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At least 847 records · Page 47

Study Design to Test the Hypothesis That Long-Term Space Travel Harms the Human and Animal Immune Systems

The potential threat of immunosuppression and abnormal inflammatory responses in long-term space travel, leading to unusual predilection for opportunistic infections, malignancy, and death, is of ma or concern to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Program. This application has been devised to seek answers to questions of altered immunity in space travel raised by previous investigations spanning 30-plus years. We propose to do this with the help of knowledge gained by the discovery of the molecular basis of many primary and secondary immunodeficiency diseases and by application of molecular and genetic technology not previously available. Two areas of immunity that previously received little attention in space travel research will be emphasized: specific antibody responses and non-specific inflammation and adhesion. Both of these areas of research will not only add to the growing body of information on the potential effects of space travel on the immune system, but be able to delineate any functional alterations in systems important for antigen presentation, specific immune memory, and cell:cell and cell:endothelium interactions. By more precisely defining molecular dysfunction of components of the immune system, it is hoped that targeted methods of prevention of immune damage in space could be devised.

Shearer, William T.↗

Neurovestibular Session Summary

Oman - The early mission operational problems caused by space motion sickness have been largely resolved in recent years. This has been achieved by appropriate timeline adjustments, voluntary head movement restriction, and judicious use of promethazine. Crew members now simply accept that some symptoms "come with the job," and usually last only a few days. But as more people have flown longer flights, we've seen cases of space sickness and inversion illusion that take several weeks to resolve. Visual reorientation illusions continue throughout long flights, and occasionally cause difficulties. EVA astronauts sometimes suddenly fear they will fall out of the payload bay or off of the RMS or Strella arms. Orientation and navigation in three dimensions in the MIR station reportedly does not come naturally, because modules have different visual verticals. It is clear that the neurovestibular problems of spaceflight have not disappeared. After return to Earth, many crew members are disoriented and ataxic in the first hour after return, and require assistance leaving the vehicle, Flight surgeons say that the longer the mission, the stronger the aftereffects, certain of which last for weeks. We do not yet know how to predict who will be afflicted. Looking ahead to 3-4 month long voyages to Mars, it seems obvious that if cruise is in O-G, the crew may encounter neurovestibular problems on arrival. Artificial G may be broadly effective as a countermeasure for many of the physiological changes of spaceflight, but from the neurovestibular perspective, it is a double-edged sword. We know that the Coriolis stimulus resulting from rotation is potentially disorienting and nauseogenic. But we don't yet know how much artificial G will be enough, nor how successfully people can adapt to a specific angular velocity and hypo G level. Development of countermeasures remains a big challenge for our neurovestibular community. Maintaining an interdisciplinary perspective is important. Three examples were presented at this meeting: 1) Transgenic animal experiments suggest that in addition to the light illumination cycle, vestibular inputs may also serve as an important input to the circadian system. 2) Radiation can cause important CNS effects in animals, including loss of spatial memory. 3) As described in our session, otolith inputs may contribute to cardiovascular regulation of orthostatic tolerance. Over the past three days, we've all enjoyed catching up with old friends, and making many new ones. On behalf of my colleagues, I want to thank Al Coats and the USRA DSLS staff for the great job they did in running this meeting. And keeping the emphasis on fun. And also my Co- Chair, Mal Cohen, who had more stamina than many of us, despite major surgery only three weeks ago. Mal and I have written a few lines describing each of the seventeen papers in our session, to give you a quick over-view, and as a guide to the full abstracts, We have grouped them under five themes: preflight and inflight countermeasurements, postlanding posture and locomotion deficits: assessment and prediction, adaptive processes, relationships among physical simuli, perceptions, and eye movements, vestibular contribution to human autonomic responses, and implications and recommendations.

Oman, Charles↗

LAF-Net: A Deep Residual and Cross-Attention Framework for Day-Ahead Load Forecasting: Preprint

Accurate day-ahead load forecasting is essential for reliable power system operations and market efficiency. System operators such as the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) rely on forecasts from multiple vendors, yet combining them effectively remains a persistent challenge due to vendor-specific biases. This paper presents a novel LSTM-Attention Fusion Network with Error Representation (LAF-Net) that enhances day-ahead hourly load forecasting through deep residual learning and multi-modal cross-attention. The proposed model builds a historical error memory from past vendor performance and dynamically queries it with future hour context to generate adaptive, hour-specific trust weights for each vendor. A bounded residual correction further refines forecasts by mitigating systematic and temporally localized errors. Tested on real MISO LBA data with multi-vendor forecasts, LAF-Net consistently outperforms the best vendor baseline across all 38 LBAs, achieving more than a 40% reduction in system-level mean absolute error (MAE) during peak load hours relative to the best vendor baseline.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Physics-informed latent neural operator for real-time predictions of time-dependent parametric PDEs

Deep operator network (DeepONet) has shown significant promise as surrogate models for systems governed by partial differential equations (PDEs), enabling accurate mappings between infinite-dimensional function spaces. However, when applied to systems with high-dimensional input-output mappings arising from large numbers of spatial and temporal collocation points, these models often require heavily overparameterized networks, leading to long training times. Latent DeepONet addresses some of these challenges by introducing a two-step approach: first learning a reduced latent space using a separate model, followed by operator learning within this latent space. While efficient, this method is inherently data-driven and lacks mechanisms for incorporating physical laws, limiting its robustness and generalizability in data-scarce settings. Here, in this work, we propose PI-Latent-NO, a physics-informed latent neural operator framework that integrates governing physics directly into the learning process. Our architecture features two coupled DeepONets trained end-to-end: a Latent-DeepONet that learns a low-dimensional representation of the solution, and a Reconstruction-DeepONet that maps this latent representation back to the physical space. By embedding PDE constraints into the training via automatic differentiation, our method eliminates the need for labeled training data and ensures physics-consistent predictions. The proposed framework is both memory and compute-efficient, exhibiting near-constant scaling with problem size and demonstrating significant speedups over traditional physics-informed operator models. We validate our approach on a range of parametric PDEs, showcasing its accuracy, scalability, and suitability for real-time prediction in complex physical systems.

Latent representations↗

Evaluation of Design Concepts for Collapsible Cryogenic Storage Vessels

Future long-duration missions to Mars using in situ resource production to obtain oxygen from the Martian atmosphere for use as a propellant or for life support will require long term oxygen storage facilities. This report describes preliminary analysis of design concepts for lightweight, collapsible liquid oxygen storage tanks to be used on the surface of Mars. With storage at relatively low pressures, an inflatable tank concept in which the cryogen is stored within a fiber-reinforced Teflon FEP bladder is an efficient approach. The technology required for such a tank is well-developed through similar previous applications in positive expulsion bladders for zero-g liquid fuel rocket tanks and inflatable space habitat technology, though the liquid oxygen environment presents unique challenges. The weight of the proposed structure is largely dominated by the support structure needed to hold the tank off the ground and permit a vacuum insulation space to be maintained around the tank. In addition to the inflatable tank concept, telescoping tank concepts are studied. For a telescoping tank, the greatest difficulty is in making effective joints and seals. The use of shape memory alloy to produce a passive clamping ring is evaluated. Although the telescoping tank concepts are a viable option, it appears that inflatable tank concepts will be more efficient and are recommended.

Fleming, David C.↗

Communications and information research: Improved space link performance via concatenated forward error correction coding

With the development of new advanced instruments for remote sensing applications, sensor data will be generated at a rate that not only requires increased onboard processing and storage capability, but imposes demands on the space to ground communication link and ground data management-communication system. Data compression and error control codes provide viable means to alleviate these demands. Two types of data compression have been studied by many researchers in the area of information theory: a lossless technique that guarantees full reconstruction of the data, and a lossy technique which generally gives higher data compaction ratio but incurs some distortion in the reconstructed data. To satisfy the many science disciplines which NASA supports, lossless data compression becomes a primary focus for the technology development. While transmitting the data obtained by any lossless data compression, it is very important to use some error-control code. For a long time, convolutional codes have been widely used in satellite telecommunications. To more efficiently transform the data obtained by the Rice algorithm, it is required to meet the a posteriori probability (APP) for each decoded bit. A relevant algorithm for this purpose has been proposed which minimizes the bit error probability in the decoding linear block and convolutional codes and meets the APP for each decoded bit. However, recent results on iterative decoding of 'Turbo codes', turn conventional wisdom on its head and suggest fundamentally new techniques. During the past several months of this research, the following approaches have been developed: (1) a new lossless data compression algorithm, which is much better than the extended Rice algorithm for various types of sensor data, (2) a new approach to determine the generalized Hamming weights of the algebraic-geometric codes defined by a large class of curves in high-dimensional spaces, (3) some efficient improved geometric Goppa codes for disk memory systems and high-speed mass memory systems, and (4) a tree based approach for data compression using dynamic programming.

Rao, T. R. N.↗

Seamless High-Q Microwave Cavities for Multimode Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics

Multimode cavity quantum electrodynamics ---where a two-level system interacts simultaneously with many cavity modes---provides a versatile framework for quantum information processing and quantum optics. Due to the combination of long coherence times and large interaction strengths, one of the leading experimental platforms for cavity QED involves coupling a superconducting circuit to a 3D microwave cavity. In this work, we realize a 3D multimode circuit QED system with single photon lifetimes of $2$ ms and cooperativities of $0.5-1.5\times10^9$ across 9 modes of a novel seamless cavity. We demonstrate a variety of protocols for universal single-mode quantum control applicable across all cavity modes, using only a single drive line. We achieve this by developing a straightforward flute method for creating monolithic superconducting microwave cavities that reduces loss while simultaneously allowing control of the mode spectrum and mode-qubit interaction. We highlight the flexibility and ease of implementation of this technique by using it to fabricate a variety of 3D cavity geometries, providing a template for engineering multimode quantum systems with exceptionally low dissipation. This work is an important step towards realizing hardware efficient random access quantum memories and processors, and for exploring quantum many-body physics with photons.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Decomposition Algorithm for Global Reachability on a Time-Varying Graph

A decomposition algorithm has been developed for global reachability analysis on a space-time grid. By exploiting the upper block-triangular structure, the planning problem is decomposed into smaller subproblems, which is much more scalable than the original approach. Recent studies have proposed the use of a hot-air (Montgolfier) balloon for possible exploration of Titan and Venus because these bodies have thick haze or cloud layers that limit the science return from an orbiter, and the atmospheres would provide enough buoyancy for balloons. One of the important questions that needs to be addressed is what surface locations the balloon can reach from an initial location, and how long it would take. This is referred to as the global reachability problem, where the paths from starting locations to all possible target locations must be computed. The balloon could be driven with its own actuation, but its actuation capability is fairly limited. It would be more efficient to take advantage of the wind field and ride the wind that is much stronger than what the actuator could produce. It is possible to pose the path planning problem as a graph search problem on a directed graph by discretizing the spacetime world and the vehicle actuation. The decomposition algorithm provides reachability analysis of a time-varying graph. Because the balloon only moves in the positive direction in time, the adjacency matrix of the graph can be represented with an upper block-triangular matrix, and this upper block-triangular structure can be exploited to decompose a large graph search problem. The new approach consumes a much smaller amount of memory, which also helps speed up the overall computation when the computing resource has a limited physical memory compared to the problem size.

Kuwata, Yoshiaki↗

Multimode Storage of Quantum Microwave Fields in Electron Spins over 100 ms

In this work, we report long coherence times (up to 300 ms) for near-surface bismuth donor electron spins in silicon coupled to a superconducting microresonator, biased at a clock transition. This enables us to demonstrate the partial absorption of a train of weak microwave fields in the spin ensemble, their storage for 100 ms, and their retrieval, using a Hahn-echo-like protocol. Phase coherence and quantum statistics are preserved in the storage.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

A Method for Reducing the Temperature of Exhaust Manifolds

This report describes tests conducted at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory on an "air-inducting" exhaust manifold for aircraft engines. The exhaust gases from each cylinder port are discharged into the throat of an exhaust pipe which has a frontal bellmouth. Cooling air is drawn into the pipe, where it surrounds and mixes with the exhaust gases. Temperatures of the manifold shell and of the exhaust gases were obtained in flight for both a conventional manifold and the air-inducting manifold. The air-inducting manifold was installed on an engine which was placed on a test stand. Different fuels were sprayed on and into the manifold to determine whether the use of this manifold reduced the fire hazard. The flight tests showed reductions in manifold temperatures of several hundred degrees, to values below the ignition point of aviation gasoline. On the test stand when the engine was run at idling speeds fuels sprayed into the manifold ignited. It is believed that at low engine speeds the fuel remained in the manifold long enough to become thoroughly heated, and was then ignited by the exhaust gas which had not mixed with cooling air. The use of the air-inducting exhaust manifold must reduce the fire hazard by virtue of its lower operating temperature, but it is not a completely satisfactory solution of the problem.

Schey, Oscar W↗

Behavioral Assessment of Spaceflight Effects on Neurocognitive Performance: Extent and Longevity

Exposure to the microgravity environment during spaceflight missions impacts crewmembers' sensorimotor function. Bock et al. [1] studied the cognitive demands of human sensorimotor performance and dual tasking during long duration missions and concluded that both stress and scarcity of cognitive resources required for sensorimotor adaptation may be responsible for these deficits during spaceflight. Therefore, in consideration of the health and performance of crewmembers in- and post-flight, we are conducting this study to investigate the effects of spaceflight on the extent, longevity and neural bases of sensorimotor, cognitive, and neural changes. The data presented will focus on the behavioral measures that were collected pre-, in- and post-flight including spatial cognition, processing speed, bimanual coordination, functional mobility, computerized dynamic posturography (CDP), and vibrotactile induced vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP). To date, data were collected over the course of two pre-flight sessions and four post-flight sessions on five crewmembers (n=13) using the protocol described in Koppelmans et al. [2]. Balance control was assessed using CDP, with eyes closed and a sway-referenced base of support (Sensory Organization Test 5), with and without head movements in the pitch plane. Spatial working memory was assessed using Thurston's Card Rotation Test and a Mental Rotation Test. The Rod and Frame Test was performed to test visual dependence. The Digit Symbol Substitution Test was performed to evaluate processing speed, and the Purdue Pegboard Task was performed to test bimanual coordination. Vestibular function was assessed by eliciting ocular VEMP via a hand held striker on the side of the head as subjects lay supine on a gurney. Subjects also performed the Functional Mobility Test of walking through an obstacle course to assess rate of early motor learning. Data were also collected on the same crewmembers during three in-flight sessions on the International Space Station (ISS). In-flight, spatial working memory was assessed using the Mental Rotation Test, adaptation to visuo-motor transformation in manual control was assessed using the Sensorimotor Adaptation Test, and multi-tasking ability was assessed using the Dual Task Test. These three tests were performed in a strapped-in configuration mimicking a seated position - waist bungees pulled the crewmember toward the "floor" with feet secured in foot loops. The Mental Rotation Test was also performed in a free-floating configuration while the crewmember floated while holding on to the gamepad controller used to provide input that was secured to the equipment rack on the ISS. Preliminary findings from data collected to date, will be included in the presentation. Eventual comparison to results from supporting bed rest and longitudinal studies will enable the parsing out of the multiple mechanisms contributing to any observed spaceflight-induced sensorimotor and cognitive behavioral changes.

De Dios, Y. E.↗

Milestone M7 Report: Reducing Excess Data Movement Part 2

This milestone evaluates techniques to measure and, if possible, reduce data movement across all levels of the memory hierarchy, focusing on CPU/GPU page level data movement and on intra-GPU memory hierarchy. We quantitatively evaluate the efficacy of the techniques in reducing data movement and measure how performance tracks data movement reduction. We study a small collection of benchmarks and proxy mini-apps that run on advanced pre-exascale GPUs and on the Accelsim GPU simulator. Our approach has two thrusts: to measure advanced data movement reduction directives and techniques on the newest available GPUs, and to evaluate our benchmark set on simulated GPUs configured with architectural refinements to reduce data movement. We primarily evaluated NVidia-based architectures due to the unavailability of AMD GPU hardware and tools until very recently.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Subventricular Accumulation of Cu in the Aging Mouse Brain Does Not Associate with Anticipated Increases in Markers of Oxidative Stress

Natural aging is associated with mild memory loss and cognitive decline, and age is the greatest risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease. There is substantial evidence that oxidative stress is a major contributor to both natural aging and neurodegenerative disease, and coincidently, levels of redox active metals such as Fe and Cu are known to be elevated later in life. Recently, a pronounced age-related increase in Cu content has been reported to occur in mice and rats around a vital regulatory brain region, the subventricular zone of lateral ventricles. In our study herein, we have characterized lateral ventricle Cu content in a unique murine model of accelerated aging, senescence accelerated mouse-prone 8 (SAMP8) mice. Our results confirm an age-related increase in ventricle Cu content, consistent with the studies by others in wild-type mice and rats. Specifically, we observed Cu content to increase over the time frame 1 to 5 months and 5 to 9 months, but interestingly, no significant increase occurred between 9 and 12 months (although brain Cu content at 12 months was significantly elevated relative to 1 and 5 month-old animals). Despite the magnitude of Cu increase observed within the cells that comprise the subventricular zone of lateral ventricles (average 3 mM Cu, with isolated subcellular concentrations of 17 mM), we did not detect spectroscopic markers of thiol oxidation, protein aggregation, or lipid oxidation. The lack of evidence for oxidative stress in ex vivo animal tissue is in contrast to in vitro studies demonstrating that thiol, protein, and lipid oxidation is pronounced at these Cu concentrations. We suggest that our findings most likely indicate that the Cu ions in this brain region are sequestered in an unreactive form, possibly extended chains of Cu-thiolate complexes, which do not readily redox cycle in the aqueous cytosol. In conclusion, these results also appear to partially challenge the long-held view that age-related increases in brain metal content drive oxidative stress as we did not observe a concomitant association between age-related Cu increase and markers of oxidative stress, nor did we observe a net increase in Cu content between mice aged 9 and 12 months.

X-ray fluorescence↗

Integrated Research Plan to Assess the Combined Effects of Space Radiation, Altered Gravity, and Isolation and Confinement on Crew Health and Performance: Problem Statement

Future crewed exploration missions to Mars could last up to three years and will expose astronauts to unprecedented environmental challenges. Challenges to the nervous system during these missions will include factors of: space radiation that can damage sensitive neurons in the central nervous system (CNS); isolation and confinement can affect cognition and behavior; and altered gravity that will change the astronauts’ perception of their environment and their spatial orientation, and will affect their coordination, balance, and locomotion. In the past, effects of spaceflight stressors have been characterized individually. However, long-term, simultaneous exposure to multiple stressors will produce a range of interrelated behavioral and biological effects that have the potential to adversely affect operationally relevant crew performance. These complex environmental challenges might interact synergistically and increase the overall risk to the health and performance of the astronaut. Therefore, NASA’s Human Research Program (HRP) has directed an integrated approach to characterize and mitigate the risk to the CNS from simultaneous exposure to these multiple spaceflight factors. The proposed research strategy focuses on systematically evaluating the relationships among three existing research risks associated with spaceflight: Risk of Acute (In-flight) and Late Central Nervous System Effects from Radiation (CNS), Risk of Adverse Cognitive or Behavioral Conditions and Psychiatric Disorders (BMed), and Risk of Impaired Control of Spacecraft/Associated Systems and Decreased Mobility Due to Vestibular/Sensorimotor Alterations Associated with Spaceflight (SM). NASA’s HRP approach is intended to identify the magnitude and types of interactions as they affect behavior, especially as it relates to operationally relevant performance (e.g., performance that depends on reaction time, procedural memory, etc.). In order to appropriately characterize this risk of multiple spaceflight environmental stressors, there is a recognition of the need to leverage research approaches using appropriate animal models and behavioral constructs. Very little has been documented on the combined effects of altered gravity, space radiation, and other psychological and cognitive stressors on the CNS. Preliminary evidence from rodents suggest that a combination of a minimum of exposures to even two of three stressors of: simulated space radiation, simulated microgravity, and simulated isolation and confinement, have produced different and more pronounced biological and performance effects than exposure to these same stressors individually. Structural and functional changes to the CNS of rodents exposed to transdisciplinary combined stressors indicate that important processes related to information processing are likely altered including impairment of exploratory and risk taking behaviors, as well as executive function including learning, memory, and cognitive flexibility — all of which may be linked to changes in related operational relevant performance. The fully integrated research plan outlines approaches to evaluate how combined, potentially synergistic, impacts of simultaneous exposures to spaceflight hazards will affect an astronaut’s CNS and their operationally relevant performance during future exploration missions, including missions to the Moon and Mars. The ultimate goals are to derive risk estimates for the combined, potentially synergistic, effects of the three major spaceflight hazards that will establish acceptable maximum decrement or change in a physiological or behavioral parameters during or after spaceflight, the acceptable limit of exposure to a spaceflight factor, and to evaluate strategies to mitigate any associated decrements in operationally relevant performance.

Steinberg, Susan L.↗

The Effective Fragment Molecular Orbital Method: Achieving High Scalability and Accuracy for Large Systems

The effective fragment molecular orbital (EFMO) method has been developed to predict the total energy of a very large molecular system accurately (with respect to the underlying quantum mechanical method) and efficiently by taking advantage of the locality of strong chemical interactions and employing a two-level hierarchical parallelism. The accuracy of the EFMO method is partly attributed to the accurate and robust intermolecular interaction prediction between distant fragments, in particular, the many-body polarization and dispersion effects, which require the generation of static and dynamic polarizability tensors by solving the coupled perturbed Hartree–Fock (CPHF) and time-dependent HF (TDHF) equations, respectively. Solving the CPHF and TDHF equations is the main EFMO computational bottleneck due to the inefficient (serial) and I/O-intensive implementation of the CPHF and TDHF solvers. In this work, the efficiency and scalability of the EFMO method are significantly improved with a new CPU memory-based implementation for solving the CPHF and TDHF equations that are parallelized by either message passing interface (MPI) or hybrid MPI/OpenMP. Here, the accuracy of the EFMO method is demonstrated for both covalently bonded systems and noncovalently bound molecular clusters by systematically examining the effects of basis sets and a key distance-related cutoff parameter, R cut . R cut determines whether a fragment pair (dimer) is treated by the chosen ab initio method or calculated using the effective fragment potential (EFP) method (separated dimers). Decreasing the value of Rcut increases the number of separated (EFP) dimers, thereby decreasing the computational effort. It is demonstrated that excellent accuracy (<1 kcal/mol error per fragment) can be achieved when using a sufficiently large basis set with diffuse functions coupled with a small R cut value. With the new parallel implementation, the total EFMO wall time is substantially reduced, especially with a high number of MPI ranks. Given a sufficient workload, nearly ideal strong scaling is achieved for the CPHF and TDHF parts of the calculation. For the first time, EFMO calculations with the inclusion of long-range polarization and dispersion interactions on a hydrated mesoporous silica nanoparticle with explicit water solvent molecules (more than 15k atoms) are achieved on a massively parallel supercomputer using nearly 1000 physical nodes. In addition, EFMO calculations on the carbinolamine formation step of an amine-catalyzed aldol reaction at the nanoscale with explicit solvent effects are presented.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Structural dynamics of a thermally silent triiron( II ) spin crossover defect grid complex

The structural evolution of spin crossover (SCO) complexes during their spin transition at equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium conditions needs to be understood to enable their successful utilisation in displays, actuators and memory components. In this study, diffraction techniques were employed to study the structural changes accompanying the temperature increase and the light irradiation of a defect [2 × 2] triiron(II) metallogrid of the form [Fe II 3 L H 2 (HL H ) 2 ](BF 4 ) 4 ·4MeCN (FE3), L H = 3,5-bis{6-(2,2'-bipyridyl)}pyrazole. Although a multi-temperature crystallographic investigation on single crystals evidenced that the compound does not exhibit a thermal spin transition, the structural analysis of the defect grid suggests that the flexibility of the grid, provided by a metal-devoid vertex, leads to interesting characteristics that can be used for intermolecular cooperativity in related thermally responsive systems. Time-resolved photocrystallography results reveal that upon excitation with a ps laser pulse, the defect grid shows the first two steps of the out-of-equilibrium process, namely the photoinduced and elastic steps, occurring at the ps and ns time scales, respectively. Similar to a previously reported [2 × 2] tetrairon(II) metallogrid, FE3 exhibits a local distortion of the entire grid during the photoinduced step and a long-range distortion of the lattice during the elastic step. Although the lifetime of the pure photoinduced high spin (HS) state is longer in the tetranuclear grid than in the defect grid, suggesting that the global nuclearity plays a crucial role for the lifetime of the photoinduced species, the influence of the co-crystalising solvent on the lifetime of the photoinduced HS state remains unknown. This study sheds light on the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of a thermally silent defect triiron SCO metallogrid.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Intranasal Nanoparticle Vaccination Elicits a Persistent, Polyfunctional CD4 T Cell Response in the Murine Lung Specific for a Highly Conserved Influenza Virus Antigen That Is Sufficient To Mediate Protection from Influenza Virus Challenge

We report lung-localized CD4 T cells play a critical role in the control of influenza virus infection and can provide broadly protective immunity. However, current influenza vaccination strategies primarily target influenza hemagglutinin (HA) and are administered peripherally to induce neutralizing antibodies. We have used an intranasal vaccination strategy targeting the highly conserved influenza nucleoprotein (NP) to elicit broadly protective lung-localized CD4 T cell responses. The vaccine platform consists of a self-assembling nanolipoprotein particle (NLP) linked to NP with an adjuvant. We have evaluated the functionality, in vivo localization, and persistence of the T cells elicited. Our study revealed that intranasal vaccination elicits a polyfunctional subset of lung-localized CD4 T cells that persist long term. A subset of these lung CD4 T cells localize to the airway, where they can act as early responders following encounter with cognate antigen. Polyfunctional CD4 T cells isolated from airway and lung tissue produce significantly more effector cytokines IFN-γ and TNF-α, as well as cytotoxic functionality. When adoptively transferred to naive recipients, CD4 T cells from NLP:NP-immunized lung were sufficient to mediate 100% survival from lethal challenge with H1N1 influenza virus.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Development of a Computer Architecture to Support the Optical Plume Anomaly Detection (OPAD) System

The NASA OPAD spectrometer system relies heavily on extensive software which repetitively extracts spectral information from the engine plume and reports the amounts of metals which are present in the plume. The development of this software is at a sufficiently advanced stage where it can be used in actual engine tests to provide valuable data on engine operation and health. This activity will continue and, in addition, the OPAD system is planned to be used in flight aboard space vehicles. The two implementations, test-stand and in-flight, may have some differing requirements. For example, the data stored during a test-stand experiment are much more extensive than in the in-flight case. In both cases though, the majority of the requirements are similar. New data from the spectrograph is generated at a rate of once every 0.5 sec or faster. All processing must be completed within this period of time to maintain real-time performance. Every 0.5 sec, the OPAD system must report the amounts of specific metals within the engine plume, given the spectral data. At present, the software in the OPAD system performs this function by solving the inverse problem. It uses powerful physics-based computational models (the SPECTRA code), which receive amounts of metals as inputs to produce the spectral data that would have been observed, had the same metal amounts been present in the engine plume. During the experiment, for every spectrum that is observed, an initial approximation is performed using neural networks to establish an initial metal composition which approximates as accurately as possible the real one. Then, using optimization techniques, the SPECTRA code is repetitively used to produce a fit to the data, by adjusting the metal input amounts until the produced spectrum matches the observed one to within a given level of tolerance. This iterative solution to the original problem of determining the metal composition in the plume requires a relatively long period of time to execute the software in a modern single-processor workstation, and therefore real-time operation is currently not possible. A different number of iterations may be required to perform spectral data fitting per spectral sample. Yet, the OPAD system must be designed to maintain real-time performance in all cases. Although faster single-processor workstations are available for execution of the fitting and SPECTRA software, this option is unattractive due to the excessive cost associated with very fast workstations and also due to the fact that such hardware is not easily expandable to accommodate future versions of the software which may require more processing power. Initial research has already demonstrated that the OPAD software can take advantage of a parallel computer architecture to achieve the necessary speedup. Current work has improved the software by converting it into a form which is easily parallelizable. Timing experiments have been performed to establish the computational complexity and execution speed of major components of the software. This work provides the foundation of future work which will create a fully parallel version of the software executing in a shared-memory multiprocessor system.

Katsinis, Constantine↗