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At least 1,189 records · Page 66

Relationships between summertime surface albedo and melt pond fraction in the central Arctic Ocean: The aggregate scale of albedo obtained on the MOSAiC floe

As part of the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC), the HELiX uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) was deployed over the sea ice in the central Arctic Ocean during summer 2020. Albedo measurements were obtained with stabilized pyranometers, and melt pond fraction was calculated from orthomosaic imagery from a surface-imaging multispectral camera. This study analyzed HELiX flight data to provide insights on the temporal and spatial evolution of albedo and melt pond fraction of the MOSAiC floe during the melt season as it drifted south through Fram Strait. The surface albedo distributions showed peak values changing from high albedo (0.55–0.6) to lower values (0.3) as the season advanced. Inspired by methods developed for satellite data, an algorithm was established to retrieve melt pond fraction from the orthomosaic images. We demonstrate that the near-surface observations of melt pond fraction were highly dependent on sample area, offering insight into the influence of subgrid scale features and spatial heterogeneity in satellite observations. Vertical observations conducted with the HELiX were used to quantify the influence of melt pond scales on observed surface albedo as a function of sensor footprint. These scaling results were used to link surface-based measurements collected during MOSAiC to broader-scale satellite data to investigate the influence of surface features on observed albedo. Albedo values blend underlying features within the sensor footprint, as determined by the melt pond size and concentration. This study framed the downscaling (upscaling) problem related to the airborne (surface) observations of surface albedo across a variety of spatial scales.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Customer enrollment and participation in building demand management programs: A review of key factors

Increasing the efficiency and flexibility of electricity demand is necessary for ensuring a cost-effective and reliable transition to zero-carbon electricity systems. Such demand-side management (DSM) resources have been procured by utilities for decades via energy efficiency and demand response programs; however, the key drivers of program enrollment and customer participation levels remain poorly understood — even as governments and grid planners seek to scale up the deployment of DSM assets to meet climate targets. Here we systematically review the evidence on multiple factors that may influence customer enrollment and participation in building DSM programs, focusing primarily on residential and commercial buildings. We examine the contexts in which relationships between DSM factors and outcomes are most often explored and with which methods; we also score the strength, direction, and internal consistency of each factor's reported impact on the enrollment and participation outcomes. We find that studies most commonly assess the effects of economic incentives for load flexibility on program participation levels, often using simulation-based methods in lieu of measured data. Few studies focus on program enrollment outcomes or regulatory drivers of either enrollment or participation, and gaps are also evident in the coverage of emerging DSM opportunities like load electrification. Removal of structural barriers (e.g., the lack of controls infrastructure) and the use of third party services (e.g., load aggregators) are the factors with the largest positive impacts on DSM outcomes, but no single factor emerges as clearly most impactful. For a given factor, the range of reported impacts typically varies widely across the relevant studies reviewed. Our findings provide a snapshot of the state of knowledge about building DSM and customer decision-making, and they expose key gaps in understanding that must be filled if building DSM is to expand as a critical resource for operating clean power grids.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Structural evolution of low-temperature liquid GaIn eutectic alloy

Structural changes of liquid Galn eutectic alloy upon cooling from about 373 K to 242 K are studied by using in situ synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction (XRD) combined with the ab initio molecular dynamics simulations (AIMD). The experimental and theoretical results show that no abnormal structural change is observed in the supercooled liquid region prior to crystallization. The XRD data exhibit that the liquid can crystallize into a mixture of orthorhombic Ga-I and body-centered tetragonal (bct)-In phases. Also, the AIMD calculations simulate the solidification process, forming a bct-like structure locally similar to bct-Ga-III and bct-In phases. The aggregation of In atoms forms In-rich zones, acting as the processor of crystallization. Our results provide an in-depth understanding of liquid Galn alloys and will trigger more interests to other metallic liquids. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Reinforcement learning based hybrid bond-order coarse-grained interatomic potentials for exploring mesoscale aggregation in liquid–liquid mixtures

Exploring mesoscopic physical phenomena has always been a challenge for brute-force all-atom molecular dynamics simulations. Although recent advances in computing hardware have improved the accessible length scales, reaching mesoscopic timescales is still a significant bottleneck. Coarse-graining of all-atom models allows robust investigation of mesoscale physics with a reduced spatial and temporal resolution but preserves desired structural features of molecules, unlike continuum-based methods. Here, we present a hybrid bond-order coarse-grained forcefield (HyCG) for modeling mesoscale aggregation phenomena in liquid–liquid mixtures. The intuitive hybrid functional form of the potential offers interpretability to our model, unlike many machine learning based interatomic potentials. We parameterize the potential with the continuous action Monte Carlo Tree Search (cMCTS) algorithm, a reinforcement learning (RL) based global optimizing scheme, using training data from all-atom simulations. The resulting RL-HyCG correctly describes mesoscale critical fluctuations in binary liquid–liquid extraction systems. cMCTS, the RL algorithm, accurately captures the mean behavior of various geometrical properties of the molecule of interest, which were excluded from the training set. The developed potential model along with the RL-based training workflow could be applied to explore a variety of other mesoscale physical phenomena that are typically inaccessible to all-atom molecular dynamics simulations.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Estimating PV power from aggregate power measurements within the distribution grid

The increased integration of photovoltaic (PV) systems in distribution grids reduces visibility and situational awareness for utilities because the PV systems' power production is usually not monitored by them. To address this problem, a method called Contextually Supervised Source Separation (CSSS) has been recently adapted for real-time estimation of aggregate PV active power generation from aggregate net active and reactive power measurements at a point in a radially configured distribution grid (e.g., substation). In its original version, PV disaggregation is formulated as an optimization problem that fits linear regression models for the aggregate PV active power generation and true substation active power load. This paper extends the previous work by adding regularization terms in the objective function to capture additional contextual information such as smoothness, by adding new constraints, by introducing new regressors such as ambient temperature, and by investigating the use of time-varying regressors. Furthermore, we perform extensive parametric analysis to study tuning of the objective function weighting factors in a way that maximizes performance and robustness. The proposed PV disaggregation method can be applied to networks with either a single PV system (e.g., megawatt scale) or many distributed ones (e.g., residential scale) connected downstream of the substation. Simulation studies with real field recorded data show that the enhancements of the proposed method reduce disaggregation error by 58% in winter and 35% in summer compared to previous CSSS-based work. When compared against a commonly used transposition model based approach, the reduction in disaggregation error is more pronounced (78% reduction in winter and 45% in summer). Additional simulations indicate that the proposed algorithm is also applicable for PV systems with time-varying power factors. In conclusion, overall, our results show that—with appropriate modeling and tuning—it is possible to accurately estimate the aggregated PV active power generation of a distribution feeder with minimal or no additional sensor deployment.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Exploring NaCl-PuCl 3 molten salts with machine learning interatomic potentials and graph theory

Actinide molten salts are the basis of the liquid fuels used in molten salt reactors. Due to the inherent difficulties associated with high temperature and hazardous conditions, experimental investigations of fundamental properties of these materials are usually challenging. In this work, we describe the structure and transport of NaCl-PuCl 3 mixtures using computational techniques. Three compositions were considered (16, 25, and 36 mol% PuCl 3 ) over a temperature range (730 – 1257K) using ab initio molecular dynamics, which provided the necessary data sets for training machine learned interatomic potentials. Further, molecular dynamics simulations based on these potentials were then used to determine structure and transport properties. A substantial change was noted in the structure factor when increasing the PuCl 3 content from 25 to 36 mol%. This change is linked to the aggregation of larger Pu 3+ clusters. In addition, the similarity of the atomic environments of metal cations in molten salt systems to their solid states counterparts was investigated using an unsupervised learning technique. Finally, graph theory was employed to explore the structure and size of actinide networks. Consistent with the structure factor, a dense Pu 3+ intermolecular structure is observed within the 36 mol% PuCl 3 mixture. The structure of cation-cation inter-junctions is also discussed. In all cases, the diffusion of Pu 3+ is significantly lower than that of Na + and Cl - .

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

EVSE Cybersecurity and Resilience

Consequence-driven Cybersecurity Analysis for Extreme Fast Charging Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Electric vehicle (EV) development and associated charging infrastructure are expected to advance rapidly. Thirty percent of all global vehicle sales may be EVs and hybrid EVs by 2025, and they will rely on increasingly sophisticated strategies for grid integration. Next-generation EV charging infrastructure is expected to include interconnected renewable resources, such as photovoltaic (PV) arrays and battery storage systems, along with grid-edge devices. Although distributed energy resources (DERs) are useful in several ways, such as peak shaving at high demand times and backup supply for added resilience, the integration of vehicle charging and DERs could create more avenues for cyberattack. Physical and/or remote access to EV charging station components, including charge ports, power electronics, controllers, and local generation (e.g., PV and energy storage) could be paths to cause power fluctuations, leading to altered operations at the charging station, escalated privileges to administrative systems, exfiltration of financial information (including personally identifiable information), and reduced grid stability. One compromised EV supply equipment component can open the door to a variety of exploitable vulnerabilities. Cloud computing and mobile application control have the potential to expand the threat surface to non-repudiation and firmware integrity challenges. Vendor clouds have access to hundreds of chargers, and if compromised, can scale the attack surface exponentially. The high power and voltage levels of xFC infrastructure (e.g., 400 kW at 1000- V DC) increase the hazards and ability to impact the grid and vehicles more than lower-power charging systems. Legacy communications systems and protocols could also put EV infrastructure at risk of cyberattacks requiring a robust patch management process. Communications networks link EVs and chargers to several stakeholders - including charging station operators, grid operators, vendors/manufacturers, and aggregators - who have both physical and network access to share information for control, monitoring, and analytics. Information in these networks that is vulnerable to compromise includes the state of charge, charging duration, payment information, electricity price, and load control. Analyzing and prioritizing these interconnections risks could help address cybersecurity related to data leakage and manipulation.

charging↗

Multi‐dimensional lock‐free arrays for multithreaded mode‐directed tabling in Prolog

Summary This work proposes a new design for the supporting data structures used to implement multithreaded tabling in Prolog systems. Tabling is an implementation technique that improves the expressiveness of traditional Prolog systems in dealing with recursion and redundant computations. Mode‐directed tabling is an extension to the tabling technique that supports the definition of alternative criteria for specifying how answers are aggregated, thus being very suitable for problems where the goal is to dynamically calculate optimal or selective answers. In this work, we leverage the intrinsic potential that mode‐directed tabling has to express dynamic programming problems by creating a new design that improves the representation of multi‐dimensional arrays in the context of multithreaded tabling. To do so, we introduce a new mode for indexing arguments in mode‐directed tabled evaluations, named dim , where each dim argument features a uni‐dimensional lock‐free array. Experimental results using well‐known dynamic programming problems on a 32‐core machine show that the new design introduces less overheads and clearly improves the execution time for sequential and multithreaded tabled evaluations.

Areias, Miguel↗

Protein model quality assessment using rotation–equivariant transformations on point clouds

Machine learning research concerning protein structure has seen a surge in popularity over the last years with promising advances for basic science and drug discovery. Working with macromolecular structure in a machine learning context requires an adequate numerical representation, and researchers have extensively studied representations such as graphs, discretized 3D grids, and distance maps. As part of CASP14, we explored a new and conceptually simple representation in a blind experiment: atoms as points in 3D, each with associated features. These features—initially just the basic element type of each atom—are updated through a series of neural network layers featuring rotation-equivariant convolutions. Starting from all atoms, we further aggregate information at the level of alpha carbons before making a prediction at the level of the entire protein structure. We find that this approach yields competitive results in protein model quality assessment despite its simplicity and despite the fact that it incorporates minimal prior information and is trained on relatively little data. As a result, its performance and generality are particularly noteworthy in an era where highly complex, customized machine learning methods such as AlphaFold 2 have come to dominate protein structure prediction.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Interpretable artificial intelligence and exascale molecular dynamics simulations to reveal kinetics: Applications to Alzheimer's disease

The rapid increase in computing power, especially with the integration of graphics processing units, has dramatically increased the capabilities of molecular dynamics simulations. To date, these capabilities extend from running very long simulations (tens to hundreds of microseconds) to thousands of short simulations. However, the expansive data generated in these simulations must be made interpretable not only by the investigator who performs them but also by others as well. Here, we demonstrate how integrating learning techniques, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and neural networks, into analysis pipelines can reveal the kinetics of Alzheimer's disease (AD) protein aggregation. Finally, we review select AD targets, describe current simulation methods, and introduce learning concepts and their application in AD, highlighting limitations and potential solutions.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Planet Microbe: a platform for marine microbiology to discover and analyze interconnected ‘omics and environmental data

In recent years, large-scale oceanic sequencing efforts have provided a deeper understanding of marine microbial communities and their dynamics. These research endeavors require the acquisition of complex and varied datasets through large, interdisciplinary and collaborative efforts. However, no unifying framework currently exists for the marine science community to integrate sequencing data with physical, geological, and geochemical datasets. Planet Microbe is a web-based platform that enables data discovery from curated historical and on-going oceanographic sequencing efforts. In Planet Microbe, each ‘omics sample is linked with other biological and physiochemical measurements collected for the same water samples or during the same sample collection event, to provide a broader environmental context. This work highlights the need for curated aggregation efforts that can enable new insights into high-quality metagenomic datasets.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Reference data, predictors, and probability grids for forest degradation classes in three sites in the Brazilian Amazon

Forest degradation by fires and selective logging is widespread in the Amazon region. We implemented a gradient boosted classification modeling framework to classify intact, logged, and burned forests at three Amazonian sites: Feliz Natal Municipality and Xingu Indigenous Territory in Mato Grosso State, and Saracá-Taquera National Forest in Pará State. We used forest degradation history from Landsat time-series as reference data and textural metrics derived from PlanetScope images as predictors. Textural metrics were computed using the Gray-Level Co-Occurrence Matrix (GLCM) textural technique. Included in the attached zip file are ten files: - a shapefile containing the reference data (fire and selective logging polygons and year of event) for each site; - a multiband tif file containing the 8 GLCM metrics used as predictors (Mean, Variance, Homogeneity, Contrast, Dissimilarity, Entropy, Angular Second Moment, Correlation) at the original PlanetScope resolution (3.125m) for each site; - a multiband tif file containing the 72 aggregated GLCM metrics used as predictors (Mean, Variance, Homogeneity, Contrast, Dissimilarity, Entropy, Angular Second Moment, and Correlation aggregated using the mean, first quartile, third quartile, maximum, median, minimum, root mean square, standard deviation, and skewness statistics) at 562m resolution for each site; - a multiband tif file containing the 3 probability grids for either intact, logged, or burned forests at the aggregation resolution (562m) for each site.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Accurate spatiotemporal predictions of daily stream temperature from statistical models accounting for interactions between climate and landscape

Spatial and temporal patterns in stream temperature are primary factors determining species composition, diversity and productivity in stream ecosystems. The availability of spatially and temporally continuous estimates of stream temperature would improve the ability of biologists to fully explore the effects of stream temperature on biota. Most statistical stream temperature modeling techniques are limited in their ability to account for the influence of variables changing across spatial and temporal gradients. We identified and described important interactions between climate and spatial variables that approximate mechanistic controls on spatiotemporal patterns in stream temperature. With identified relationships we formed models to generate reach-scale basin-wide spatially and temporally continuous predictions of daily mean stream temperature in four Columbia River tributaries watersheds of the Pacific Northwest, USA. Models were validated with a testing dataset composed of completely distinct sites and measurements from different years. While some patterns in residuals remained, testing dataset predictions of selected models demonstrated high accuracy and precision (averaged RMSE for each watershed ranged from 0.85–1.54 °C) and was only 17% higher on average than training dataset prediction error. Aggregating daily predictions to monthly predictions of mean stream temperature reduced prediction error by an average of 23%. The accuracy of predictions was largely consistent across diverse climate years, demonstrating the ability of the models to capture the influences of interannual climatic variability and extend predictions to timeframes with limited temperature logger data. Results suggest that the inclusion of a range of interactions between spatial and climatic variables can approximate dynamic mechanistic controls on stream temperatures.

Siegel, Jared E.↗

Experimental deformation in sandstone, carbonates and quartz aggregate

The first part of my thesis is mainly focused on the effect of grain size distribution on compaction localization in porous sandstone. To identify the microstructural parameters that influence compaction band formation, I conducted a systematic study of mechanical deformation, failure mode and microstructural evolution in Bleurswiller and Boise sandstones, of similar porosity (~25%) and mineralogy but different sorting. Discrete compaction bands were observed to develop over a wide range of pressure in the Bleurswiller sandstone that has a relatively uniform grain size distribution. In contrast, compaction localization was not observed in the poorly sorted Boise sandstone. My results demonstrate that grain size distribution exerts important influence on compaction band development, in agreement with recently published data from Valley of Fire and Buckskin Gulch, as well as numerical studies. The second part aimed to improve current knowledge on inelastic behavior, failure mode and brittle-ductile transition in another sedimentary rock, porous carbonates. A micritic Tavel (porosity of ~13%) and an allochemical Indiana (~18%) limestones were deformed under compaction in wet and dry conditions. At lower confining pressures, shear localization occurred in brittle faulting regime. Through transitional regime, the deformation switched to cataclastic flow regime at higher confining pressure. Specifically in the cataclastic regime, the (dry and wet) Tavel and dry Indiana failed by distributed cataclastic flow, while in contrast, wet Indiana failed as compaction localization. My results demonstrate that different failure modes and mechanical behaviors under different deformation regimes and water saturation are fundamental prior to any geophysical application in porous carbonates. The third part aimed to focus on investigating compaction on quartz aggregate starting at low (MPa) using X-ray diffraction. We report the diffraction peak evolution of quartz with increasing pressures. Through evaluating the unit cell lattice parameters and the volume of the quartz sample, macroscopic stress and strain were resolved. Moreover, we observed quartz peak broadened asymmetrically at low pressure, such extent is more prominent in axial than in radial direction. Our evaluation on peak [101] (highest intensity among peaks) demonstrated that full width at half maximum can be a good proxy for microscopic stress distribution. We observed deviations in the pressurevolume curves at P = ~0.4 GPa and speculated that it was the point of which onset of grain crushing and pore collapse occur in quartz. This is on the same order of which onset of grain crushing (commonly known as P*) is observed in sandstones in the rock mechanics literature. This demonstrated that there is potential in estimating grain crushing and pore collapse pressure with our technique.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Impact of structural biology and the protein data bank on us fda new drug approvals of low molecular weight antineoplastic agents 2019–2023

Abstract Open access to three-dimensional atomic-level biostructure information from the Protein Data Bank (PDB) facilitated discovery/development of 100% of the 34 new low molecular weight, protein-targeted, antineoplastic agents approved by the US FDA 2019–2023. Analyses of PDB holdings, the scientific literature, and related documents for each drug-target combination revealed that the impact of structural biologists and public-domain 3D biostructure data was broad and substantial, ranging from understanding target biology (100% of all drug targets), to identifying a given target as likely druggable (100% of all targets), to structure-guided drug discovery (>80% of all new small-molecule drugs, made up of 50% confirmed and >30% probable cases). In addition to aggregate impact assessments, illustrative case studies are presented for six first-in-class small-molecule anti-cancer drugs, including a selective inhibitor of nuclear export targeting Exportin 1 (selinexor, Xpovio), an ATP-competitive CSF-1R receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (pexidartinib,Turalia), a non-ATP-competitive inhibitor of the BCR-Abl fusion protein targeting the myristoyl binding pocket within the kinase catalytic domain of Abl (asciminib, Scemblix), a covalently-acting G12C KRAS inhibitor (sotorasib, Lumakras or Lumykras), an EZH2 methyltransferase inhibitor (tazemostat, Tazverik), and an agent targeting the basic-Helix-Loop-Helix transcription factor HIF-2α (belzutifan, Welireg).

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Label-free characterization of organic nanocarriers reveals persistent single molecule cores for hydrocarbon sequestration

Self-assembled molecular nanostructures embody an enormous potential for new technologies, therapeutics, and understanding of molecular biofunctions. Their structure and function are dependent on local environments, necessitating in-situ/operando investigations for the biggest leaps in discovery and design. However, the most advanced of such investigations involve laborious labeling methods that can disrupt behavior or are not fast enough to capture stimuli-responsive phenomena. We utilize X-rays resonant with molecular bonds to demonstrate an in-situ nanoprobe that eliminates the need for labels and enables data collection times within seconds. Our analytical spectral model quantifies the structure, molecular composition, and dynamics of a copolymer micelle drug delivery platform using resonant soft X-rays. We additionally apply this technique to a hydrocarbon sequestrating polysoap micelle and discover that the critical organic-capturing domain does not coalesce upon aggregation but retains distinct single-molecule cores. This characteristic promotes its efficiency of hydrocarbon sequestration for applications like oil spill remediation and drug delivery. Such a technique enables operando, chemically sensitive investigations of any aqueous molecular nanostructure, label-free.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Enhanced dimerization drives ligand-independent activity of mutant epidermal growth factor receptor in lung cancer

Mutations within the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR/erbB1/Her1) are often associated with tumorigenesis. In particular, a number of EGFR mutants that demonstrate ligand-independent signaling are common in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), including kinase domain mutations L858R (also called L834R) and exon 19 deletions (e.g., ΔL747-P753insS), which collectively make up nearly 90% of mutations in NSCLC. The molecular mechanisms by which these mutations confer constitutive activity remain unresolved. Using multiple subdiffraction-limit imaging modalities, we reveal the altered receptor structure and interaction kinetics of NSCLC-associated EGFR mutants. We applied two-color single quantum dot tracking to quantify receptor dimerization kinetics on living cells and show that, in contrast to wild-type EGFR, mutants are capable of forming stable, ligand-independent dimers. Two-color superresolution localization microscopy confirmed ligand-independent aggregation of EGFR mutants. Live-cell Förster resonance energy transfer measurements revealed that the L858R kinase mutation alters ectodomain structure such that unliganded mutant EGFR adopts an extended, dimerization-competent conformation. Finally, mutation of the putative dimerization arm confirmed a critical role for ectodomain engagement in ligand-independent signaling. These data support a model in which dysregulated activity of NSCLC-associated kinase mutants is driven by coordinated interactions involving both the kinase and extracellular domains that lead to enhanced dimerization.

Cell Biology↗

Dataset for Blueprinting Electrified Transit System Implementation

This dataset contains the figures and tabulated results generated from a system-level optimization study of transit fleet electrification planning. The dataset does not include executable modeling code required to reproduce the optimization. The dataset includes results for optimized charging infrastructure deployment by location and power level and service block assignments by fuel type, battery capacity selections, and distributed energy resource sizing. It also contains aggregated financial results, capital expenditures, operating cost summaries, net present cost comparisons across scenarios, and quantified air quality impacts. Results are structured to reflect multiple planning scenarios, including heuristic electrification plans, system-optimized configurations, and sensitivity cases with alternative objective weightings. The modeling was developed using publicly available General Transit Feed Specification data from Omnitrans and standardized modeling assumptions.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗