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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 811 records · Page 45

Fission In R-process Elements (FY20 Q2 Quarterly Report)

The goal of the FIRE topical collaboration in nuclear theory is to determine the astrophysical conditions of the rapid neutron capture process (r-process), which is responsible for the formation of heavy elements. This will be achieved by including in r-process simulations the most advanced models of fission (spontaneous, neutron-induced, β-delayed) that have been developed at LLNL and LANL. The collaboration is composed of LLNL (lead) and LANL for fission work, BNL for nuclear data management, and the university of Notre Dame and North Carolina State University for r-process simulations. Under DOE/NNSA agreement, both universities receive funds from DOE Office of Science, while national laboratories receive funds directly from NA221.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Fission In R-process Elements (Q4 FY2020 Quarterly Report)

The goal of the FIRE topical collaboration in nuclear theory is to determine the astrophysical conditions of the rapid neutron capture process (r-process), which is responsible for the formation of heavy elements. This will be achieved by including in r-process simulations the most advanced models of fission (spontaneous, neutron-induced, β-delayed) that have been developed at LLNL and LANL. The collaboration is composed of LLNL (lead) and LANL for fission work, BNL for nuclear data management, and the university of Notre Dame and North Carolina State University for r-process simulations. Under DOE/NNSA agreement, both universities receive funds from DOE Office of Science, while national laboratories receive funds directly from NA221.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Targeting Aspergillus allergen oryzin with a chemical probe at atomic precision

We report the molecular basis of Aspergillus fumigatus oryzin, allergen Asp f 13, or alkaline proteinase ALP1, containing the sequence motif His–Asp–Ser of the subtilisin family, structure, and function at atomic detail. Given the resolution of the data (1.06 Å), we use fragment molecular replacement with ideal polyalanine α-helices to determine the first crystal structure of oryzin. We probe the catalytic serine through formation of an irreversible bond to a small molecule compound, specifically labeling it, describing the amino acid residues performing the catalytic function. Defined by a self-processed pro-peptide, the active site architecture shapes up pocket-like subsites that bind to and unveil the S1′–S4′ substrate binding preferences. We use molecular modeling to dock a model of the pro-peptide in the S1–S4 region and to dock collagen along the active site cleft. Opposite to the face harboring the catalytic serine, the enzyme binds to a calcium ion in a binding site created by backbone flipping. We use thermal unfolding to show that this metal ion provides structural stability. With no known host inhibitor identified thus far, this structure may hasten the progress of developing new therapeutic agents for diseases caused by pathogenic fungi.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Constraining Bedrock Groundwater Residence Times in a Mountain System with Environmental Tracer Observations and Bayesian Uncertainty Quantification: Modeling and Data Package

Groundwater residence times provide fundamental descriptions of hydrologic dynamics and mixing processes in mountainous watersheds. Yet, few observational datasets that can constrain groundwater residence times over broad timescales are available in high elevation mountain systems. Here we present field observations from May 2021 of dissolved noble gases (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe), Chloroflourcarbons (CFCs), Sulfurhexaflouride (SF6), and tritium (3H) sampled from the Pumphouse Lower Montane study site (wells PLM1, PLM6, and PLM7) within the East River Watershed, Colorado. The presented noble gas (PLM_noblegas_2021.csv) and environmental tracer (PLM_tracers_2021.csv) observation datasets, along with the associated modeling scripts, aide in quantifying groundwater residence times and recharge conditions in a high elevation mountain system. Furthermore, the modeling scripts quantify groundwater residence time and noble gas recharge condition uncertainties using a novel Markov-chain Monte Carlo approach. All data modeling scripts are written in the Python code.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Mineralogy of floodplain sediments from Meanders C, O, and Z in the East River Watershed, CO, USA

This dataset includes bulk X-ray diffraction data from floodplain sediments collected as a part of the Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area (SFA) located in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The data were collected in order to investigate the role of biogeochemical cycling and other river corridor processes on riverine export of solutes. Sediment cores were collected from Meander C, Meander O, and Meander Z in July 2016 to September 2017 to depths of approximately 40-95 cm. Sample metadata including locations, depths, and sample dates are included in a csv file ("sample_list_and_locations.csv"). The file "diffraction_data.csv" contains raw diffraction data, and mineral quantification is in the file "mineral_abundance.csv". This dataset also includes a file-level metadata (flmd.csv) file that lists each file contained in the dataset with associated metadata and a data dictionary (dd.csv) file that contains column/row headers used throughout the files along with a definition, units, and data type.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Java RMI Software Technology for the Payload Planning System of the International Space Station

The Payload Planning System is for experiment planning on the International Space Station. The planning process has a number of different aspects which need to be stored in a database which is then used to generate reports on the planning process in a variety of formats. This process is currently structured as a 3-tier client/server software architecture comprised of a Java applet at the front end, a Java server in the middle, and an Oracle database in the third tier. This system presently uses CGI, the Common Gateway Interface, to communicate between the user-interface and server tiers and Active Data Objects (ADO) to communicate between the server and database tiers. This project investigated other methods and tools for performing the communications between the three tiers of the current system so that both the system performance and software development time could be improved. We specifically found that for the hardware and software platforms that PPS is required to run on, the best solution is to use Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI) for communication between the client and server and SQLJ (Structured Query Language for Java) for server interaction with the database. Prototype implementations showed that RMI combined with SQLJ significantly improved performance and also greatly facilitated construction of the communication software.

Bryant, Barrett R.↗

Surface Crystallization of Supercooled Water in Clouds

The process by which liquid cloud droplets homogeneously crystallize into ice is still not well-understood. The ice nucleation process based on the standard and classical theory of homogeneous freezing, initiates within the interior volume of a cloud droplet. Current experimental data on homogeneous freezing rates of ice in droplets of supercooled water, both in air and emulsion oil samples, show considerable scatter. For example, at -33 C, the reported volume-based freezing rates of ice in supercooled water vary by as much as 5 orders of magnitude, which is well outside the range of measurement uncertainties. Here, we show that the process of ice nucleus formation at the air (or oil)-liquid water interface may help to explain why experimental results on ice nucleation rates yield different results in different ambient phases. Our results also suggest that surface crystallization of ice in cloud droplets can explain why low amounts of supercooled water have been observed in the atmosphere near -40 C.

Tabazadeh, Azadeh↗

Report on 3 and 4-point correlation statistics in the COBE DMR anisotrophy maps

As part of the work performed under NASA contract # NAS5-32648, we have computed the 3-point and 4-point correlation functions of the COBE-DNIR 2-year and 4-year anisotropy maps. The motivation for this study was to search for evidence of non-Gaussian statistical fluctuations in the temperature maps: skewness or asymmetry in the case of the 3-point function, kurtosis in the case of the 4-point function. Such behavior would have very significant implications for our understanding of the processes of galaxy formation, because our current models of galaxy formation predict that non-Gaussian features should not be present in the DMR maps. The results of our work showed that the 3-point correlation function is consistent with zero and that the 4-point function is not a very sensitive probe of non-Gaussian behavior in the COBE-DMR data. Our computation and analysis of 3-point correlations in the 2-year DMR maps was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, volume 446, page L67, 1995. Our computation and analysis of 3-point correlations in the 4-year DMR maps will be published, together with some additional tests, in the June 10, 1996 issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters. Copies of both of these papers are attached as an appendix to this report.

Hinshaw, Gary↗

Fission In R-process Elements (FIRE) - Quarterly Report (Q2FY22)

The goal of the FIRE topical collaboration in nuclear theory was to determine the astrophysical conditions of the rapid neutron capture process (r-process), which is responsible for the formation of heavy elements. This was be achieved by including in r-process simulations the most advanced models of fission (spontaneous, neutron-induced, β-delayed) that have been developed at LLNL and LANL. The collaboration was composed of LLNL (lead) and LANL for fission work, BNL for nuclear data management, and the university of Notre Dame and North Carolina State University for r-process simulations. Under DOE/NNSA agreement, both universities received funds from DOE Office of Science, while national laboratories receive funds directly from NA221.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Fission In R-process Elements (FIRE) (NA-22 Quarterly Report, Q4FY22)

The goal of the FIRE topical collaboration in nuclear theory was to determine the astrophysical conditions of the rapid neutron capture process (r-process), which is responsible for the formation of heavy elements. This was be achieved by including in r-process simulations the most advanced models of fission (spontaneous, neutron-induced, β-delayed) that have been developed at LLNL and LANL. The collaboration was composed of LLNL (lead) and LANL for fission work, BNL for nuclear data management, and the university of Notre Dame and North Carolina State University for r-process simulations. Under DOE/NNSA agreement, both universities received funds from DOE Office of Science, while national laboratories receive funds directly from NA221.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Galaxy zoo builder: Morphological dependence of spiral galaxy pitch angle

ABSTRACT Spiral structure is ubiquitous in the Universe, and the pitch angle of arms in spiral galaxies provide an important observable in efforts to discriminate between different mechanisms of spiral arm formation and evolution. In this paper, we present a hierarchical Bayesian approach to galaxy pitch angle determination, using spiral arm data obtained through the Galaxy Builder citizen science project. We present a new approach to deal with the large variations in pitch angle between different arms in a single galaxy, which obtains full posterior distributions on parameters. We make use of our pitch angles to examine previously reported links between bulge and bar strength and pitch angle, finding no correlation in our data (with a caveat that we use observational proxies for both bulge size and bar strength which differ from other work). We test a recent model for spiral arm winding, which predicts uniformity of the cotangent of pitch angle between some unknown upper and lower limits, finding our observations are consistent with this model of transient and recurrent spiral pitch angle as long as the pitch angle at which most winding spirals dissipate or disappear is larger than 10°.

Lingard, Timothy↗

Investigating Secondary Aerosol Processes in the Amazon through Molecular-level Characterization of Semi-Volatile Organics

In areas where biogenic emissions are oxidized in the presence of anthropogenic pollutants, it has become increasingly apparent that secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) is substantially enhanced. The Amazon forest is the dominant source of BVOCs globally, and the forest is rapidly being converted to urban and agricultural uses. We participated in a collaborative field study located in the Amazon region around Manaus, Brazil, in 2014 (Green Ocean Amazon; GoAmazon). This study was designed to comprehensively examine how BVOC emissions (specifically, the most highly emitted non-methane hydrocarbon, isoprene, and lesser studied sesquiterpenes) and their interaction with anthropogenic pollution (i.e., nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and black carbon) alter the atmosphere’s oxidative capacity, influence secondary aerosol formation, atmospheric composition and, ultimately, affect the earth’s radiation balance and climate. We provide the first hourly, in-situ measurement of 30 sesquiterpenes and 4 diterpenes, roughly estimating that sesquiterpene oxidation contributes to 10-14% of ozone reactive loss by terpenes and at least 0.4–5% (median 1 %) of total submicron OA mass. However, this is likely a low-end estimate, as evidence for additional unaccounted sesquiterpenes and their oxidation products clearly exists. We also provide new perspectives on sulfate, NO x , and particle acidity influencing isoprene-derived SOA, comparing the central Amazon environment with Southeastern U.S.A. summer, representing clean to polluted conditions, respectively. We find that summed concentrations of isoprene-derived SOA tracers correlated with particulate sulfate spanning three orders of magnitude, suggesting that 1 μg m -3 reduction in sulfate corresponds with at least ~0.5 μg m -3 reduction in isoprene-derived SOA. We also find that SOA mass derived from isoprene oxidation in the presence of NO x is primarily comprised of aerosol sulfate bound with isoprene oxidation products (i.e. organosulfates), ~97% in the Amazon and ~55% in the Southeastern U.S. We infer under natural conditions in high isoprene emission regions, preindustrial aerosol sulfate was almost exclusively isoprene-derived organosulfates, which are traditionally thought as representative of anthropogenic influence. We further report the first field observations showing that particle acidity impacts the distribution of isoprene oxidation tracers in the gas and particle phases, providing physicochemical insight into isoprene SOA formation chemistry. Coupled with other co-located measurements by the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) team and collaborating PIs at our measurement site (called T3), on the G1 aircraft, and at additional field sites (T0, T1, T2) this data set has been used to understand emission, oxidation, and particle formation pathways at the molecular level, to elucidate how these pathways change when influenced by anthropogenic sources, and to evaluate their importance for the atmospheric budget of aerosols and the earth’s radiation balance on regional scales. Recommendations: Further constraint of the role of sesquiterpenes on ozone (O 3 ) reactivity and SOA formation is limited by the availability of authentic standards and synthesized compounds of sesquiterpenes and their oxidation products. Future research efforts should focus on making such standards available via custom synthesis to allow for accurate quantification and focused oxidation experiments that will fully elucidate the chemistry of these compounds in the atmosphere. Further, reductions in aerosol sulfate (via SO 2 emissions control) continues to be one of the most effective methods to reduce SOA formation from isoprene, but the concerted role of ammonia (NH 3 ) gas emissions from (agricultural) industry and other sources requires more investigation to better understand the role of aerosol acidity in SOA formation and potential controls. As GoAmazon particles can be more acidic compared to areas with greater anthropogenic NH 3 emissions, this promotes relatively greater organosulfate (OS) formation from isoprene even in the presence of NO x . Because OS and inorganic sulfate differ in water uptake properties, this implies preindustrial aerosol sulfate (albeit less abundant) may have been less reflective than current earth system models assume. Further research should investigate the radiative impacts of organic vs inorganic sulfate in aerosols to improve model representation. Finally, future work (currently underway) should include constraint of the contributions of monoterpene (C 10 H 16 ) BVOCs and biomass burning VOCs as precursors to SOA formation in the region as well as their impacts on radiative forcing in the climate system.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Radiation-induced genomic instability: radiation quality and dose response

Genomic instability is a term used to describe a phenomenon that results in the accumulation of multiple changes required to convert a stable genome of a normal cell to an unstable genome characteristic of a tumor. There has been considerable recent debate concerning the importance of genomic instability in human cancer and its temporal occurrence in the carcinogenic process. Radiation is capable of inducing genomic instability in mammalian cells and instability is thought to be the driving force responsible for radiation carcinogenesis. Genomic instability is characterized by a large collection of diverse endpoints that include large-scale chromosomal rearrangements and aberrations, amplification of genetic material, aneuploidy, micronucleus formation, microsatellite instability, and gene mutation. The capacity of radiation to induce genomic instability depends to a large extent on radiation quality or linear energy transfer (LET) and dose. There appears to be a low dose threshold effect with low LET, beyond which no additional genomic instability is induced. Low doses of both high and low LET radiation are capable of inducing this phenomenon. This report reviews data concerning dose rate effects of high and low LET radiation and their capacity to induce genomic instability assayed by chromosomal aberrations, delayed lethal mutations, micronuclei and apoptosis.

Review↗

GLIDR promotes the progression of glioma by regulating the miR-4677-3p/MAGI2 axis

Gliomas are the most common and fatal primary brain tumors. Growing evidence suggests that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) constitute novel and potential therapeutic targets for glioma. However, the biological role of glioblastoma down-regulated RNA (GLIDR) in glioma remains largely elusive. In the current study, we used quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to detect GLIDR expression in glioma cells. Cell counting kit 8 (CCK-8) assay, colony formation assay, JC-1 staining, and flow cytometry were used to evaluate the role of GLIDR in proliferation and apoptosis of glioma cells. Western blotting was performed to assess the effect of GLIDR on the level of apoptosis-related proteins. In addition, bioinformatics prediction, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), RNA pull-down, and luciferase reporter gene assays were used to study the regulatory mechanisms of GLIDR in glioma. GLIDR was found to be highly expressed in glioma cells and silencing of GLIDR inhibited cell proliferation and promoted apoptosis. Functionally, GLIDR bound to miR-4677-3p that directly targeted membrane-associated guanylate kinase, WW, and PDZ domain-containing protein 2 (MAGI2). Our data showed that GLIDR affects the proliferation and apoptosis of glioma cells by targeting miR-4677-3p to regulate the expression of MAGI2. In conclusion, our study determined the oncogenic role of GLIDR in glioma, which may provide a new perspective for the treatment of glioma.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Surrogate Modelling of 3rd Integer Resonant Extraction at Fermilab Delivery Ring

We present an ongoing work in which a surrogate model is being developed to reproduce the response dynamics of the third-integer resonant extraction process in the Delivery Ring (DR) at Fermilab. This effort is in pursuit of smoothly extracting circulating beam to the Mu2e Experiment s production target, wherein the goal is to extract a uniform slice of the circulating $1e12$ protons in the DR over 25,000 turns (43~ms). The DR contains 3 harmonic sextupoles which excite a third-integer resonance as well as three fast, tune-ramping quadrupole magnets which drive the horizontal tune towards the $29/3$ resonance. In our initial work the surrogate model trains on a semi-analytical simulation provided in the same format as live data. Using Reinforcement Learning (and other potential ML methods), the trained surrogate acts as the environment in which a simple ML control agent could learn to dynamically adjust the quadrupole ramp at 430 break points within the 43 microsecond spill window. The control agent will be hosted on a dedicated Arria 10 FPGA, introducing its own requirements on control agent architecture. In this work we report the accuracy and fidelity of surrogate models in comparison to the response dynamics of the physics simulator.

Narayanan, Aakaash [Fermilab] (ORCID:0000000157944↗

The Galaxy–Galaxy Strong Lensing Cross Section and the Internal Distribution of Matter in ΛCDM Substructure

Abstract Strong gravitational lensing offers a powerful probe of the detailed distribution of matter in lenses, while magnifying and bringing faint background sources into view. Observed strong lensing by massive galaxy clusters, which are often in complex dynamical states, has also been used to map their dark matter (DM) substructures on smaller scales. Deep high-resolution imaging has revealed the presence of strong lensing events associated with these substructures, namely galaxy-scale sub-halos. However, an inventory of these observed galaxy–galaxy strong lensing (GGSL) events is noted to be discrepant with state-of-the-art ΛCDM simulations. Cluster sub-halos appear to be over-concentrated compared to their simulated counterparts yielding an order-of-magnitude higher value of GGSL. In this paper, we explore the possibility of resolving this observed discrepancy by redistributing the mass within observed cluster sub-halos in ways that are consistent within the ΛCDM paradigm of structure formation. Lensing mass reconstructions from data provide constraints on the mass enclosed within apertures and are agnostic to the detailed mass profile within them. Therefore, as the detailed density profile within cluster sub-halos currently remains unconstrained by data, we are afforded the freedom to redistribute the enclosed mass. We investigate if rearranging the mass to a more centrally concentrated density profile helps alleviate the GGSL discrepancy. We report that refitting cluster sub-halos to the ubiquitous ΛCDM-motivated Navarro–Frenk–White profile, and further modifying them to include significant baryonic components, does not resolve this tension. A resolution to this persisting GGSL discrepancy may require more careful exploration of alternative DM models.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of Three Isolated Faint Dwarf Galaxies beyond the Local Group: Pavo, Corvus A, and Kamino

We present new Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging of three recently discovered star-forming dwarf galaxies beyond the Local Group: Pavo, Corvus A, and Kamino. The discovery of Kamino is reported here for the first time. They rank among the most isolated faint dwarf galaxies known; hence they provide unique opportunities to study galaxy evolution at the smallest scales, free from the environmental effects of more massive galaxies. Our HST data reach ∼2–4 magnitudes below the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) for each dwarf, allowing us to measure their distances, structural properties, and recent star formation histories (SFHs). All three galaxies contain a complex stellar population of young and old stars, and are typical of field galaxies in this mass regime (M V = −10.62 ± 0.08 and $D = 2.16_{-0.07}^{+0.08}$ Mpc for Pavo, M V = −10.91 ± 0.10 and D = 3.34 ± 0.11 Mpc for Corvus A, and M V = −12.02 ± 0.12 and $D = 6.50_{-0.11}^{+0.15}$ Mpc for Kamino). Our HST-derived SFHs reveal differences among the three dwarfs: Pavo and Kamino show relatively steady, continuous star formation, while Corvus A formed ∼60% of its stellar mass by 10 Gyr ago. These results align with theoretical predictions of diverse evolutionary pathways for isolated low-mass galaxies.

Mutlu-Pakdil, Burçin [Dartmouth College, Hanover, ↗

Information processing of earth resources data

Current trends in the use of remotely sensed data include integration of multiple data sources of various formats and use of complex models. These trends have placed a strain on information processing systems because an enormous number of capabilities are needed to perform a single application. A solution to this problem is to create a general set of capabilities which can perform a wide variety of applications. General capabilities for the Image-Based Information System (IBIS) are outlined in this report. They are then cross-referenced for a set of applications performed at JPL.

Zobrist, A. L.↗