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At least 127 records · Page 7

Helicity, membrane incorporation, orientation and thermal stability of the large conductance mechanosensitive ion channel from E. coli

In this report, we present structural studies on the large conductance mechanosensitive ion channel (MscL) from E. coli in detergent micelles and lipid vesicles. Both transmission Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and circular dichroism (CD) spectra indicate that the protein is highly helical in detergents as well as liposomes. The secondary structure of the proteins was shown to be highly resistant towards denaturation (25-95 degrees C) based on an ellipticity thermal profile. Amide H+/D+ exchange was shown to be extensive (ca. 66%), implying that two thirds of the protein are water accessible. MscL, reconstituted in oriented lipid bilayers, was shown to possess a net bilayer orientation using dichroic ratios measured by attenuated total-reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Here, we present and discuss this initial set of structural data on this new family of ion-channel proteins.

NASA Discipline Cell Biology↗

A Structurally Diverse Compound Screening Library to Identify Substrates for Diamine, Polyamine, and Related Acetyltransferases

Spermidine/spermine N-acetyltransferases (SSATs) and other types of polyamine acetyltransferases (PAATs) acetylate diamines and/or polyamines. These enzymes are evolutionarily related and belong to the Gcn5-related N-acetyltransferase (GNAT) superfamily, yet we lack a fundamental understanding of their substrate specificity and/or promiscuity toward different compounds. Many of these enzymes are known or are predicted to acetylate polyamines, but in the cell there are other types of compounds that contain moieties derived from polyamines that may be the native substrates for these enzymes. To learn more about the identity of substrates that are acetylated, we selected and screened 17 different GNAT enzymes for activity toward a set of structurally diverse compounds that contained different types of amine moieties (e.g., aminopropyl, aminobutyl, etc.). These compounds included diamines, triamines, and polyamines containing primary amino groups, and they had structural diversity with variation of the chain length and presence or absence of internal amino groups and other functional groups. We found 12 of the 17 enzymes acetylated at least one of the compounds. Some enzymes were selective toward acetylating only one compound while others exhibited substrate promiscuity toward numerous compounds. Our experimental results ultimately allowed us to pinpoint specific substrates that could be further investigated to more fully understand substrate specificity versus promiscuity of GNAT enzymes and the role of acetylated small molecules in cells.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE Repository Metadata Profile (DRMP): A Metadata Framework for Advancing Interoperability and AI Readiness Across Scientific Repositories

The Department of Energy (DOE) funds a diverse and distributed ecosystem of repositories that steward scientific data, publications, and software across its research programs, user facilities, and national laboratories. While significant progress has been made in standardizing dataset-level metadata, the metadata describing repositories themselves (their identity, governance, access interfaces, policies, and technical capabilities) remains inconsistent and fragmented across DOE-funded systems. This variability limits discoverability, interoperability, automated validation, and AI-driven analysis, all of which are increasingly essential for modern scientific workflows. To address this gap, the DOE Data Curation Working Group (DCWG) developed the DOE Repository Metadata Profile (DRMP). The DRMP is a practical, community-driven framework that defines how repositories can describe themselves in a consistent, machine-actionable, and scalable manner. The DRMP is not a new metadata schema. Instead, it is a mapping profile and structured element set capturing the essential characteristics of DOE repositories. It harmonizes repository-level metadata across six widely adopted community schemas: RE3Data; DCAT-US v3; Schema.org; Dublin Core; DataCite 4.6; and PREMIS 3.0. This harmonization eliminates reinvention and enables interoperability within DOE and across the broader scientific ecosystem. A core objective of the DRMP is to reduce burden on repositories by allowing them to reuse their existing metadata through a Rosetta-style crosswalk rather than redesigning local implementations. The profile introduces a three-level conformance model that supports incremental adoption: • Level 1 – Minimum Viable Record (MVR): foundational identification elements required for workflows, project registration, and basic repository presence. • Level 2 – Interoperable: structured metadata enabling alignment with national and international discovery systems. • Level 3 – AI-Ready: enhanced provenance, policy transparency, fixity, semantic context, and capabilities that support automated reasoning, model training governance, and machine-assisted curation. To support implementation, the DRMP includes JSON Schema definitions, OpenAPI patterns, and MCP templates that allow repositories to publish machine-readable metadata directly within existing platforms. These resources are modular and lightweight, enabling adoption without major architectural change. Adopting the DRMP enables repositories to: • Enhance discoverability and interoperability by aligning identifiers, classifications, and descriptive elements across widely used schema standards. • Support federated discovery and cross-registration across DOE systems, Data.gov, and international catalogs. • Enable AI agents and workflow orchestration systems to interpret repository-level metadata within the American Science Cloud (AmSC) through Model Context Protocol (MCP)-based context publication. • Demonstrate alignment with DOE’s open science, stewardship, and FAIR data priorities. This guidance represents a community-driven step forward. Through voluntary adoption and continued feedback, the DRMP advances a cohesive, machine-actionable description of DOE repositories that supports FAIR data practices, preparing the infrastructure for AI-enabled research, and strengthening the discoverability and reuse of DOE’s scientific outputs.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗

Regeneration of near-wall turbulence structures

An examination of the regeneration mechanisms of near-wall turbulence and an attempt to investigate the critical Reynolds number conjecture of Waleffe & Kim is presented. The basis is an extension of the 'minimal channel' approach of Jimenez and Moin which emphasizes the near-wall region and further reduces the complexity of the turbulent flow. Reduction of the flow Reynolds number to the minimum value which will allow turbulence to be sustained has the effect of reducing the ratio of the largest scales to the smallest scales or, equivalently, of causing the near-wall region to fill more of the area between the channel walls. In addition, since each wall may have an active near-wall region, half of the channel is always somewhat redundant. If a plane Couette flow is instead chosen as the base flow, this redundancy is eliminated: the mean shear of a plane Couette flow has a single sign, and at low Reynolds numbers, the two wall regions share a single set of structures. A minimal flow with these modifications possesses, by construction, the strongest constraints which allow sustained turbulence, producing a greatly simplified flow in which the regeneration process can be examined.

Hamilton, James M.↗

Thermal stress analysis of space shuttle orbiter subjected to reentry aerodynamic heating

A structural performance and resizing (SPAR) finite-element computer program and NASA structural analysis (NASTRAN) finite-element computer programs were used in the thermal stress analysis of the space shuttle orbiter subjected to reentry aerodynamic heating. A SPAR structural model was set up for the entire left wing of the orbiter, and NASTRAN structural models were set up for: (1) a wing segment located at midspan of the orbiter left wing, and (2) a fuselage segment located at midfuselage. The thermal stress distributions in the orbiter structure were obtained and the critical high thermal stress regions were identified. It was found that the thermal stresses induced in the orbiter structure during reentry were relatively low. The thermal stress predictions from the whole wing model were considered to be more accurate than those from the wing segment model because the former accounts for temperature and stress effects throughout the entire wing.

Ko, William L.↗

Proliferated Resilient Economical Half-Meter Aperture Space Telescopes (PREEMPT)

The PREEMPT LDRD was motivated by a major national need for better space-based imaging systems that are both high performing and affordable for the US Government. Current optical payloads for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and space domain awareness (SDA) missions can cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take years to develop, which makes it difficult to build the large constellations required for persistent, world-wide coverage. To address this, the team aimed to advance a different kind of large-aperture (>25 cm) telescope, called a monolithic telescope, in which key optical surfaces are built into a single piece of fused silica. This design greatly reduces payload and spacecraft complexity, the need for precision focus actuators, improves mechanical and thermal robustness, and lowers cost when compared with traditional Cassegrain telescopes that rely on many precisely aligned components. The project focused on five primary thrusts. The first thrust was to advance the concept of a V10, 25 cm, monolithic telescope forward from optical design to flight-ready stage. This was accomplished in partnership with Optimax, who delivered the first test unit in the early stages of the LDRD. The team developed several technologies necessary for this optic to be integrated into a flight demonstration. These include carbon fiber housings, highly detailed structural and thermal models and stress-reducing elastic averaging Hirth groove designs. These technologies resulted in a successful maturation of the optic, which is now slated to fly in late 2026/early 2027 for a demonstration mission. The second thrust was to advance the manufacturability of these optics. In collaboration with NIF’s optical manufacturing shop, we reduced polishing time from 480 hours to 65 hours through the implementation of optimized processes and new tools. The NIF team utilized a conceptual V8 (18 cm) optic to demonstrate this optimization, though it can be applied to the rest of the monolithic optic portfolio. Third, the team developed the first conceptual V20 (50 cm) payload, which is slated to be the next generation of LLNL optical payload systems. A set of structural, dynamic and thermal simulations were performed to identify potential challenges in the future development of this payload. Early-stage simulations suggest the payload is feasible, though thermal management will be the key focus area to maintain optimal performance. Fourth, a non-linear model of Viton was developed, to further enhance the reliability of our structural and dynamic models for future payloads. Viton acts as the primary interface material between the optic and its housing. Lastly, the team focused on successfully displaying the feasibility of using additively manufactured metal composites for optical space payloads. The team successfully demonstrated layer by layer deposition of Al-SiC composites, which have highly tunable structural and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) properties. These are crucial for optical payloads because CTE mismatch is one of the causes for degraded optical performance for telescopes in orbit. Overall, the work showed that monolithic telescopes could become a practical, lower-cost path to high-resolution space imaging for both national security and scientific missions.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Implementation of a self-consistent slab model of bilayer structure in the SasView suite

Slab models are simple and useful structural descriptions which have long been used to describe lyotropic lamellar phases, such as lipid bilayers. Typically, slab models assume a midline symmetry and break a bilayer structure into three pieces, a central solvent-free core and two symmetric outer layers composed of the soluble portion of the amphiphile and associated solvent. This breakdown matches reasonably well to the distribution of neutron scattering length density and therefore is a convenient and common approach for the treatment of small-angle scattering data. Here, an implementation of this model within the SasView software suite is reported. The implementation is intended to provide physical consistency through the area per amphiphile molecule and number of solvent molecules included within the solvent-exposed outer layer. The proper use of this model requires knowledge of (or good estimates for) the amphiphile and solvent molecule volume and atomic composition, ultimately providing a self-consistent data treatment with only two free parameters: the lateral area per amphiphile molecule and the number of solvent molecules included in the outer region per amphiphile molecule. Here, the use of this code is demonstrated in the fitting of standard lipid bilayer data sets, obtaining structural parameters consistent with prior literature and illustrating the typical and ideal cases of fitting for neutron scattering data obtained using single or multiple contrast conditions. While demonstrated here for lipid bilayers, this model is intended for general application to block copolymers, surfactants, and other lyotropic lamellar phase structures for which a slab model is able to reasonably estimate the neutron scattering length density/electron-density profile of inner and outer layers of the lamellae.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

The 1.2 micron CMOS technology

A set of test structures was designed using the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) test chip assembler and was used to evaluate the first CMOS-bulk foundry runs with feature sizes of 1.2 microns. In addition to the problems associated with the physical scaling of the structures, this geometry provided an additional set of problems, since the design files had to be generated in such a way as to be capable of being processed through p-well, n-well, and twin-well processing lines. This requirement meant that the files containing the geometric design rules as well as the structure design files had to produce process-insensitive designs, a requirement that does not apply to the more mature 3.0-micron CMOS feature size technology. Because of the photolithographic steps required with this feature size, the maximum allowable chip size was 10 x 10 mm, and this chip was divided into 24 project areas, with each area being 1.6 x 1.6 mm in size. The JPL-designed structures occupied 13 out of the 21 allowable project sizes and provided the only test information obtained from these three preliminary runs. The structures were used to successfully evaluate three different manufacturing runs through two separate foundries.

Pina, C. A.↗

Comparative Analysis of Model Predictive Control and MPC-Informed Rule-Based Control for Thermal Storage Operation in Ultra-Low Temperature 4th Generation District Heating Networks

The integration of thermal storage and heat pumps in district heating networks (DHNs) can significantly enhance operational flexibility and energy efficiency; however, the practical deployment of advanced control strategies is often hindered by forecasting requirements and computational complexity. This study presents a comparative analysis of thermal storage control strategies in an ultra-low-temperature fourth-generation DHN, focusing on the development of a simplified rule-based control (RBC) explicitly informed by Model Predictive Control (MPC) behavior. The proposed methodology systematically analyzes the charging and discharging decisions of an MPC-controlled system under ideal forecasting conditions and extracts recurrent control patterns as a function of key system variables, including outdoor temperature, thermal demand, and electricity price. These patterns are translated into a set of structured time- and condition-based rules, resulting in an MPC-informed RBC that embeds predictive insights while preserving implementation simplicity and operational transparency. The approach is validated on a realistic mixed-use urban district in Denver, Colorado, USA, equipped with a centralized air-source heat pump, distributed water-to-water heat pumps, and a central thermal storage unit. Results show that the tuned RBC attains approximately 96% of ideal MPC economic performance (-27% of costs), preserves values of technical and environmental indicators (reduction only of 2-3%), and substantially reduces complexity. Sensitivity analyses further demonstrate the robustness of the RBC under varying operational conditions (i.e., ambient temperature, electricity price). Overall, the study demonstrates that MPC-informed rule-based control represents an effective trade-off between control performance and real-world applicability, enabling the integration of additional system components while maintaining simplicity, robustness, and ease of implementation.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

An engineered lactate oxidase based electrochemical sensor for continuous detection of biomarker lactic acid in human sweat and serum

Lactate levels in humans reveal intensity and duration of exertion and provide a critical readout for the severity of life-threatening illnesses such as pediatric sepsis. Using the lactate oxidase enzyme (Lox) from Aerococcus viridians, we demonstrated its functionality for lactate electrochemical sensing in physiological fluids in a lab setting. The structure and dynamics of LOx were validated by crystallography, X-ray scattering, and hydroxyl radical protein footprinting. This provided a validated protein template for understanding and designing an enzyme-based electrochemical sensing elements. Using this template, LOx enzyme variants were generated and compared. Comparison of the variants demonstrates that one exhibits effective lactate sensing at significantly reduced operating voltages. Additionally, we demonstrate that the four hexahistidine-tags on each enzyme tetramer are sufficient for immobilization to create a durable, functional sensor, with no need for a covalent attachment, enabling self-immobilization and eliminating the need for additional immobilization steps. The functionality of the LOx enzyme variants was verified at physiological lactate concentrations in both human serum (0–4 mM) and artificial sweat (0–100 mM) using 3-electrode setups for analysis of the three variants in parallel. Accuracy of measurement in both artificial sweat and human serum were high. Employing a microfluidic flow cell, we successfully monitored varying lactate levels in physiological fluids continuously over a 2h period. Overall, this optimized LOx enzyme, which self-immobilizes onto gold sensing electrodes, facilitates efficient and reliable lactate detection and continuous monitoring at reduced operating voltages suitable for further development towards commercial use.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Damage detection in a laboratory-scale wellbore applying Time Reversal and Nonlinear Elastic Wave Spectroscopy (TR NEWS)

We report Time Reversal and Nonlinear Elastic Wave Spectroscopy (TR-NEWS) has been used to focus acoustic energy, and make measurements correlated with damage in a variety of industrial materials. Most studies using TR-NEWS have focused on relatively small objects and may have multiple acoustic sources. In Earth, within energy extraction and carbon sequestration settings, the structure and scale of wellbores makes acoustic focusing challenging, as has been demonstrated through numerical simulations. This paper explores the feasibility of applying TR NEWS for damage detection in wellbores by constructing a laboratory-scale wellbore, and using TR to focus and make dynamic linear and nonlinear elastic measurements on it. During successive cycles of localized mechanical damage induced in the sample, the hysteretic nonlinear elastic parameter α increased with progressive mechanical damage. In addition to these strain-dependent changes in α, the width and peak amplitude of the time reversal focused energy changed near the damage site.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Subseasonal Tropical Convection Characteristics in the Energy Exascale Earth System Model Version 2

Accurate simulation of subseasonal tropical moist convection remains a key challenge for Earth system models. The difficulties stem from the reliance of cumulus cloud processes on model parameterizations and the need to represent the multiscale nature of interactions among clouds, radiation, moisture, circulation, and surface energy fluxes. Equatorial convection drives circulation anomalies that can affect weather patterns and extremes globally, motivating efforts to better understand and simulate these tropical disturbances. Here, a detailed review of subseasonal tropical convective behavior as simulated in the Energy Exascale Earth System Model version 2 (E3SMv2) is presented, with comparison to its predecessor version 1 (E3SMv1) and reference data sets. Model structural changes to the deep convective trigger function and surface fluxes, along with parametric tuning of the cloud and microphysics schemes, together result in an improved depiction of organized tropical convection across scales. In particular, E3SMv2 exhibits a more realistic Madden‐Julian oscillation (MJO) and low‐frequency Kelvin waves—owing to a sharper time mean equatorial meridional moisture gradient and improved convection‐circulation coupling —as well as a better depiction of MJO Northern Hemisphere teleconnections. Despite these improvements, subseasonal precipitation variance continues to be strongly underestimated in E3SMv2. Use of a cloud plume model also reveals that the coupling between daily averaged tropical precipitation and lower tropospheric instability in E3SM is inconsistent with observations, a bias that could potentially impact the simulation of intraseasonal disturbances.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Priming self-assembly pathways by stacking block copolymers

Abstract Block copolymers spontaneously self-assemble into well-defined nanoscale morphologies. Yet equilibrium assembly gives rise to a limited set of structures. Non-equilibrium strategies can, in principle, expand diversity by exploiting self-assembly’s responsive nature. In this vein, we developed a pathway priming strategy combining control of thin film initial configurations and ordering history. We sequentially coat distinct materials to form prescribed initial states, and use thermal annealing to evolve these manifestly non-equilibrium states through the assembly landscape, traversing normally inaccessible transient structures. We explore the enormous associated hyperspace, spanning processing (annealing temperature and time), material (composition and molecular weight), and layering (thickness and order) dimensions. We demonstrate a library of exotic non-native morphologies, including vertically-oriented perforated lamellae, aqueduct structures (vertical lamellar walls with substrate-pinned perforations), parapets (crenellated lamellae), and networks of crisscrossing lamellae. This enhanced structural control can be used to modify functional properties, including accessing regimes that surpass their equilibrium analogs.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Robust training of machine learning interatomic potentials with dimensionality reduction and stratified sampling

Abstract Machine learning interatomic potentials (MLIPs) enable accurate simulations of materials at scales beyond that accessible by ab initio methods and play an increasingly important role in the study and design of materials. However, MLIPs are only as accurate and robust as the data on which they are trained. Here, we present DImensionality-Reduced Encoded Clusters with sTratified (DIRECT) sampling as an approach to select a robust training set of structures from a large and complex configuration space. By applying DIRECT sampling on the Materials Project relaxation trajectories dataset with over one million structures and 89 elements, we develop an improved materials 3-body graph network (M3GNet) universal potential that extrapolates more reliably to unseen structures. We further show that molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with the M3GNet universal potential can be used instead of expensive ab initio MD to rapidly create a large configuration space for target systems. We combined this scheme with DIRECT sampling to develop a reliable moment tensor potential for titanium hydrides without the need for iterative augmentation of training structures. This work paves the way for robust high-throughput development of MLIPs across any compositional complexity.

Qi, Ji (ORCID:0000000158089931)↗

Building morphologies of the USA structures database; a gauntlet feature set

In recent years there has been a proliferation of methods and data to extract building footprints from satellite imagery. However there has been very little effort to provide additional insight about these buildings beyond their spatial location and shape. Features derived from their geometries can be used to better characterize these buildings which are critical for further research and development. In this work a set of 65 unique features for every building for more than 131 million buildings covering the US has been developed. This rich feature dataset will enable researchers, policymakers and various agencies to derive additional building characteristics like height, occupancy type, and help to gain valuable and new insights of the built environment.

Environmental sciences↗

Global characterization of biosynthetic gene clusters in non-model eukaryotes using domain architectures

Abstract The majority of pharmaceuticals are derived from natural products, bioactive compounds naturally synthesized by organisms to provide evolutionary advantages. Although the rich evolutionary history of eukaryotic algal species implicates a high potential for natural product-based drug discovery, it remains largely untouched. This study investigates 2762 putative biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) from 212 eukaryotic algal genomes. To analyze a vast set of structurally diverse BGCs, we employed comparative analysis based on the vectorization of biosynthetic domains, referred to as biosynthetic domain architecture (BDA). By characterizing core biosynthetic machineries through BDA, we identified key BDAs of modular BGCs in diverse eukaryotes and introduced 16 candidate modular BGCs with similar BDAs to previously validated BGCs. This study provides a global characterization of eukaryotic algal BGCs, offering an alternative to laborious manual curation for BGC prioritization.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Machine learned interatomic potential for dispersion strengthened plasma facing components

Tungsten (W) is a material of choice for the divertor material due to its high melting temperature, thermal conductivity, and sputtering threshold. However, W has a very high brittle-to-ductile transition temperature, and at fusion reactor temperatures (≥1000 K), it may undergo recrystallization and grain growth. Dispersion-strengthening W with zirconium carbide (ZrC) can improve ductility and limit grain growth, but much of the effects of the dispersoids on microstructural evolution and thermomechanical properties at high temperatures are still unknown. We present a machine learned Spectral Neighbor Analysis Potential for W–ZrC that can now be used to study these materials. In order to construct a potential suitable for large-scale atomistic simulations at fusion reactor temperatures, it is necessary to train on ab initio data generated for a diverse set of structures, chemical environments, and temperatures. Further accuracy and stability tests of the potential were achieved using objective functions for both material properties and high temperature stability. Additionally, validation of lattice parameters, surface energies, bulk moduli, and thermal expansion is confirmed on the optimized potential. Tensile tests of W/ZrC bicrystals show that although the W(110)–ZrC(111) C-terminated bicrystal has the highest ultimate tensile strength (UTS) at room temperature, observed strength decreases with increasing temperature. At 2500 K, the terminating C layer diffuses into the W, resulting in a weaker W–Zr interface. Meanwhile, the W(110)–ZrC(111) Zr-terminated bicrystal has the highest UTS at 2500 K.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Infrared spectroscopy of the syn -methyl-substituted Criegee intermediate: A combined experimental and theoretical study

An IR–vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) ion-dip spectroscopy method is utilized to examine the IR spectrum of acetaldehyde oxide (CH3CHOO) in the overtone CH stretch (2νCH) spectral region. IR activation creates a depletion of the ground state population that reduces the VUV photoionization signal on the parent mass channel. IR activation of the more stable and populated syn-CH3CHOO conformer results in rapid unimolecular decay to OH + vinoxy products and makes the most significant contribution to the observed spectrum. The resultant IR–VUV ion-dip spectrum of CH3CHOO is similar to that obtained previously for syn-CH3CHOO using IR action spectroscopy with UV laser-induced fluorescence detection of OH products. The prominent IR features at 5984 and 6081 cm−1 are also observed using UV + VUV photoionization of OH products. Complementary theoretical calculations utilizing a general implementation of second-order vibrational perturbation theory provide new insights on the vibrational transitions that give rise to the experimental spectrum in the overtone CH stretch region. The introduction of physically motivated small shifts of the harmonic frequencies yields remarkably improved agreement between experiment and theory in the overtone CH stretch region. The prominent features are assigned as highly mixed states with contributions from two quanta of CH stretch and/or a combination of CH stretch with an overtone in mode 4. The generality of this approach is demonstrated by applying it to three different levels of electronic structure theory/basis sets, all of which provide spectra that are virtually indistinguishable despite showing large deviations prior to introducing the shifts to the harmonic frequencies.

Chemistry↗