to accelerate target design of novel BN materials via rational understanding of local structure-spectrum correlations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

A large-scale computer facility for computational aerodynamics

As a result of advances related to the combination of computer system technology and numerical modeling, computational aerodynamics has emerged as an essential element in aerospace vehicle design methodology. NASA has, therefore, initiated the Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation (NAS) Program with the objective to provide a basis for further advances in the modeling of aerodynamic flowfields. The Program is concerned with the development of a leading-edge, large-scale computer facility. This facility is to be made available to Government agencies, industry, and universities as a necessary element in ensuring continuing leadership in computational aerodynamics and related disciplines. Attention is given to the requirements for computational aerodynamics, the principal specific goals of the NAS Program, the high-speed processor subsystem, the workstation subsystem, the support processing subsystem, the graphics subsystem, the mass storage subsystem, the long-haul communication subsystem, the high-speed data-network subsystem, and software.

Bailey, F. R.↗

Shuffle-exchanges on augmented meshes

A mesh connected array of size N = two to the Kth power, K an integer, can be augmented by adding at most one edge per node such that it can perform a shuffle-exchange of size N/2 in constant time. A shuffle-exchange of size N is performed on this augmented array in constant time. This is done by combining the available perfect shuffle of size N/2 with the existing nearest neighbor connections of the mesh. By carefully scheduling the different permutations that are composed in order to achieve the shuffle, the time required is reduced to 5 steps, which is optimal for this network.

Bokhari, S. H.↗

Distributed Multi-GPU Community Detection on Exascale Computing Platforms

Community detection is a fundamental operation in graph mining, and by uncovering hidden structures and patterns within complex systems it helps solve fundamental problems pertaining to social networks, such as information diffusion, epidemics, and recommender systems. Scaling graph algorithms for massive networks becomes challenging on modern distributed-memory multi-GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) systems due to limitations such as irregular memory access patterns, load imbalances, higher communication-computation ratios, and cross-platform support. We present a novel algorithm HiPDPL-GPU (distributed parallel Louvain) to address these challenges. We conduct experiments involving different partitioning techniques to achieve optimized performance of HiPDPL-GPU on the two largest supercomputers: Frontier and Summit. Remarkably, HiPDPL-GPU processes a graph with 4.2 billion edges in less than 3 minutes using 1024 GPUs. Qualitatively performance of HiPDPL-GPU is similar or better compared to other state-of-the-art CPU- and GPU-based implementations. While prior GPU implementations have predominantly employed CUDA, our first-of-its-kind implementation for community detection is cross-platform, accommodating both AMD and NVIDIA GPUs.

graph algorithms, high performance comptuing↗

Conditional Generative Adversarial Networks for Solving Heat Transfer Problems

Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have been used as a deep learning approach to solving physics and engineering problems. Using deep learning for these problems is attractive in that reasonably accurate models can be inferred from only raw data, eliminating the need to define the exact physical equations governing a problem. We expand on previous work using GANs to generate steady-state solutions to the two-dimensional heat equation. Using a basic conditional GAN (cGAN), we generate accurate solutions for rectangular domains conditioned on four edge boundary conditions (MAE < 0.5%). For finding steady-state solutions over arbitrary two-dimensional domains (not constrained to rectangles), we use a cGAN designed for image-to-image translation. We train this GAN on various types of geometric domains (circles, squares, triangles, shapes with one circular or rectangular hole), achieving accurate results on test data made up of geometries similar to those in training (MAE < 1%). For both of these GANs, we experiment with different loss function terms, showing that a term using the gradients of solution images significantly improves the basic cGAN but not the image-to-image GAN. Lastly, we show that the image-to-image GAN performs poorly when applied to two-dimensional geometries that vary in structure from training data (MAE < 8% for shapes with multiple holes or different shaped holes). This demonstrates the cGAN's lack of generalizability. While the cGAN is an accurate and computationally efficient method when trained and tested on similarly structured data, it is a much less reliable method when applied to data that is slightly different in structure from the training data.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Plasmonic Ag nanocomposite phosphate glasses produced via γ-ray irradiation as reduction route

This paper reports on the impact of γ-ray irradiation (10, 100 kGy) on melt-quenched Ag + -doped phosphate glass and the effects of subsequent thermal processing leading to the production of plasmonic Ag nanocomposites. The γ-irradiated glasses were characterized alongside the pristine by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Raman spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, optical absorption, and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. DSC characterization showed consistent glass transition temperatures (T g ) before and after γ-irradiation whereas the crystallization temperatures tended to decrease with increasing γ-ray dose. However, a lack of alteration of the glass network structure was supported by Raman spectroscopy. Room temperature EPR spectra clearly showed the formation of phosphorus oxygen hole center (POHC) defects in the undoped host, in addition to another doublet likely associated with a P 3 defect. The presence of paramagnetic silver species encompassing Ag 2+ and 107/109 Ag 0 atoms was also indicated in the silver-activated glass together with POHC defects. Optical absorption spectra were also consistent with the presence of various radiation-induced centers. Further analyzing the glass absorption edge via Tauc plots suggested the formation of electron center (EC) defects in γ-irradiated samples wherein the silver-doped glass exhibited decreasing band gap energies with increasing γ-ray dose. The PL characterization showed the silver-related radio-PL effect was induced exhibiting broad band emission with two maxima around 500 and 625 nm stemming from various molecular Ag$^{x+}_{n}$ clusters. Emission decay analyses revealed that the longer wavelength emission exhibited slower decay. The highest radiation dose of 100 kGy however resulted in weaker emission and faster decay kinetics attributed to energy transfer between the luminescent silver species and POHC defects. Finally subjecting the γ-irradiated Ag-doped glasses to heat treatment near the T g at 490 °C led to the development of the surface plasmon resonance of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) and the vanishing of the Ag$^{x+}_{n}$ clusters luminescence. In conclusion, the presence of the matrix-related EC defects was deemed accountable for the thermally induced reduction and consequent precipitation of Ag NPs making the plasmonic glasses attractive for photonic applications such as nonlinear optics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Gas-Phase Synthesis of Coronene through Stepwise Directed Ring Annulation

Molecular beam experiments together with electronic structure calculations provide the first evidence of a complex network of elementary gas-phase reactions culminating in the bottom-up preparation of the 24π aromatic coronene (C 24 H 12 ) molecule–a representative peri-fused polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) central to the complex chemistry of combustion systems and circumstellar envelopes of carbon stars. The gas-phase synthesis of coronene proceeds via aryl radical-mediated ring annulations through benzo[e]pyrene (C 20 H 12 ) and benzo[ghi]perylene (C 22 H 12 ) involving armchair-, zigzag-, and arm-zig-edged aromatic intermediates, highlighting the chemical diversity of molecular mass growth processes to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Furthermore, the isomer-selective identification of five- to six-ringed aromatics culminating with the detection of coronene is accomplished through photoionization and is based upon photoionization efficiency curves along with photoion mass-selected threshold photoelectron spectra, providing a versatile concept of molecular mass growth processes via aromatic and resonantly stabilized free radical intermediates to two-dimensional carbonaceous nanostructures.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

CaloChallenge 2022: a community challenge for fast calorimeter simulation

Here, we present the results of the ‘Fast Calorimeter Simulation Challenge 2022’—the CaloChallenge. We study state-of-the-art generative models on four calorimeter shower datasets of increasing dimensionality, ranging from a few hundred voxels to a few tens of thousand voxels. The 31 individual submissions span a wide range of current popular generative architectures, including variational autoencoders (VAEs), generative adversarial networks (GANs), normalizing flows, diffusion models, and models based on conditional flow matching. We compare all submissions in terms of quality of generated calorimeter showers, as well as shower generation time and model size. To assess the quality we use a broad range of different metrics including differences in one-dimensional histograms of observables, KPD/FPD scores, AUCs of binary classifiers, and the log-posterior of a multiclass classifier. The results of the CaloChallenge provide the most complete and comprehensive survey of cutting-edge approaches to calorimeter fast simulation to date. In addition, our work provides a uniquely detailed perspective on the important problem of how to evaluate generative models. As such, the results presented here should be applicable for other domains that use generative AI and require fast and faithful generation of samples in a large phase space.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Distributed Multi-GPU Community Detection on Exascale Computing Platforms

Community detection is a fundamental operation in graph mining, and by uncovering hidden structures and patterns within complex systems it helps solve fundamental problems pertaining to social networks, such as information diffusion, epidemics, and recommender systems. Scaling graph algorithms for massive networks becomes challenging on modern distributed-memory multi-GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) systems due to limitations such as irregular memory access patterns, load imbalances, higher communication-computation ratios, and cross-platform support. We present a novel algorithm HiPDPL-GPU (Distributed Parallel Louvain) to address these challenges. We conduct experiments involving different partitioning techniques to achieve an optimized performance of HiPDPL-GPU on the two largest supercomputers: Frontier and Summit. Remarkably, HiPDPL-GPU processes a graph with 4.2 billion edges in less than 3 minutes using 1024 GPUs. Qualitatively, the performance of HiPDPL-GPU is similar or better compared to other state-of-the-art CPU- and GPU-based implementations. While prior GPU implementations have predominantly employed CUDA, our first-of-its-kind implementation for community detection is cross-platform, accommodating both AMD and NVIDIA GPUs.

Sattar, Naw Safrin↗

Understanding important features of deep learning models for segmentation of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images

Cutting edge deep learning techniques allow for image segmentation with great speed and accuracy. However, application to problems in materials science is often difficult since these complex models may have difficultly learning meaningful image features that would enable extension to new datasets. In situ electron microscopy provides a clear platform for utilizing automated image analysis. In this work, we consider the case of studying coarsening dynamics in supported nanoparticles, which is important for understanding, for example, the degradation of industrial catalysts. By systematically studying dataset preparation, neural network architecture, and accuracy evaluation, we describe important considerations in applying deep learning to physical applications, where generalizable and convincing models are required. With a focus on unique challenges that arise in high-resolution images, we propose methods for optimizing performance of image segmentation using convolutional neural networks, critically examining the application of complex deep learning models in favor of motivating intentional process design.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

RuralAI in Tomato Farming: Integrated Sensor System, Distributed Computing, and Hierarchical Federated Learning for Crop Health Monitoring

Precision horticulture is evolving due to scalable sensor deployment and machine learning (ML) integration. These advancements boost the operational efficiency of individual farms, balancing the benefits of analytics with autonomy requirements. However, given concerns that affect wide geographic regions (e.g., climate change), there is a need to apply models that span farms. Federated learning (FL) has emerged as a potential solution. FL enables decentralized ML across different farms without sharing private data. Traditional FL assumes simple two-tier network topologies and, thus, falls short of operating on more complex networks found in real-world agricultural scenarios. Networks vary across crops and farms and encompass various sensor data modes, extending across jurisdictions. New hierarchical FL (HFL) approaches are needed for more efficient and context-sensitive model sharing, accommodating regulations across multiple jurisdictions. Here, we present the RuralAI architecture deployment for tomato crop monitoring, featuring sensor field units for soil, crop, and weather data collection. HFL with personalization is used to offer localized and adaptive insights. Model management, aggregation, and transfers are facilitated via a flexible approach, enabling seamless communication between local devices, edge nodes, and the cloud.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗