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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 721 records · Page 40

Network reconfiguration and distributed energy resource scheduling for improved distribution system resilience

Electric utility companies work to restore as much load as possible after power outages caused by extreme weather events. In this paper, an outage management strategy is proposed to enhance distribution system resilience through network reconfiguration and distributed energy resources (DERs) scheduling. After a line fault, the proposed algorithm can identify radial network topology based on the rank of the incidence matrix. The reconfiguration is implemented by switching tie lines and sectionalizing lines. With the new network topology, an optimal DER scheduling problem is solved to minimize the accumulative cost for dispatchable DER operation and load reduction. Finally, the optimal topology that minimizes the accumulative cost is selected from all radial topologies. The computational workload is relatively low because only linear programming needs to be solved. Using the case studies of the IEEE 69-bus and IEEE 123-bus systems, we consider the worst-case scenarios in which faults occur in the upstream feeder. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed strategy allows for a relatively high percentage of the load to remain in service after line faults. Furthermore, compared with microgrid-formation approaches, the proposed strategy has advantages when applied to the distribution systems with several normally-open tie lines and low DER penetration.

42 ENGINEERING↗

GronOR: Scalable and Accelerated Nonorthogonal Configuration Interaction for Molecular Fragment Wave Functions

GronOR is a program package for nonorthogonal configuration interaction calculations. Electronic wave functions are constructed in terms of antisymmetrized products of multiconfiguration molecular fragment wave functions. The computational complexity of the nonorthogonal methodologies implemented in GronOR applied to large molecular assemblies requires a design that takes full advantage of massively parallel supercomputer architectures and accelerator technologies. This work describes the implementation strategy and resulting performance characteristics. In addition to parallelization and acceleration, the software development strategy includes aspects of fault resiliency and heterogeneous computing. The program was designed for large-scale supercomputers but also runs effectively on small clusters and workstations for small molecular systems. GronOR is available as open source to the scientific community.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Polariton Formation from Soret Band Excitons in Metal–Organic Frameworks and Plasmonic Lattices

This Letter describes strong coupling between a plasmonic nanoparticle (NP) lattice cavity and Soret excitons in a metal–organic framework (MOF) film. In optical transmission measurements, we observed a lower polariton mode that can be spectrally tuned by infiltrating MOF pores with solvents of different refractive index. Using transient absorption spectroscopy, both the lower and upper polariton modes can be resolved, with an estimated Rabi splitting of ~300 meV, nearly twice that of other plasmonic cavity–organic emitter systems. The polariton modes decay more rapidly than that of the uncoupled exciton. Furthermore, this hybrid system highlights the advantages of open plasmonic cavities for tunable coupling and the use of transient absorption spectroscopy to identify polariton modes.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Cell-Free-Based Thermophilic Biocatalyst for the Synthesis of Amino Acids from One-Carbon Feedstocks

Bioproduction from one-carbon compounds, such as formate, is an attractive prospect due to reduced energy requirements and the possibility for using CO 2 as a sustainable feedstock. Formate-fixing pathways engineered using Escherichia coli lysate-based cell-free expression (CFE) biocatalysts have the potential to route 100% of feedstock carbon toward chemical synthesis but are undermined by siphoning of in-pathway metabolites and cofactors by the CFE background metabolism. To address this limitation, we engineer a CFE-based thermophilic multienzyme biocatalyst for the synthesis of serine and glycine from formate, bicarbonate, and ammonia. After expression of the thermophilic formate-to-serine pathway in a one-pot reaction, the mesophilic E. coli CFE background machinery is removed by simple heat denaturation, eliminating the siphoning of cofactors, inpathway metabolites, and products. After bioprocess optimization, including pathway gene expression duration and chemical synthesis temperature, we achieve near stoichiometric conversion of formate and bicarbonate to serine and glycine, reaching 97% of stoichiometric yield. The use of a moderately thermophilic biocatalyst allowed chemical synthesis to take place at mesophilic temperatures, enabling the balance of optimal enzyme activity with minimal metabolite/cofactor thermal degradation. In a fed-batch experiment, the biocatalyst shows sustained chemical synthesis rates for 8 h, paving the way toward a continuous bioprocess. Finally, a sensitivity analysis of cofactor usage revealed that the most expensive cofactors, THF and NADPH, can be reduced by 5-fold without significantly lowering product yields. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first instance of expressing a thermophilic pathway in an E. coli lysate-based CFE system to generate a thermophilic biocatalyst for use at mesophilic temperatures. The CFEbased thermophilic formate-to-serine biocatalyst triples the combined serine and glycine yield previously obtained by a CFE-based mesophilic formate-to-serine biocatalyst (30%), and quadruple the yield obtained by a purified enzyme system (22%). Ultimately, this work opens the door to using E. coli lysate-based CFE for thermophilic biocatalyst generation to achieve high chemical synthesis yields.

bacteria↗

Laser-based conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy of 229 ThO 2

The exceptionally low-energy 229 Th nuclear isomeric state is expected to provide several new and powerful applications, including the construction of a robust and portable solid-state nuclear clock, perhaps contributing to a redefinition of the second, exploration of nuclear superradiance and tests of fundamental physics. Further, analogous to the capabilities of traditional Mössbauer spectroscopy, the sensitivity of the nucleus to its environment can be used to realize laser Mössbauer spectroscopy and, with it, new types of strain and temperature sensors and a new probe of the solid-state environment, all with excellent sensitivity. However, current models for examining the nuclear transition in a solid require the use of a high-bandgap, vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) transmissive host, severely limiting the applicability of these techniques. Here we report the first, to the authors’ knowledge, demonstration of laser-induced conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy (CEMS) of the 229 Th isomer in a thin ThO 2 sample whose bandgap (approximately 6 eV) is considerably smaller than the nuclear isomeric state energy (8.4 eV). Unlike fluorescence spectroscopy of the 229 Th isomeric transition, this technique is compatible with materials whose bandgap is less than the nuclear transition energy, opening a wider class of systems to study and the potential of a conversion-electron-based nuclear clock.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Photovoltaic effect on silicon–alumina–ferromagnet tunnel junction providing insights about spin-dependent molecular spintronics solar cells

The study focuses on the observation of the photovoltaic (PV) effect on Si/AlOx/FM semiconductor–insulator–ferromagnetic metal (SIFM) structure. Utilization of ~10 nm NiFe film as the top ferromagnet (FM) layer was permeable for sufficient light radiation necessary for reaching the silicon substrate for the generation of electron–hole pairs upon photoexcitation. The effect of light intensity and magnetic field was studied on the SIFM’s PV response. We also investigated the role of silicon doping and the AlOx tunnel barrier between Si and FM in exploring suitable band bending necessary for separating the electron–hole pairs. Increasing the dopant density in Si and a damaged AlOx tunnel barrier quenched the PV effect. Ferromagnet/Insulator/Ferromagnet (FMIFM) was also studied to gain deeper mechanistic insights into the spin-dependent photovoltaic effect observed on FM/AlOx/FM tunnel junction-based molecular spintronics devices. Bridging of magnetic molecules between the Si and FM electrodes of SIFM increased the overall device current by establishing additional parallel conduction channels along with the AlOx tunnel barrier. However, SIFM with molecular conduction channels did not produce a PV effect. This study reported the PV effect on well-designed SIFM and opened possibilities for exploring new systems. More importantly, this paper provided insights into the role of molecule-induced exchange coupling in transforming an ordinary, cheap, and widely available ferromagnet into a semiconductor-like material capable of showing PV.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Dynamic embedding of effective harmonic normal mode vibrations in all-atomistic energy gap fluctuations: Case study of light harvesting 2 complex

Environmental effects in excitation energy transfer have mostly been modeled by baths of harmonic oscillators, but to what extent such modeling provides a reliable description of actual interactions between molecular systems and environments remains an open issue. Here, we address this issue by investigating fluctuations in the excitation energies of the light harvesting 2 complex using a realistic all-atomistic simulation of the potential energy surface. Our analyses reveal that molecular motions exhibit significant anharmonic features, even for underdamped intramolecular vibrations. In particular, we find that the anharmonicity contributes to the broadening of spectral densities and substantial overlaps between neighboring peaks, which complicates the meaning of mode frequencies constituting a bath model. Thus, we develop a strategy to construct a minimally underdamped harmonic bath that has a clear connection to all-atomistic dynamics by utilizing actual normal modes of molecules but optimizing their frequencies such that the resulting bath model can best reproduce the all-atomistic simulation results. By subtracting the underdamped contribution from the entire fluctuations, we also show that identifying a residual spectral density representing all other contributions with overdamped behavior is possible. We find that this can be fitted well with a well-established analytic form of a spectral density function or, alternatively, modeled as explicit time dependent fluctuations with muti-exponential or power law type correlation functions. We provide an assessment and the implications of these possibilities. The approach presented here can also serve as a general strategy to construct a simplified bath model that can effectively represent the underlying all-atomistic bath dynamics.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Nanomagnet shape effects on magnetic reversal in artificial spin ice

We use micromagnetic simulations to study the influence of the shape of elongated nanomagnets that vary from rectangular to elliptical shapes in an artificial spin ice array. For weakly interacting ellipselike islands, the magnetic hysteresis loops align with the Stoner-Wohlfarth model, demonstrating nearly uniform magnetization at remanence and nearly coherent rotation. As expected, nonelliptical weakly interacting islands show deviations from the model due to the curling and pinning of the magnetization at the island edge. We find that increasing interisland coupling leads to an increasingly complex magnetic reversal process due to an interplay between internal and external degrees of freedom as the shape of the islands varies. Furthermore, our results open a roadmap for tailoring systems with desired magnetic properties by choosing the appropriate nanomagnet shape.

Artificial spin ice↗

Critical role of isopotential surfaces for magnetostatic ponderomotive forces

By producing localized wave regions at the ends of an open-field-line magnetic confinement system, ponderomotive walls can be used to differentially confine different species in the plasma. Furthermore, if the plasma is rotating, this wall can be magnetostatic in the laboratory frame, resulting in simpler engineering and better power flow. However, recent work on such magnetostatic walls has shown qualitatively different potentials than those found in the earlier, nonrotating theory. Here, using a simple slab model of a ponderomotive wall, we resolve this discrepancy. We show that the form of the ponderomotive potential in the comoving plasma frame depends on the assumption made about the electrostatic potential in the laboratory frame. If the laboratory-frame potential is unperturbed by the magnetic oscillation, one finds a parallel-polarized wave in the comoving frame, while if each field line remains equipotential throughout the perturbation region, one finds a perpendicularly polarized wave. As a result, this in turn dramatically changes the averaged ponderomotive force experienced by a charged particle along the field line, not only its scaling, but also its direction.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Announcing the Biomedical Data Translator: Initial Public Release

ABSTRACT The growing availability of biomedical data offers vast potential to improve human health, but the complexity and lack of integration of these datasets often limit their utility. To address this, the Biomedical Data Translator Consortium has developed an open‐source knowledge graph–based system—Translator—designed to integrate, harmonize, and make inferences over diverse biomedical data sources. We announce here Translator's initial public release and provide an overview of its architecture, standards, user interface, and core features. Translator employs a scalable, federated, knowledge graph framework for the integration of clinical, genomic, pharmacological, and other biomedical knowledge sources, enabling query retrieval, inference, and hypothesis generation. Translator's user interface is designed to support the exploration of knowledge relationships and the generation of insights, without requiring deep technical expertise and gradually revealing more detailed evidence, provenance, and confidence information, as needed by a given user. To demonstrate Translator's application and impact, we highlight features of the user interface in the context of three real‐world use cases: suggesting potential therapeutics for patients with rare disease; explaining the mechanism of action of a pipeline drug; and screening and validating drug candidates in a model organism. We discuss strengths and limitations of reasoning within a largely federated system and the need for rich concept modeling and deep provenance tracking. Finally, we outline future directions for enhancing Translator's functionality and expanding its data sources. Translator represents a significant step forward in making complex biomedical knowledge more accessible and actionable, aiming to accelerate translational research and improve patient care.

Research & Experimental Medicine↗

Femtosecond symmetry breaking and coherent relaxation of methane cations via x-ray spectroscopy

Understanding the relaxation pathways of photoexcited molecules is essential to gain atomistic-level insight into photochemistry. Here, we performed a time-resolved study of ultrafast molecular symmetry breaking through geometric relaxation (Jahn-Teller distortion) on the methane cation. Attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy with soft x-rays at the carbon K-edge revealed that the distortion occurred within 10 ± 2 femtoseconds after few-femtosecond strong-field ionization of methane. The distortion activated coherent oscillations in the asymmetric scissoring vibrational mode of the symmetry-broken cation, which were detected in the x-ray signal. These oscillations were damped within 58 ± 13 femtoseconds because vibrational coherence was lost with the energy redistributing into lower-frequency vibrational modes. This study completely reconstructs the molecular relaxation dynamics of this prototypical example and opens avenues for exploring complex systems.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Automated Testing System

The Automated Testing System (ATS) is an open-source, Python-based tool for automating the running of tests of an application across a broad range of high performance computers.

Dempsey, StephanieM.↗

pnnl/slim

Open source release of Python Systems Library which contains benchmark datasets, system emulators, and data loading codes.

Tuor, Aaron↗

LLNL Microbenchmarks

The LLNL Microbenchmarks repository will contain open-source microbenchmarks for HPC system benchmarking activities. The repository will contain the code for various microbenchmarks developed for Request For Proposal (RFP) response evaluation and system acceptance.

Brink, Stephanie [Lawrence Livermore National Labo↗

The Worldwide C3S CORDEX Grand Ensemble: A Major Contribution to Assess Regional Climate Change in the IPCC AR6 Atlas

The collaboration between the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) and the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) provides open access to an unprecedented ensemble of regional climate model (RCM) simulations, across the 14 CORDEX continental-scale domains, with global coverage. These simulations have been used as a new line of evidence to assess regional climate projections in the latest contribution of the Working Group I (WGI) to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), particularly in the regional chapters and the Atlas. Here, we present the work done in the framework of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) to assemble a consistent worldwide CORDEX grand ensemble, aligned with the deadlines and activities of IPCC AR6. This work addressed the uneven and heterogeneous availability of CORDEX ESGF data by supporting publication in CORDEX domains with few archived simulations and performing quality control. It also addressed the lack of comprehensive documentation by compiling information from all contributing regional models, allowing for an informed use of data. In addition to presenting the worldwide CORDEX dataset, we assess here its consistency for precipitation and temperature by comparing climate change signals in regions with overlapping CORDEX domains, obtaining overall coincident regional climate change signals. The C3S CORDEX dataset has been used for the assessment of regional climate change in the IPCC AR6 (and for the interactive Atlas) and is available through the Copernicus Climate Data Store (CDS).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Utah FORGE 1-2409: PetroQuip Energy Services Zonal Isolation Solution for Geothermal Wells - 2024 Annual Workshop Presentation

This is a presentation on the Zonal Isolation Solution for Geothermal Wells by PetroQuip Energy Services, presented by Robert Coon. This video slide presentation discusses the proposed design and development of a multi-stage system consisting of an Open-Hole Packer (OHP), a Locking Bridge Plug (LBP), and a corresponding Locating Profile (LP). This presentation was featured in the Utah FORGE R&D Annual Workshop on August 14, 2024.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Data from: "Growth strategies and threshold responses to water deficit modulate effects of warming on tree seedlings from forest to alpine"

This data package contains data that were used to support conclusions drawn in “Growth strategies and threshold responses to water deficit modulate effects of warming on tree seedlings from forest to alpine”, by Lazarus, Castanha et al. 2017. Data were collected at field sites within the Alpine Treeline Warming Experiment (ATWE) on Niwot Ridge, Colorado, USA, and at the U.S. Geological Survey laboratory located in Boise, Idaho. This archive contains comma-separated-values (.csv) files, as well as the same files in Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) format, which can be opened by either Microsoft Excel, R, or any simple text editor program. There are two types of geospatial data files: .kml and ESRI shapefiles (.shp). The kml files contain placemarks, which can be opened by Google Earth, or Google Maps. The ESRI shapefiles can be opened by any geographic information system application that can read shapefiles, including ESRI's entire ArcGIS suite, and QGIS. We asked whether and how tree species differences in response to water deficit relates to their establishment along the gradient from forest to alpine. To do this, we compared growth and moisture stress responses in first-year seedlings of three species planted in common gardens subject to a factorial of heating and watering treatments below, at, and above tree line. This combination of an elevation gradient alongside warming and watering treatments enabled us to observe species differences in seedling responses to a broad set of climatic conditions.Entire seedlings were harvested at c. 3- and again at 9 weeks of age following germination/emergence in the experimental plots, and we then measured dry mass (DM) of above and belowground parts, root length, root mass fraction (RMF), relative growth rates (RGRs) from seed to 3 weeks and from 3 to 9 weeks, turgor-loss point (TLP), and photosynthetic WUE (as δ13C). Also included in this dataset (but not described in the manuscript) are measures of specific leaf area (SLA) and other variables generated by pressure-volume curves (saturated water content, osmotic potential at full turgor, elastic modulus).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Data from: "Colonisation of the alpine tundra by trees: alpine neighbours assist late-seral but not early-seral conifer seedlings"

This archive contains data used to support conclusions made in “Colonisation of the alpine tundra by trees: alpine neighbours assist late-seral but not early-seral conifer seedlings”, by Jabis et al., 2020. Data were collected in the alpine field location of the Alpine Treeline Warming Experiment (ATWE), on Niwot Ridge, in the Front Range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA.This package includes survivorship and physiology data for limber pine (Pinus flexilis), Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii), and Rocky Mountain snowlover (Chionophila jamesii). Site climate data such as soil moisture and temperature are also included. This data package contains ten comma-separated-values (.csv) files, and two rich-text-format (.rtf) files all compressed within one folder named “Neighbor_data_repository.zip”. Both file types can be opened by text-edit softwares such as TextEdit (Mac) and Notepad (Windows). The files are also compatible with analyses softwares such as R. .csv files can also be opened by Microsoft Excel. Two geospatial datasets are also included in this archive: one keyhole markup language (.kml) file with four points marking the corners of the study site, and a compressed file containing two ESRI shapefiles (.shp). The .kml files can be opened with Google Earth or Google Maps, and the shapefiles can be opened using any geographic information system applications, including the entire ArcGIS suite, and QGIS. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The elevation mountain treeline is expected to shift upward with climate warming, and seed germination and seedling survival are critical local controls on treeline expansion. Neighboring alpine plants, either through competition for resources or through altering the microclimate, can also affect seedling emergence and survival. We asked whether establishing tree seedlings and an alpine herb are similarly sensitive to alpine plant neighbours under ambient and altered climate. We imposed active heating, watering, and neighbor removal experiments for emerging conifer seedlings and an alpine herb.We compared target plant survival, photosynthetic efficiency, and water use efficiency under ambient and experimental conditions. Picea engelmannii seedlings showed lower survival compared with Pinus flexilis three weeks following neighbour removal, and after 1 year only survived in watered plots. Pinus seedlings responded to neighbour removal by lowering the quantum yield of photosynthesis (ϕPSII). Contrary to expectations from the stress gradient hypothesis, survival was reduced without neighbours near the low-elevation range limit of Chionophila jamesii.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗