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At least 1,405 records · Page 78

Utilizing computer vision and artificial intelligence algorithms to predict and design the mechanical compression response of direct ink write 3D printed foam replacement structures

Additive Manufacturing (AM) of porous polymeric materials, such as foams, recently became a topic of intensive research due their unique combination of low density, impressive mechanical properties, and stress dissipation capabilities. Conventional methods for fabricating foams rely on complex and stochastic processes, making it challenging to achieve precise architectural control of structured porosity. In contrast, AM provides access to a wide range of printable materials, where precise spatial control over structured porosity can be modulated during the fabrication process enabling the production of foam replacement structures (FRS). Current approaches for designing FRS are based on intuitive understanding of their properties or an extensive number of finite element method (FEM) simulations. These approaches, however, are computationally expensive and time consuming. As such, in this work, we present a novel methodology for determining the mechanical compression response of direct ink write (DIW) 3D printed FRS using a simple cross-sectional image. By obtaining measurement data for a relatively small number of samples, an artificial neural network (ANN) was trained, and a computer vision algorithm was used to make inferences about foam compression characteristics from a single cross-sectional image. Finally, a genetic algorithm (GA) was used to solve the inverse design problem, generating the AM printing parameters that an engineer should use to achieve a desired compression response from a DIW printed FRS. The methods developed herein present an avenue for entirely autonomous design and analysis of additively manufactured structures using artificial intelligence.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Generalized large optics fabrication multiplexing

High precision astronomical optics are manufactured through deterministic computer controlled optical surfacing processes, such as subaperture small tool polishing, magnetorheological finishing, bonnet tool polishing, and ion beam figuring. Due to the small tool size and the corresponding tool influence function, large optics fabrication is a highly time-consuming process. The framework of multiplexed figuring runs for the simultaneous use of two or more tools is presented. This multiplexing process increases the manufacturing efficiency and reduces the overall cost using parallelized subaperture tools.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Modern data analytics approach to predict creep of high-temperature alloys

A breakthrough in alloy design often requires comprehensive understanding in complex multi-component/multi-phase systems to generate novel material hypotheses. We introduce a modern data analytics workflow that leverages high-quality experimental data augmented with advanced features obtained from high-fidelity models. Herein, we use an example of a consistently-measured creep dataset of developmental high-temperature alloy combined with scientific alloy features populated from a high-throughput computational thermodynamic approach. Extensive correlation analyses provide ranking insights for most impactful alloy features for creep resistance, evaluated from a large set of candidate features suggested by domain experts. We also show that we can accurately train machine learning models by integrating high-ranking features obtained from correlation analyses. Consequently, the demonstrated approach can be extended beyond incorporating thermodynamic features, with input from domain experts used to compile lists of features from other alloy physics, such as diffusion kinetics and microstructure evolution.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Accelerating massively parallel hemodynamic models of coarctation of the aorta using neural networks

Comorbidities such as anemia or hypertension and physiological factors related to exertion can influence a patient’s hemodynamics and increase the severity of many cardiovascular diseases. Observing and quantifying associations between these factors and hemodynamics can be difficult due to the multitude of co-existing conditions and blood flow parameters in real patient data. Machine learning-driven, physics-based simulations provide a means to understand how potentially correlated conditions may affect a particular patient. Here, we use a combination of machine learning and massively parallel computing to predict the effects of physiological factors on hemodynamics in patients with coarctation of the aorta. We first validated blood flow simulations against in vitro measurements in 3D-printed phantoms representing the patient’s vasculature. We then investigated the effects of varying the degree of stenosis, blood flow rate, and viscosity on two diagnostic metrics – pressure gradient across the stenosis (ΔP) and wall shear stress (WSS) - by performing the largest simulation study to date of coarctation of the aorta (over 70 million compute hours). Using machine learning models trained on data from the simulations and validated on two independent datasets, we developed a framework to identify the minimal training set required to build a predictive model on a per-patient basis. We then used this model to accurately predict ΔP (mean absolute error within 1.18 mmHg) and WSS (mean absolute error within 0.99 Pa) for patients with this disease.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Morphological Influence in Lithium-Ion Battery 3D Electrode Architectures

The performance of lithium-ion batteries is limited by suboptimal energy density and power capability. A feasible approach is designing 3D electrode architectures where lithium ion transport in the electrolyte and active material can be optimized for improving the energy/power density. In this study, the influence of active material morphology and 3D electrode configurations is investigated with particular emphasis on solid-state transport and resulting implications on the performance. In this paper, a morphology-detailed computational modeling is presented which simulates lithium transport in disparate 3D electrode configurations. The resulting lithium concentration in the 3D electrode constructs during discharging, relaxation, and charging process reveal a local sate of charge map. This is correlated with the electrode performance. Finally, this study demonstrates the role of active particle morphology and 3D architecture on the electrode relaxation behavior, which determines the resulting concentration gradient and performance.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Comparing the DES-SN5YR and Pantheon+ SN cosmology analyses: investigation based on ‘evolving dark energy or supernovae systematics’?

Recent cosmological analyses measuring distances of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) and baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) have all given similar hints at time-evolving dark energy. To examine whether underestimated SN Ia systematics might be driving these results, Efstathiou (2025) compared overlapping SN events between Pantheon+ and DES-SN5YR (20 per cent SNe are in common), and reported evidence for an $\sim$0.04 mag offset between the low- and high-redshift distance measurements of this subsample of events. If this offset is arbitrarily subtracted from the entire DES-SN5YR sample, the preference for evolving dark energy is reduced. In this paper, we show that this offset is mostly due to different corrections for Malmquist bias between the two samples; therefore, an object-to-object comparison can be misleading. Malmquist bias corrections differ between the two analyses for several reasons. First, DES-SN5YR used an improved model of SN Ia luminosity scatter compared to Pantheon+ but the associated scatter-model uncertainties are included in the error budget. Secondly, improvements in host mass estimates in DES-SN5YR also affected SN standardized magnitudes and their bias corrections. Thirdly, and most importantly, the selection functions of the two compilations are significantly different, hence the inferred Malmquist bias corrections. Even if the original scatter model and host properties from Pantheon+ are used instead, the evidence for evolving dark energy from CMB, DESI BAO Year 1 and DES-SN5YR is only reduced from 3.9$\sigma$ to 3.3$\sigma$, consistent with the error budget. Finally, in this investigation, we identify an underestimated systematic uncertainty related to host galaxy property uncertainties, which could increase the final DES-SN5YR error budget by 3 per cent. In conclusion, we confirm the validity of the published DES-SN5YR results.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Simulated sulfur K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy database of lithium thiophosphate solid electrolytes

X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is a premier technique for materials characterization, providing key information about the local chemical environment of the absorber atom. In this work, we develop a database of sulfur K-edge XAS spectra of crystalline and amorphous lithium thiophosphate materials based on the atomic structures reported in Chem. Mater., 34, 6702 (2022). The XAS database is based on simulations using the excited electron and core-hole pseudopotential approach implemented in the Vienna Ab initio Simulation Package. Our database contains 2681 S K-edge XAS spectra for 66 crystalline and glassy structure models, making it the largest collection of first-principles computational XAS spectra for glass/ceramic lithium thiophosphates to date. This database can be used to correlate S spectral features with distinct S species based on their local coordination and short-range ordering in sulfide-based solid electrolytes. The data is openly distributed via the Materials Cloud, allowing researchers to access it for free and use it for further analysis, such as spectral fingerprinting, matching with experiments, and developing machine learning models.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Autonomous reinforcement learning agent for chemical vapor deposition synthesis of quantum materials

Abstract Predictive materials synthesis is the primary bottleneck in realizing functional and quantum materials. Strategies for synthesis of promising materials are currently identified by time-consuming trial and error and there are no known predictive schemes to design synthesis parameters for materials. We use offline reinforcement learning (RL) to predict optimal synthesis schedules, i.e., a time-sequence of reaction conditions like temperatures and concentrations, for the synthesis of semiconducting monolayer MoS 2 using chemical vapor deposition. The RL agent, trained on 10,000 computational synthesis simulations, learned threshold temperatures and chemical potentials for onset of chemical reactions and predicted previously unknown synthesis schedules that produce well-sulfidized crystalline, phase-pure MoS 2 . The model can be extended to multi-task objectives such as predicting profiles for synthesis of complex structures including multi-phase heterostructures and can predict long-time behavior of reacting systems, far beyond the domain of molecular dynamics simulations, making these predictions directly relevant to experimental synthesis.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

GPU Acceleration of a Diagnostic Wind Solver

Reducing QUIC-Fire simulation runtimes is crucial in enabling simulation ensembles to guide science-driven prescribed fire planning in regions of complex terrain. Utilizing GPUs through OpenACC and Kokkos frameworks to accelerate generation of 3D windfields in QUIC-Fire would provide substantial speedup to the runtime of the code. Using GPUs for the Successive Over-Relaxation (SOR) algorithm utilized in QUIC-Fire will require deriving a ‘four colored’ version of the well explored ‘Red-Black’ SOR parallelization scheme. This effort could open the door for utilizing GPUs in other portions of the QUIC-Fire algorithm, increasing its viability in more complex and larger domains.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

A graph-based network for predicting chemical reaction pathways in solid-state materials synthesis

Abstract Accelerated inorganic synthesis remains a significant challenge in the search for novel, functional materials. Many of the principles which enable “synthesis by design” in synthetic organic chemistry do not exist in solid-state chemistry, despite the availability of extensive computed/experimental thermochemistry data. In this work, we present a chemical reaction network model for solid-state synthesis constructed from available thermochemistry data and devise a computationally tractable approach for suggesting likely reaction pathways via the application of pathfinding algorithms and linear combination of lowest-cost paths in the network. We demonstrate initial success of the network in predicting complex reaction pathways comparable to those reported in the literature for YMnO 3 , Y 2 Mn 2 O 7 , Fe 2 SiS 4 , and YBa 2 Cu 3 O 6.5 . The reaction network presents opportunities for enabling reaction pathway prediction, rapid iteration between experimental/theoretical results, and ultimately, control of the synthesis of solid-state materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Protein remote homology detection and structural alignment using deep learning

Exploiting sequence–structure–function relationships in biotechnology requires improved methods for aligning proteins that have low sequence similarity to previously annotated proteins. We develop two deep learning methods to address this gap, TM-Vec and DeepBLAST. TM-Vec allows searching for structure–structure similarities in large sequence databases. It is trained to accurately predict TM-scores as a metric of structural similarity directly from sequence pairs without the need for intermediate computation or solution of structures. Once structurally similar proteins have been identified, DeepBLAST can structurally align proteins using only sequence information by identifying structurally homologous regions between proteins. It outperforms traditional sequence alignment methods and performs similarly to structure-based alignment methods. We show the merits of TM-Vec and DeepBLAST on a variety of datasets, including better identification of remotely homologous proteins compared with state-of-the-art sequence alignment and structure prediction methods.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Microwave response in a topological superconducting quantum interference device

Abstract Photon detection at microwave frequency is of great interest due to its application in quantum computation information science and technology. Herein are results from studying microwave response in a topological superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) realized in Dirac semimetal Cd 3 As 2 . The temperature dependence and microwave power dependence of the SQUID junction resistance are studied, from which we obtain an effective temperature at each microwave power level. It is observed the effective temperature increases with the microwave power. This observation of large microwave response may pave the way for single photon detection at the microwave frequency in topological quantum materials.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Timescale Separation of Positive and Negative Signaling Creates History-Dependent Responses to IgE Receptor Stimulation

The high-affinity receptor for IgE expressed on the surface of mast cells and basophils interacts with antigens, via bound IgE antibody, and triggers secretion of inflammatory mediators that contribute to allergic reactions. To understand how past inputs (memory) influence future inflammatory responses in mast cells, a microfluidic device was used to precisely control exposure of cells to alternating stimulatory and non-stimulatory inputs. We determined that the response to subsequent stimulation depends on the interval of signaling quiescence. For shorter intervals of signaling quiescence, the second response is blunted relative to the first response, whereas longer intervals of quiescence induce an enhanced second response. Through an iterative process of computational modeling and experimental tests, we found that these memory-like phenomena arise from a confluence of rapid, short-lived positive signals driven by the protein tyrosine kinase Syk; slow, long-lived negative signals driven by the lipid phosphatase Ship1; and slower degradation of Ship1 co-factors. This work advances our understanding of mast cell signaling and represents a generalizable approach for investigating the dynamics of signaling systems.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

LPBF Processability of NiTiHf Alloys: Systematic Modeling and Single-Track Studies

Research into the processability of NiTiHf high-temperature shape memory alloys (HTSMAs) via laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is limited; nevertheless, these alloys show promise for applications in extreme environments. This study aims to address this limitation by investigating the printability of four NiTiHf alloys with varying Hf content (1, 2, 15, and 20 at. %) to assess their suitability for LPBF applications. Solidification cracking is one of the main limiting factors in LPBF processes, which occurs during the final stage of solidification. To investigate the effect of alloy composition on printability, this study focuses on this defect via a combination of computational modeling and experimental validation. To this end, solidification cracking susceptibility is calculated as Kou’s index and Scheil–Gulliver model, implemented in Thermo-Calc/2022a software. An innovative powder-free experimental method through laser remelting was conducted on bare NiTiHf ingots to validate the parameter impacts of the LPBF process. The result is the processability window with no cracking likelihood under diverse LPBF conditions, including laser power and scan speed. This comprehensive investigation enhances our understanding of the processability challenges and opportunities for NiTiHf HTSMAs in advanced engineering applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Computational Materials Design of Tungsten Alloys with Improved Fracture Toughness and a Lowered Ductile to Brittle Transition Temperature (DBTT)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is actively funding research to develop new high temperature materials for application in plasma-facing components in future nuclear fusion reactors. Such an aggressive environment has lead to a necessity for new materials with a unique combination of properties in order to achieve an acceptable level of performance, including good thermal conductivity, sufficient ductility and toughness, and high temperature stability under intense neutron radiation. Tungsten alloys are promising candidates for such an application, but are currently limited by a high ductile-to-brittle transition temperature. New alloys are thus needed to address these property concerns and enable the level of performance necessary for viable energy production in fusion reactors.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Foamed Cement Generation Methods: Insights from Macro-Porosity and Void Distribution

The American Petroleum Institute (API) Recommended Practice 10B-4 is the industry standard for measuring foamed cement stability, however, it does not incorporate the effects of elevated pressure or placement. Using high resolution computed tomography (CT) scanning, this study examines how cement slurry flow through pipes impacts void distribution in cured foamed cement. Analysis of the void size and distribution allows a comparison of lab and field generation; simulated velocity profiles indicate cement flow through constrictions likely 4 influences structural variations. Notably, field generated samples show more nitrogen bubbles at the injection port. Moreover, a review of the average bubble diameter concludes lab samples have average bubble sizes that increase with their quality, while field samples have similar average bubble diameters suggesting variation among generation methods.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

It’s Not What You Take Up, It’s What You Keep: How Discoveries from Diverse Disciplines Directed the Development of the FDG PET/CT Scan

Although imaging glucose metabolism with positron emission tomography combined with X-ray CT (FDG-PET/CT) has become a standard diagnostic modality for the discovery and surveillance of malignant tumors and inflammatory processes, its origins extend back to more than a century of notable discoveries in the fields of inorganic and organic chemistry, nuclear physics, mathematics, biochemistry, solute transport physiology, metabolism, and imaging, accomplished by pioneering and driven investigators, of whom at least ten were recipients of the Nobel Prize. These tangled and diverse roots eventually coalesced into the FDG-PET/CT method, that through its many favorable characteristics inherent in the isotope used ( 18 F), the accurate imaging derived from coincidence detection of positron annihilation radiation combined with computed tomography, and the metabolic trapping of 2-deoxy-2-[ 18 F] fluoro-d-glucose (FDG) in tissues, provides safety, sensitivity, and specificity for tumor and inflammation detection. Here, the authors hope that this article will increase the appreciation among its readers of the insight, creativity, persistence, and drive of the many investigators who made this technique possible. This article is followed by a review of the many applications of FDG-PET/CT to the gastrointestinal tract and hepatobiliary system (Mandelkern in Dig Dis Sci 2022)

2-DG↗

Common workflows for computing material properties using different quantum engines

The prediction of material properties based on density-functional theory has become routinely common, thanks, in part, to the steady increase in the number and robustness of available simulation packages. This plurality of codes and methods is both a boon and a burden. While providing great opportunities for cross-verification, these packages adopt different methods, algorithms, and paradigms, making it challenging to choose, master, and efficiently use them. We demonstrate how developing common interfaces for workflows that automatically compute material properties greatly simplifies interoperability and cross-verification. We introduce design rules for reusable, code-agnostic, workflow interfaces to compute well-defined material properties, which we implement for eleven quantum engines and use to compute various material properties. Each implementation encodes carefully selected simulation parameters and workflow logic, making the implementer’s expertise of the quantum engine directly available to non-experts. All workflows are made available as open-source and full reproducibility of the workflows is guaranteed through the use of the AiiDA infrastructure.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗