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At least 1,297 records · Page 72

Enabling Dynamic Vehicle Analyses With Improved Atmospheric Attenuation Models in Glenn Research Center Communication Analysis Suite

To aid in meeting the NASA objective of returning humans to the Moon, the Glenn Research Center’s Communication Analysis Suite was augmented with two distinct capabilities. The first capability added was the vehicle propagator. This allows the addition of dynamic aircraft and ground vehicles around any celestial body within the solar system during an analysis. This functionality interpolates the position and velocity of the vehicle relative to a celestial body at the time steps analyzed using the type of path and either a series of waypoints or a direction and duration of travel. The implications of this new capability include lunar rovers and/or drones, such as Dragonfly, where the vehicle propagator will analyze the communications architecture. The newly created vehicle propagator is now in use in communications studies for the 2024 lunar missions, simulating the movement of lunar rovers across the Moon’s southern pole. The second capability added was the augmentation of the atmospheric attenuation model. The previous model did not have a uniform low-elevation attenuation model due to the trigonometric approximation for path length and the exponential nature of low-elevation scintillation. User-defined weather parameters were also added to the updated atmospheric attenuation model. The previous model solely used tabular data based upon the season and location of the transmitting antenna. Multiple simulations of the same configuration now return different results based on the differing weather parameters. Cognitive communications analysis efforts can use this second capability to generate neural network training data based on differing weather conditions at utilized ground stations, a critical step in allowing neural networks to learn how weather parameters impact communications performance.

vehicle propagation↗

Eagle Behavior and Risk Modeling for Wind Energy Webinar

NREL presents recent progress in the development and validation of new eagle behavioral models, highlighting applications for wind-plant siting and operations. This webinar features talks focused on three areas: atmospheric modeling across the spatiotemporal scales of interest, facility-scale behavioral modeling, and turbine-scale data-driven behavioral modeling. A final presentation demonstrates micrositing as an application of our completely open-source analysis framework.

agent-based movement model↗

Otolith 87 Sr / 86 Sr identifies natal origin, movement and life history of Burbot Lota lota in the Kootenai River following 45 years of impoundment

Abstract Hydropower has long been an effective form of renewable energy, but the development of the resource has negatively impacted fishes throughout the world. Formulating recovery plans to mitigate these effects requires a firm understanding of species‐specific provenance, life history and life stage habitat requirements. However, the importance of this information is often only recognised after a substantial population decline, when obtaining it becomes demographically challenging. We provide a case study for this scenario and present a post hoc approach to gain insight into these critical data gaps for Burbot Lota lota in the upper Kootenai River in Montana and British Columbia. The population once supported a robust tribal and recreational harvest but declined following impoundment and these fisheries have remained closed or curtailed for nearly 20 years. The reasons for the decline are unknown and actions to assist recovery have been constrained by limited information regarding natal origin, life history and habitat use. We addressed this issue using strontium isotope ratios ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) in otoliths collected over four decades in Lake Koocanusa, the reservoir on the Kootenai River above Libby Dam. Due to the geologic heterogeneity of the basin and resulting variation in water 87 Sr/ 86 Sr, the assignment probability for Burbot to their region of natal origin approached unity. Otolith 87 Sr/ 86 Sr also indicated the population was comprised of mainstem‐ and tributary‐origin forms and their relative abundance changed over time. Mainstem Burbot was most abundant during the 1970s and 2000s, whereas tributary forms dominated between these periods. We suggest ecosystem changes following impoundment contributed to this shift in life history forms and the overall decline of the population. Our findings underscore the need for additional investigations of these impacts to guide restoration efforts.

Dunnigan, James L.↗

Identification of Faults Susceptible to Induced Seismicity (Final Report)

Central to the work documented in this report is the capability of geocellular models to represent the geologic conceptual model updated with fault identification from machine learning and joint inversion modeling of microseismic data measured and recorded as a consequence of CO 2 injection at a field demonstration site: the Illinois Basin - Decatur Project (IBDP). This work required seven unique geocellular models with 100s of simulated variations to gain a very high degree of confidence in the identification of geologic features present that contributed to induced microseismicity at IBDP. All forward modeling: pressure modeling, stress modeling, and seismic modeling used the same geologic conceptual model and representations of that model at different scales. The pressure modeling and poroelastic modeling created “snapshots” of pore pressure and stress field changes at different times during CO 2 injection, in which microseismic events were clustered (in time). These pressure and stress snapshots, within the framework and architecture of the geologic conceptual model via the geocellular model, informed the single fault and fault network models to ascertain the likelihood of fault movement (seismic or aseismic). The outcomes of the pressure, stress, and fault/fault network (seismic) modeling confirmed that the faults in the geologic conceptual model in Task 2 were likely the source of microseismic events measured at IBDP and acted as conduits for pressure to be transmitted from the injection interval into the Precambrian crystalline basement rock. This closely coordinated and integrated unique modeling approach was conducted to prove the viability of our proposed workflow 1) to better resolve crystalline basement faults, 2) detect subseismic faults that could be activated by injection, 3) increase the certainty in fault detection and their susceptibility to release seismic energy, and 4) understand transmission of pressure vertically from the well to the underlying fractured crystalline basement. The proposed methodology was effective in guiding an iterative process of calibrating forward modeling results based on similar geocellular models while honoring the geologic conceptual model (i.e., characterization data and knowledge of regional geology); this led to higher level of certainty in the identification of fault/faults zones to control seismicity and transmission of pressure to the regions of recorded and located injection induced seismicity.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Accelerating high-order mesh optimization using finite element partial assembly on GPUs

In this paper we present a new GPU-oriented mesh optimization method based on high order finite elements. Our approach relies on node movement with fixed topology, through the Target-Matrix Optimization Paradigm (TMOP) and uses a global nonlinear solve over the whole computational mesh, i.e., all mesh nodes are moved together. A key property of the method is that the mesh optimization process is recast in terms of finite element operations, which allows us to utilize recent advances in the field of GPU-accelerated high order finite element algorithms. For example, we reduce data motion by using tensor factorization and matrix-free methods, which have superior performance characteristics compared to traditional full finite element matrix assembly and offer advantages for GPU based HPC hardware. Furthermore, we describe the major mathematical components of the method along with their efficient GPU-oriented implementation. In addition, we propose an easily reproducible mesh optimization test that can serve as a performance benchmark for the mesh optimization community.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Nonlinearity of the post-spinel transition and its expression in slabs and plumes worldwide

Phase transitions in the mantle control its internal dynamics and structure. The post-spinel transition marks the upper–lower mantle boundary, where ringwoodite dissociates into bridgmanite plus ferropericlase, and its Clapeyron slope regulates mantle flow across it. This interaction has previously been assumed to have no lateral spatial variations, based on the assumption of a linear post-spinel boundary in pressure and temperature. Here we present laser-heated diamond anvil cell experiments with synchrotron X-ray diffraction to better constrain this boundary, especially at higher temperatures. Combining our data with results from the literature, and using a global analysis based on machine learning, we find a pronounced nonlinearity in the post-spinel boundary, with its slope ranging from –4 MPa/K at 2100 K, to –2 MPa/K at 1950 K, and to 0 MPa/K at 1600 K. Changes in temperature over time and space can therefore cause the post-spinel transition to have variable effects on mantle convection and the movement of subducting slabs and upwelling plumes.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Compound gravity receptor polarization vectors evidenced by linear vestibular evoked potentials

The utricle and saccule are gravity receptor organs of the vestibular system. These receptors rely on a high-density otoconial membrane to detect linear acceleration and the position of the cranium relative to Earth's gravitational vector. The linear vestibular evoked potential (VsEP) has been shown to be an effective non-invasive functional test specifically for otoconial gravity receptors (Jones et al., 1999). Moreover, there is some evidence that the VsEP can be used to independently test utricular and saccular function (Taylor et al., 1997; Jones et al., 1998). Here we characterize compound macular polarization vectors for the utricle and saccule in hatchling chickens. Pulsed linear acceleration stimuli were presented in two axes, the dorsoventral (DV, +/- Z axis) to isolate the saccule, and the interaural (IA, +/- Y axis) to isolate the utricle. Traditional signal averaging was used to resolve responses recorded from the surface of the skull. Latency and amplitude of eighth nerve components of the linear VsEP were measured. Gravity receptor responses exhibited clear preferences for one stimulus direction in each axis. With respect to each utricular macula, lateral translation in the IA axis produced maximum ipsilateral response amplitudes with substantially greater amplitude intensity (AI) slopes than medially directed movement. Downward caudal motions in the DV axis produced substantially larger response amplitudes and AI slopes. The results show that the macula lagena does not contribute to the VsEP compound polarization vectors of the sacculus and utricle. The findings suggest further that preferred compound vectors for the utricle depend on the pars externa (i.e. lateral hair cell field) whereas for the saccule they depend on pars interna (i.e. superior hair cell fields). These data provide evidence that maculae saccule and utricle can be selectively evaluated using the linear VsEP.

NASA Discipline Developmental Biology↗

External and Internal Reconnection in Two Filament-Carrying Magnetic-Cavity Solar Eruptions

We observe two near-limb solar filament eruptions, one of 2000 February 26 and the other of 2002 January 4. For both we use 195 Angstroms, Fe XII images from the Extreme-Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) and magnetograms from the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI), both of which are on the Solar arid Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). For the earlier event we also use soft X-ray telescope (SXT), hard X-ray telescope (HXT), and Bragg Crystal Spectrometer (BCS) data from the Yohkoh satellite, and hard X-ray data from the BATSE experiment on the Compton Gamma Ray Observation, (CGRO). Both events occur in quadrupolar magnetic regions, and both have coronal features that we infer belong to the same magnetic cavity structures as the filaments. In both cases, the cavity and filament first rise slowly at approximately 10 kilometers per second prior to eruption and then accelerate to approximately 100 kilometers per second during the eruption, although the slow-rise movement for the higher altitude cavity elements is clearer in the later event. We estimate that both filaments and both cavities contain masses of approximately 10(exp 14)-10(exp 15) and approximately 10(exp 15)-10(exp 16)g, respectively. We consider whether two specific magnetic reconnection-based models for eruption onset, the tether cutting and the breakout models, are consistent with our observations. In the earlier event, soft X-rays from SXT show an intensity increase during the 12 minute interval over which fast eruption begins, which is consistent with tether-cutting-model predictions. Substantial hard X-rays, however, do not occur until after fast eruption is underway, and so this is a constraint the tether-cutting model must satisfy. During the same 12 minute interval over which fast eruption begins, there are brightenings and topological changes in the corona indicative of high-altitude reconnection early in the eruption, and this is consistent with breakout predictions. In both eruptions, the state of the overlying loops at the time of onset of the fast-rise phase of the corresponding filament can be compared with expectations from the breakout model, thereby setting constraints that the breakout model must meet. Our findings are consistent with both runaway tether-cutting-type reconnection and fast breakout-type reconnection, occurring early in the fast phase of the February eruption and with both types of reconnection being important in unleashing the explosion, but we are not able to say which, if either, type of reconnection actually triggered the fast phase. In any case, we have found specific constraints that either model, or any other model, must satisfy if correct.

Sterling, Alphonse C.↗

Creating a Fully-Electronic GFE Work Authorization Document Process for JSC

JSC’s Electronic Document System (EDS) was published in 2013 by SMA to store and process Task Performance Sheets (TPS), Discrepancy Reports (DR), Hardware Movement Documents (EZT), etc. The 2013 transition turned a fully paper process into an electronic routing one with document level electronic approvals but maintained an in-line paper process . - Today, all work and buy-offs continue to be captured on paper, walked between buildings, and is susceptible to approval errors, a rapidly slowing processing time, and led to projects requesting waivers to use alternate WAD systems, damaging JSC’s QMS. - NT Data Systems team collaborated with multiple platform providers, test user groups, and stakeholders, to find a solution for this growing need in a way that exceeds JSC’s current process, is adaptable to future innovation, and within our limited resource constraints

Nicholas Holaday↗

Quantifying Movement Motivations, Demand, and Inflow-Outflow Dynamics in Four Cities (New York, Chicago, Austin, and San Diego) During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted a wide range of human activities, from food delivery habits to major moving and travel decisions. Results indicate multiple pandemic-related factors have influenced millions of relocation decisions by Americans (e.g., health risk, financial pressures, more space, and employment), and there are various positive economic and social outcomes of this influence (e.g., remote work and education), enabling more affordable living and opportunity. This paper addresses COVID-19 impacts on mobility, especially involving permanent relocations. Survey design and data analysis with U-Haul targeted customers in Austin, New York, San Diego, and Chicago to understand mobility, new moving dynamics, and motivations.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS,ENERGY PLANNING, POLIC↗

A study of morphology, provenance, and movement of desert sand seas in Africa, Asia, and Australia

The author has identified the following significant results. Recent acquisition of generally high quality color prints for most of the test sites has enabled this project to make significant advances in preparing mosaics of sand desert areas under study. Computer enhancement of imagery, where details of complex dune forms need to be determined, has been achieved with arrival of computer-compatible ERTS-1 tapes. Further, a comparator, recently received, gives precise visual measurements of width, length, and spacing of sand bodies and so improves comparison of patterns in various test sites. Considerable additional meteorological data recently received on sand-moving winds in China, Pakistan, Libya, and other study areas enabled much progress to be made in developing overlays for the dune mosaics. These data show direction, speed, and frequency of winds. Other new data for use in preparing overlays used with ERTS-1 image mosaics include ground truth on moisture control, geologic settings, and plant distribution. With the addition of visual observation data and prints from hand-held photography now being obtained by the Skylab 4 mission, much progress in interpreting the patterns of sand seas for 17 desert sites is anticipated.

Mckee, E. D.↗

Prediction of muscle performance during dynamic repetitive movement

BACKGROUND: During long-duration spaceflight, astronauts experience progressive muscle atrophy and often perform strenuous extravehicular activities. Post-flight, there is a lengthy recovery period with an increased risk for injury. Currently, there is a critical need for an enabling tool to optimize muscle performance and to minimize the risk of injury to astronauts while on-orbit and during post-flight recovery. Consequently, these studies were performed to develop a method to address this need. METHODS: Eight test subjects performed a repetitive dynamic exercise to failure at 65% of their upper torso weight using a Lordex spinal machine. Surface electromyography (SEMG) data was collected from the erector spinae back muscle. The SEMG data was evaluated using a 5th order autoregressive (AR) model and linear regression analysis. RESULTS: The best predictor found was an AR parameter, the mean average magnitude of AR poles, with r = 0.75 and p = 0.03. This parameter can predict performance to failure as early as the second repetition of the exercise. CONCLUSION: A method for predicting human muscle performance early during dynamic repetitive exercise was developed. The capability to predict performance to failure has many potential applications to the space program including evaluating countermeasure effectiveness on-orbit, optimizing post-flight recovery, and potential future real-time monitoring capability during extravehicular activity.

Physical Endurance/physiology↗

Residual Stresses Affect Cell Fragment Movement

Predictive modeling tools such as the finite element method can be of tremendous help in assessing the reliability and long-term performance of photovoltaic modules. In order to obtain accurate results, the proper modeling of materials and manufacturing processes are of utmost importance. Module fabrication introduces thermo-mechanical stresses inside the module laminate, which need to be accounted for as residual stresses in finite element simulations. We found that cell fragment movement and crack opening displacements of fractured silicon cells within modules are affected by those residual stresses. Cell cracking remains a challenging topic in assessing the reliability and durability of damaged modules. Hence, accurately quantifying the separation and movement between cell fragments creates the foundation for establishing reliable lifetime and performance assessments of fractured silicon modules. Here, we present a modeling approach that uses upper and lower bounds to accurately account for the residual stresses introduced by the module lamination process. We designed a four-point flexure coupon test of a laminated, fractured silicon strip to validate our numerical results and found good agreement between our modeling methodology and the experimental data. Finally, we discuss the implications of the residual stresses on the normal crack opening and metallization wear-out of fractured silicon cells.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Holography and the control of self-propelled vehicles

The possibility of applying the principles of holography and optical data processing in the control of self-propelled space vehicles is considered. Various methods of controlling space vehicles are described: (1) by the results of comparing the image with the standard hologram; (2) by holographic images transmitted over moon earth communications channels; and (3) on the basis of using autotelevision cameras with a three dimensional screen. Procedures are presented for obtaining the standard holograms. The structural organization of the microprogrammed automaton controlling the movement of the space vehicle is also presented.

Yeroshin, V. I.↗

External and Internal Reconnection in Two Filament-Carrying Magnetic-Cavity Solar Eruptions

We observe two near-limb solar filament eruptions, one of 2000 February 26 and the other of 2002 January 4. For both we use 195 Angstroms Fe XII images from the Extreme-Ultraviolet (EUV) Imaging Telescope (EIT) and magnetograms from the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI), both on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite. For the earlier event we also use soft X-ray telescope (SXT), hard X-ray telescope (HXT), and Bragg Crystal Spectrometer (BCS) data from the Yohkoh satellite, and hard X-ray data from the BATSE experiment on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO). Both events occur in quadrupolar magnetic regions, and both have coronal features that we infer belong to the same magnetic-cavity structures as the filaments. In both cases the cavity and filament first rise slowly at approximately 10 kilometers per second prior to eruption, and then accelerate to approximately 100 kilometers per second during the eruption, although the slow-rise movement for the higher-altitude cavity elements is clearer in the later event. We estimate both filaments and both cavities to contain masses of approximately 10(exp 14-15) g and approximately 10(exp 15-16) g respectively. We consider whether two specific magnetic-reconnection-based models for eruption onset, the tether cutting and the breakout models, are consistent with our observations. In the earlier event soft X-rays from SXT show an intensity increase during the 12-minute interval over whch fast eruption begins, which is consistent with tether-cutting-model predictions. Substantial hard X-rays, however, do not occur until after fast eruption is underway, and so this is a constraint the tether-cutting model must satisfy. During the same 12-minute interval over which fast eruption begins, there are brightenings and topological changes in the corona indicative of high-altitude reconnection early in the eruption, and this is consistent with breakout predictions. In both eruptions, however, the onset of the filament fast-rise phase occurs while overlying cavity-related coronal loops are still evolving from a "closed" state to an "open" state, and our observations of the time evolution of these loops compared to the eruption state in both events are constraints the breakout model must meet. Therefore our findings are consistent with runaway-tether-cutting-type reconnection and fast breakout-type reconnection both occurring early in the fast phase of the February eruption and with both types of reconnection being important in unleashing the explosion, but we are not able to say which, if either, type of reconnection actually triggered the fast phase. We have also found specific constraints that either model, or any other model, must satisfy if correct.

Sterling, Alphonse C.↗

Circulation of the gyres of the world ocean: Observation modeling using TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter data

The overall objectives of the proposed investigation are to study the dynamics of the large-scale recirculating cells of water in the ocean, which are loosely defined as 'gyres' in this study. A gyre is normally composed of a swift western boundary current (e.g., the Gulf Stream and the Kuroshio), a tight recirculating cell attached to the current, and a large-scale sluggish return flow. The water, of course, is not entirely recirculating within a gyre. The exchange of water among gyres is an important process in maintaining the meridional heat transport of the ocean. The gyres constitute a major mode of water movement in the ocean and play significant roles in the global climate system.

Fu, Lee-Lueng↗

Human discrimination of visual direction of motion with and without smooth pursuit eye movements

It has long been known that ocular pursuit of a moving target has a major influence on its perceived speed (Aubert, 1886; Fleischl, 1882). However, little is known about the effect of smooth pursuit on the perception of target direction. Here we compare the precision of human visual-direction judgments under two oculomotor conditions (pursuit vs. fixation). We also examine the impact of stimulus duration (200 ms vs. ~800 ms) and absolute direction (cardinal vs. oblique). Our main finding is that direction discrimination thresholds in the fixation and pursuit conditions are indistinguishable. Furthermore, the two oculomotor conditions showed oblique effects of similar magnitudes. These data suggest that the neural direction signals supporting perception are the same with or without pursuit, despite remarkably different retinal stimulation. During fixation, the stimulus information is restricted to large, purely peripheral retinal motion, while during steady-state pursuit, the stimulus information consists of small, unreliable foveal retinal motion and a large efference-copy signal. A parsimonious explanation of our findings is that the signal limiting the precision of direction judgments is a neural estimate of target motion in head-centered (or world-centered) coordinates (i.e., a combined retinal and eye motion signal) as found in the medial superior temporal area (MST), and not simply an estimate of retinal motion as found in the middle temporal area (MT).

Saccades/physiology↗