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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 1,351 records · Page 75

Underwater Noise Measurements around a Tidal Turbine in a Busy Port Setting

Acoustic emissions from current energy converters remain an environmental concern for regulators because of their potential effects on marine life and uncertainties about their effects stemming from a lack of sufficient observational data. Several recent opportunities to characterize tidal turbine sound emissions have begun to fill knowledge gaps and provide a context for future device deployments. In July 2021, a commercial-off-the-shelf hydrophone was deployed in a free-drifting configuration to measure underwater acoustic emissions and characterize a 25 kW-rated tidal turbine at the University of New Hampshire’s Living Bridge Project in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Sampling methods and analysis were performed in alignment with the recently published IEC 62600-40 Technical Specification for acoustic characterization of marine energy converters. Results from this study indicate acoustic emissions from the turbine were below ambient sound levels and therefore did not have a significant impact on the underwater noise levels of the project site. As a component of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Triton Field Trials (TFiT) described in this Special Issue, this effort provides a valuable use case for the IEC 62600-40 Technical Specification framework and further recommendations for cost-effective technologies and methods for measuring underwater noise at future current energy converter project sites.

tidal turbine↗

A Review of Candidates for a Validation Data Set for High-Assay Low-Enrichment Uranium Fuels

Many advanced reactor concept designs rely on high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel, enriched up to approximately 19.75% 235 U by weight. Efforts are underway by the US government to increase HALEU production in the United States to meet anticipated needs. However, very few data exist for validation of computational models that include HALEU, beyond a few fresh fuel benchmark specifications in the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project. Nevertheless, there are other data with potential value available for developing into quality benchmarks for use in data- and software-validation efforts. This paper reviews the available evaluated HALEU fuel benchmarks and some of the potentially relevant benchmarks for fresh highly enriched uranium. It then introduces experimental data for HALEU fuel irradiated at Idaho National Laboratory, from relatively recent irradiation programs at the Advanced Test Reactor. Such data should be evaluated and, if valuable, collected into detailed benchmark specifications to meet the needs of HALEU-based reactor designers.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Validation of Streaklines as Recorders of Synoptic Flow Direction in a Deltaic Setting

Knowledge of the flow patterns within distributary systems is key for understanding deltaic hydro- and morpho-dynamics, yet synoptic measurements of flow fields remain virtually nonexistent. As a means of overcoming this problem, a small number of studies have used biogenic surface films as synoptic flow tracers, under the assumption that biofilm streaklines are tangent to the local flow direction. Here we rigorously test this assumption and show that, despite flow patterns that change severely in space and time (over a range >270°), streaklines are relatively accurate synoptic flow tracers for the Wax Lake Delta, in Louisiana. When the incoming discharge was greater than 2400 m3/s with stable or falling tides, the streakline-derived flow direction departed from near bed flow direction measurements of 22.8° (root mean square). When the discharge was greater than 2400 m3/s and the tides were rising greater than 0.03 m/hr, they were accurate within 28.0°. Under conditions of discharge less than 2400 m3/s and tidal change less than a positive 0.03 m/hr, they were accurate within 33.3°, while during low discharge and rising tides they were accurate within 58.9°. Accuracy varied with distance from the delta, with proximal sites having greater precision. Our results demonstrate that a streakline-derived flow direction can characterize the spatiotemporal variability in the flow directions, but that the accuracy is significantly influenced by the hydrodynamic conditions and location within the network.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Employing Molecular Phylodynamic Methods to Identify and Forecast HIV Transmission Clusters in Public Health Settings: A Qualitative Study

Molecular HIV surveillance is a promising public health strategy for curbing the HIV epidemic. Clustering technologies used by health departments to date are limited in their ability to infer/forecast cluster growth trajectories. Resolution of the spatiotemporal dynamics of clusters, through phylodynamic and phylogeographic modelling, is one potential strategy to develop a forecasting tool; however, the projected utility of this approach needs assessment. Prior to incorporating novel phylodynamic-based molecular surveillance tools, we sought to identify possible issues related to their feasibility, acceptability, interpretation, and utility. Qualitative data were collected via focus groups among field experts (n = 17, 52.9% female) using semi-structured, open-ended questions. Data were coded using an iterative process, first through the development of provisional themes and subthemes, followed by independent line-by-line coding by two coders. Most participants routinely used molecular methods for HIV surveillance. All agreed that linking molecular sequences to epidemiological data is important for improving HIV surveillance. We found that, in addition to methodological challenges, a variety of implementation barriers are expected in relation to the uptake of phylodynamic methods for HIV surveillance. The participants identified several opportunities to enhance current methods, as well as increase the usability and utility of promising works-in-progress.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Simulated JWST Data Sets for Multispectral and Hyperspectral Image Fusion

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will provide multispectral and hyperspectral infrared images of a large number of astrophysical scenes. Multispectral images will have the highest angular resolution, while hyperspectral images (e.g., with integral field unit spectrometers) will provide the best spectral resolution. This paper aims at providing a comprehensive framework to generate an astrophysical scene and to simulate realistic hyperspectral and multispectral data acquired by two JWST instruments, namely, NIRCam Imager and NIRSpec IFU. We want to show that this simulation framework can be resorted to assess the benefits of fusing these images to recover an image of high spatial and spectral resolutions. To do so, we make a synthetic scene associated with a canonical infrared source, the Orion Bar. We develop forward models including corresponding noises for the two JWST instruments based on their physical features. JWST observations are then simulated by applying the forward models to the aforementioned synthetic scene. We test a dedicated fusion algorithm we developed on these simulated observations. We show that the fusion process reconstructs the high spatio-spectral resolution scene with a good accuracy on most areas, and we identify some limitations of the method to be tackled in future works. The synthetic scene and observations presented in the paper can be used, for instance, to evaluate instrument models, pipelines, or more sophisticated algorithms dedicated to JWST data analysis. Besides, fusion methods such as the one presented in this paper are shown to be promising tools to fully exploit the unprecedented capabilities of the JWST.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The Pantheon+ Analysis: The Full Data Set and Light-curve Release

Abstract Here we present 1701 light curves of 1550 unique, spectroscopically confirmed Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) that will be used to infer cosmological parameters as part of the Pantheon+ SN analysis and the Supernovae and H 0 for the Equation of State of dark energy distance-ladder analysis. This effort is one part of a series of works that perform an extensive review of redshifts, peculiar velocities, photometric calibration, and intrinsic-scatter models of SNe Ia. The total number of light curves, which are compiled across 18 different surveys, is a significant increase from the first Pantheon analysis (1048 SNe), particularly at low redshift ( z ). Furthermore, unlike in the Pantheon analysis, we include light curves for SNe with z < 0.01 such that SN systematic covariance can be included in a joint measurement of the Hubble constant ( H 0 ) and the dark energy equation-of-state parameter ( w ). We use the large sample to compare properties of 151 SNe Ia observed by multiple surveys and 12 pairs/triplets of “SN siblings”—SNe found in the same host galaxy. Distance measurements, application of bias corrections, and inference of cosmological parameters are discussed in the companion paper by Brout et al., and the determination of H 0 is discussed by Riess et al. These analyses will measure w with ∼3% precision and H 0 with ∼1 km s −1 Mpc −1 precision.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Assimilation of citizen science data in snowpack modeling using a new snow data set: Community Snow Observations

A physically based snowpack evolution and redistribution model was used to test the effectiveness of assimilating crowd-sourced snow depth measurements collected by citizen scientists. The Community Snow Observations project gathers, stores, and distributes measurements of snow depth recorded by recreational users and snow professionals in high mountain environments. These citizen science measurements are valuable since they come from terrain that is relatively undersampled and can offer in situ snow information in locations where snow information is sparse or nonexistent. The present study investigates (1) the improvements to model performance when citizen science measurements are assimilated, and (2) the number of measurements necessary to obtain those improvements. Model performance is assessed by comparing time series of observed (snow pillow) and modeled snow water equivalent values, by comparing spatially distributed maps of observed (remotely sensed) and modeled snow depth, and by comparing fieldwork results from within the study area. The results demonstrate that few citizen science measurements are needed to obtain improvements in model performance, and these improvements are found in 62 % to 78 % of the ensemble simulations, depending on the model year. Model estimations of total water volume from a subregion of the study area also demonstrate improvements in accuracy after CSO measurements have been assimilated. These results suggest that even modest measurement efforts by citizen scientists have the potential to improve efforts to model snowpack processes in high mountain environments, with implications for water resource management and process-based snow modeling.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Quantile-dependent expressivity of serum C-reactive protein concentrations in family sets

“Quantile-dependent expressivity” occurs when the effect size of a genetic variant depends upon whether the phenotype (e.g., C-reactive protein, CRP) is high or low relative to its distribution. We have previously shown that the heritabilities ( h 2 ) of coffee and alcohol consumption, postprandial lipemia, lipoproteins, leptin, adiponectin, adiposity, and pulmonary function are quantile-specific. Whether CRP heritability is quantile-specific is currently unknown. Methods Serum CRP concentrations from 2,036 sibships and 6,144 offspring-parent pairs were analyzed from the Framingham Heart Study. Quantile-specific heritability from full-sib (β FS , h 2 ={(1 + 8r spouse β FS ) 0.5 - 1}/(2r spouse )) and offspring-parent regression slopes (β OP , h 2 = 2β OP /(1 + r spouse )) were estimated robustly by quantile regression with nonparametric significance determined from 1,000 bootstrap samples. Results Quantile-specific h 2 (±SE) increased with increasing percentiles of the offspring’s age- and sex-adjusted CRP distribution when estimated from β OP ( P trend = 0.0004): 0.02 ± 0.01 at the 10th, 0.04 ± 0.01 at the 25th, 0.10 ± 0.02 at the 50th, 0.20 ± 0.05 at the 75th, and 0.33 ± 0.10 at the 90th percentile, and when estimated from β FS ( P trend = 0.0008): 0.03±0.01 at the 10th, 0.06 ± 0.02 at the 25th, 0.14 ± 0.03 at the 50th, 0.24 ± 0.05 at the 75th, and 0.53 ± 0.21 at the 90th percentile. Conclusion Heritability of serum CRP concentration is quantile-specific, which may explain or contribute to the inflated CRP differences between CRP (rs1130864, rs1205, rs1800947, rs2794521, rs3091244), FGB (rs1800787), IL-6 (rs1800795, rs1800796), IL6R (rs8192284), TNF- α (rs1800629) and APOE genotypes following CABG surgery, stroke, TIA, curative esophagectomy, intensive periodontal therapy, or acute exercise; during acute coronary syndrome or Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia; or in patients with chronic rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, peripheral arterial disease, ankylosing spondylitis, obesity or inflammatory bowel disease or who smoke.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗