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The 1987 RIACS annual report

The Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS) was established at the NASA Ames Research Center in June of 1983. RIACS is privately operated by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), a consortium of 64 universities with graduate programs in the aerospace sciences, under several Cooperative Agreements with NASA. RIACS's goal is to provide preeminent leadership in basic and applied computer science research as partners in support of NASA's goals and missions. In pursuit of this goal, RIACS contributes to several of the grand challenges in science and engineering facing NASA: flying an airplane inside a computer; determining the chemical properties of materials under hostile conditions in the atmospheres of earth and the planets; sending intelligent machines on unmanned space missions; creating a one-world network that makes all scientific resources, including those in space, accessible to all the world's scientists; providing intelligent computational support to all stages of the process of scientific investigation from problem formulation to results dissemination; and developing accurate global models for climatic behavior throughout the world. In working with these challenges, we seek novel architectures, and novel ways to use them, that exploit the potential of parallel and distributed computation and make possible new functions that are beyond the current reach of computing machines. The investigation includes pattern computers as well as the more familiar numeric and symbolic computers, and it includes networked systems of resources distributed around the world. We believe that successful computer science research is interdisciplinary: it is driven by (and drives) important problems in other disciplines. We believe that research should be guided by a clear long-term vision with planned milestones. And we believe that our environment must foster and exploit innovation. Our activities and accomplishments for the calendar year 1987 and our plans for 1988 are reported.

Source record↗

Venus magmatic and tectonic evolution

Two years beyond the initial mapping by the Magellan spacecraft, hypotheses for the magmatic and tectonic evolution of Venus have become refined and focused. We present our view of these processes, attempting to synthesize aspects of a model for the tectonic and magmatic behavior of the planet. The ideas presented should be taken collectively as an hypothesis subject to further testing. The quintessence of our model is that shear and buoyancy forces in the upper boundary layer of mantle convection give rise to a spatially and temporally complex pattern of strain in a one-plate Venusian lithosphere and modulate the timing and occurrence of magmatism on a global basis.

Phillips, R. J.↗

Role of the Polar Oceans in Global Climate

The project focused on ice-ocean model development and in particular on the assimilation of ice motion data and ice concentration data into both regional and global models. Many of the resulting publications below deal with improvements made in the physics treated by the model and the procedures for assimilating data. Several papers examine how the ability of the model to simulate the past behavior of the ice cover, especially to represent the ice thickness and ice deformation, is improved by data assimilation. A second aspect of the work involved interpretation of modeled behavior. Resulting papers treat the decline of arctic ice thickness over the last thirty years, and how that decline was caused by a slight warming of the near-surface atmosphere, and also how large variation in ice thickness are due to changes in wind patterns associated with a well- known oscillation of the atmospheric circulation. The research resulted in over 20 published papers on these topics.

Rothrock, D. A.↗

Simulator of Space Communication Networks

Multimission Advanced Communications Hybrid Environment for Test and Evaluation (MACHETE) is a suite of software tools that simulates the behaviors of communication networks to be used in space exploration, and predict the performance of established and emerging space communication protocols and services. MACHETE consists of four general software systems: (1) a system for kinematic modeling of planetary and spacecraft motions; (2) a system for characterizing the engineering impact on the bandwidth and reliability of deep-space and in-situ communication links; (3) a system for generating traffic loads and modeling of protocol behaviors and state machines; and (4) a system of user-interface for performance metric visualizations. The kinematic-modeling system makes it possible to characterize space link connectivity effects, including occultations and signal losses arising from dynamic slant-range changes and antenna radiation patterns. The link-engineering system also accounts for antenna radiation patterns and other phenomena, including modulations, data rates, coding, noise, and multipath fading. The protocol system utilizes information from the kinematic-modeling and link-engineering systems to simulate operational scenarios of space missions and evaluate overall network performance. In addition, a Communications Effect Server (CES) interface for MACHETE has been developed to facilitate hybrid simulation of space communication networks with actual flight/ground software/hardware embedded in the overall system.

Clare, Loren↗

Mars: A Planet with a Dynamic Climate System

Mars is a well-observed planet. Since the 1960s orbiters, landers, rovers, and earth-based telescopic observations show that its climate system is dynamic. Its dynamic nature, largely the result of atmosphere-surface interactions, is most obvious in the seasonal cycles of dust, water, and carbon dioxide that define the planet's climate system. These cycles are linked through the global circulation and MGS, Odyssey, Phoenix, MER, Mars Express, MRO, and now MSL have continuously observed them at Mars for the past 16 years. Their observations show that while the seasonal cycles are largely annually repeatable, there are interannual variations. Planet-encircling dust storms, for example, are quasi-triennial and originate over a broader range of seasons and locations than previously thought. Water moves from pole-to-pole each year in a largely, but not precisely, repeatable pattern that suggests but does not demand non-polar surface reservoirs. And the seasonal CO2 polar caps grow and retreat in a very predictable way with only minor deviations from year-to-year in spite of significant differences in atmospheric dust content. These behaviors suggest a complicated but robust coupled system in which these cycles interact to produce the greatest interannual variability in the dust cycle and least variability in the CO2 cycle. The nature of these interactions is the subject of ongoing research, but clouds, both water ice and CO2 ice, now appear to play a bigger role than believed at the end of the 20th century. There may also be some long-term trends in these cycles as there is evidence from imaging data, for example, that the south polar residual cap may not be stable on decadal to centennial time scales. On even longer time scales, the discovery of as much as 5 mb global equivalent of buried CO2 ice near the south pole, the detection of vast quantities of subsurface water ice at very shallow depths in midlatitudes of both hemispheres, and the presence of remnant glacial features at almost all latitudes, strongly suggests the possibility of significant climate change associated with orbital variations. Some of the major questions these data raise concern how closed the seasonal cycles are and which reservoirs are gaining or loosing, the cause of the large interannual variability of the dust cycle and how it couples to the water and CO2 cycles, and the mechanisms for the origin of past glacial activity and the emplacement and removal of subsurface ice. While many of these questions can be addressed with continued research based on existing data, new observations focused on atmosphere surface-interactions would provide valuable constraints on how dust, water, and CO2 move between the surface and atmosphere.

CO2 cycles↗

Foods and food constituents that affect the brain and human behavior

Until recently, it was generally believed that brain function was usually independent of day-to-day metabolic changes associated with consumption of food. Although it was acknowledged that peripheral metabolic changes associated with hunger or satiety might affect brain function, other effects of foods on the brain were considered unlikely. However, in 1971, Fernstrom and Wurtman discovered that under certain conditions, the protein-to-carbohydrate ratio of a meal could affect the concentration of a particular brain neurotransmitter. That neurotransmitter, serotonin, participates in the regulation of a variety of central nervous system (CNS) functions including sleep, pain sensitivity, aggression, and patterns of nutrient selection. The activity of other neurotransmitter systems has also been shown to be, under certain conditions, affected by dietary constituents which are given either as ordinary foods or in purified form. For example, the CNS turnover of two catecholamine neurotransmitters, dopamine and norepinephrine, can be altered by ingestion of their amino acid precursor, tyrosine, when neurons that release these monoamines are firing frequently. Similarly, lecithin, a dietary source of choline, and choline itself have been shown to increase the synthesis of acetylcholine when cholinergic neurons are very active. It is possible that other neurotransmitters could also be affected by precursor availability or other, as yet undiscovered peripheral factors governed by food consumption. The effects of food on neurotransmitters and behavior are discussed.

Lieberman, Harris R.↗

Crystal Chemistry, Band-Gap Red Shift, and Electrocatalytic Activity of Iron-Doped Gallium Oxide Ceramics

This work for the first time unfurls the fundamental mechanisms and set the stage for an approach to derive electrocatalytic activity, which is otherwise not possible, in a traditionally known wide band gap oxide material. Specifically, we report on the tunable optical properties, in terms of wide spectral selectivity and red-shifted band gap, and electrocatalytic behavior of iron (Fe) doped gallium oxide (ß-Ga 2 O 3 ) model system. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies of sintered Ga 2-x Fe x O 3 (GFO) (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.3) compounds provide evidence for the Fe 3+ substitution at Ga 3+ site without any secondary phase formation. Rietveld refinement of XRD patterns reveal that the GFO compounds crystallize in monoclinic crystal symmetry with C2/m space group. The electronic structure of the GFO compounds probed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data reveals that, at lower concentrations of Fe exhibits mixed chemical valence states (Fe 3+ , Fe 2+ ), whereas single chemical valence state (Fe 3+ ) is evident for higher Fe content (x = 0.20-0.30). The optical absorption spectra reveal a significant red shift in the optical band gap with Fe doping. The origin of the significant red shift even at low concentrations of Fe (x = 0.05) is attributed to the strong sp-d exchange interaction originated from the 3 d 5 electrons of Fe 3+ . The optical absorption edge observed at ˜450 nm with lower intensity is the characteristic of Fe doped compounds associated with Fe 3+ - Fe 3+ double excitation process. Coupled with optical band gap red shift, electrocatalytic studies of GFO compounds reveals that, interestingly, Fe doped Ga 2 O 3 compound exhibits electrocatalytic activity in contrast to intrinsic Ga 2 O 3 . Fe doped samples (GFO) demonstrated appreciable electrocatalytic activity towards the generation of H 2 through electrocatalytic water splitting. An onset potential and tafel slope of GFO compounds includes: ~900 mV, ~210 mVdec -1 (x = 0.15) and ~1036 mV, ~290 mVdec-1 (x = 0.30). The electrocatalytic activity of Fe doped Ga-oxide compounds is attributed to cumulative effect of different mechanisms such as; doping resulted new catalytic centers, enhanced conductivity and electron mobility. Hence, in this report, for the first time, we explored a new pathway; electrocatalytic behavior of Fe doped Ga 2 O 3 resulted due to Fe chemical states, red shift in optical band gap. The implications derived from this work may be applicable to a large class of compounds and further options may be available to design functional materials for electrocatalytic energy production.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Vegetation and vantage point influence visibility across diverse ecosystems: Implications for animal ecology

Visual information can influence animal behavior and habitat use in diverse ways. Visibility is the property that relates 3D habitat structure to accessibility of visual information. Despite the importance of visibility in animal ecology, this property remains largely unstudied. Our objective was to assess how habitat structure from diverse environments and animal position within that structure can influence visibility. We gathered terrestrial lidar data (1 cm at 10 m) in four ecosystems (forest, shrub-steppe, prairie, and desert) to characterize viewsheds (i.e., estimates of visibility based on spatially explicit sightlines) from multiple vantage points. Both ecosystem-specific structure and animal position influenced potential viewsheds. Generally, as height of the vantage point above the ground increased, viewshed extent also increased, but the relationships were not linear. In low-structure ecosystems (prairie, shrub-steppe, and desert), variability in viewsheds decreased as vantage points increased to heights above the vegetation canopy. In the forest, however, variation in viewsheds was highest at intermediate heights, and markedly lower at the lowest and highest vantage points. These patterns are likely linked to the amount, heterogeneity, and distribution of vegetation structure occluding sightlines. Our work is the first to apply a new method that can be used to estimate viewshed properties relevant to animals (i.e., viewshed extent and variability). We demonstrate that these properties differ across terrestrial landscapes in complex ways that likely influence many facets of animal ecology and behavior.

Rachel Stein↗

A multiscale microstructural approach to ductile-phase toughened tungsten for plasma-facing materials

Increasing fracture toughness and decreasing the ductile-brittle transition temperature of a tungsten-alloy has been shown to be feasible by ductile-phase toughening of tungsten. In this method, a ductile phase is included in a brittle tungsten matrix to prevent fracture propagation by crack bridging or crack deflection. This paper models the deformation behavior of ductile phase toughened tungsten materials such as tungsten-copper composites using a multiscale modeling approach that involves a microstructural dual-phase (copper-tungsten) region of interest where the constituent phases are finely discretized and are described by a continuum damage mechanics model. Large deformation, damage and fracture are allowed to occur and are modeled in this region that is connected to the adjacent homogenized elastic regions to form a macroscopic structure such as a test specimen. This paper illustrates such a multiscale modeling approach to analyze un-notched and single-edge notched (SENB) tungsten-copper composite specimens subjected to three-point bending. The predicted load-displacement responses and crack propagation patterns are compared to the corresponding experimental results to validate the model.

Nguyen, Ba Nghiep↗

Local Electronic And Dielectric Properties at Nanosized Interfaces (Final Report)

The behavior of grain boundaries and interfaces has been a focus of fundamental research for decades because variations of structure and composition at interfaces dictate mechanical, electrical, optical and dielectric properties in solids. Similarly, the consequence of atomic and electronic structures of surfaces to chemical and physical interactions are critical due to their implications to catalysis and device fabrication. Increasing fundamental understanding of surfaces and interfaces has materially advanced technologies that directly bear on energy considerations. Currently, exciting developments in materials processing are enabling creative new electrical, optical and chemical device configurations. Controlled synthesis of nanoparticles, semiconducting nanowires and nanorods, optical quantum dots, etc. along with a range of strategies for assembling and patterning nanostructures portend the viability of new devices that have the potential to significantly impact the energy landscape. As devices become smaller the impact of interfaces and surfaces grows geometrically. As with other nanoscale phenomena, small interfaces do not exhibit the same properties as do large interfaces. The size dependence of interface properties had not been explored and understanding at the most fundamental level is necessary to the advancement of nanostructured devices. An equally important factor in the behavior of interfaces in devices is the ability to examine the interfaces under realistic conditions. For example, interfaces and boundaries dictate the behavior of oxide fuel cells which operate at extremely high temperatures in dynamic high pressure chemical environments. These conditions preclude the characterization of local properties during fuel cell operation. The objective of this research was to determine the size and interface atomic structure dependence of the electronic properties of metal/oxide interfaces using model materials systems of noble metals on SrTiO 3 surfaces; and to develop experimental techniques to probe spatially localized properties under extreme conditions. The outcomes of this research summarized in more detail below include; Discovery of the presence of multiple size dependent transport mechanisms at nanoscale interfaces and determination of the critical size parameter associated with a transition from one to another; Determination of the effect of interface atomic structure and electronic structure at nanoscale interfaces on electronic transport across the interfaces, in particular the role of states associated with under coordinated cations enabling resonant tunneling and/or band bending; Discovery and characterization of size dependent resistive switching at nanoscale interfaces; These advances required the development of a process to produce nanosized contacts with controlled interface orientation over sizes (diameters) ranging from 20-500nm and the determination of the mechanical and electrical parameters for robust and accurate measurement of frequency dependent properties of nanoscale interfaces; Invention of a chamber that enables in situ scanning probe microscopy and spectroscopy at high temperature and reactive gas environments; and First measurement of interface properties in an operating solid oxide fuel cell, quantifying the local electrical potentials and energies associated with two reaction mechanisms.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Enhanced delivery of engineered Fe-Mn binary oxides in heterogeneous porous media for efficient arsenic stabilization

Heterogeneity in sediment and aquifer is universal, resulting in preferential flows of injected materials in the high permeability regions and forming flow by-passed zones in the low permeability regions during in-situ subsurface remediation. This adverse effect can considerably delay the completion of remedial operations and significantly increase the cost. Column experiments were designed and conducted to study the transport of starch- and starch-xanthan gum modified Fe-Mn binary oxide particles (SFM and SXFM) in saturated heterogeneous porous media and to reveal the particles’ arsenic (As) stabilization performance. Fine-in-Coarse (FIC) and Coarse-in-Fine (CIF) patterns of heterogeneous packings were set up in the columns. Testing results demonstrated that starch-xanthan gum dual treatment on Fe-Mn binary oxides successfully improved the particles’ migration capability in heterogeneous porous media and their distribution uniformity attributed to the profound shear thinning behavior of xanthan gum solution. The addition of xanthan gum to the system increased the viscosity and shear thinning property of SXFM suspension, making it a better candidate for delivery. Both SFM and SXFM stabilized As in heterogeneously packed sediment collected from a contaminated site, with SXFM showing better stabilization performance than SFM. The stabilization effects of SXFM were 90.7-97.0%, compared to 82.0-95.2% of SFM.

Yan, Xiulan↗

Topological phase transformations and intrinsic size effects in ferroelectric nanoparticles

Here, composite materials comprised of ferroelectric nanoparticles in a dielectric matrix are being actively investigated for a variety of functional properties attractive for a wide range of novel electronic and energy harvesting devices. However, the dependence of these functionalities on shapes, sizes, orientation and mutual arrangement of ferroelectric particles is currently not fully understood. In this study, we utilize a time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau approach combined with coupled-physics finite-element-method based simulations to elucidate the behavior of polarization in isolated spherical PbTiO 3 or BaTiO 3 nanoparticles embedded in a dielectric medium, including air. The equilibrium polarization topology is strongly affected by particle diameter, as well as the choice of inclusion and matrix materials, with monodomain, vortex-like and multidomain patterns emerging for various combinations of size and materials parameters. This leads to radically different polarization vs electric field responses, resulting in highly tunable size-dependent dielectric properties that should be possible to observe experimentally. Our calculations show that there is a critical particle size below which ferroelectricity vanishes. For the PbTiO 3 particle, this size is 2 and 3.4 nm, respectively, for high- and low-permittivity media. For the BaTiO 3 particle, it is ~3.6 nm regardless of the medium dielectric strength.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Manipulation of Dirac Fermions in Nanochain-Structured Graphene

Graphene has afforded an ideal 2D platform for investigating a rich and fascinating behavior of Dirac fermions. Here, we develop a theoretical mechanism for manipulating the Dirac fermions in graphene, such as from type-I to type-II and type-III, by a top-down nanopatterning approach. We demonstrate that by selective chemical adsorption to pattern the 2D graphene into coupled 1D armchair chains (ACs), the intrinsic isotropic upright Dirac cone becomes anisotropic and strongly tilted. Based on model analyses and first-principles calculations, we show that both the shape and tilt of Dirac cone can be tuned by the species of chemisorption, e.g., halogen vs hydrogen, which modifies the strength of inter-AC coupling. Furthermore, the topological edge states and transport properties of the engineered Dirac fermions are investigated. Our work sheds lights on understanding the Dirac fermions in a nanopatterned graphene platform, and provides guidance for designing nanostructures with novel functionality.

Physics↗

Reconstruction of current profiles from external magnetic and MSE measurements on DIII-D

This work introduces a new current model into the EFIT code for plasma current profile reconstruction. Using this model, edge-localized current density profiles are reconstructed solely from external magnetic measurements. Quantitative comparisons show that edge current profiles obtained with the new current model align closely with those from kinetic equilibrium reconstruction. The new model enables current density reconstruction with fewer diagnostics than kinetic equilibrium reconstruction (Lao et al 1990 Nucl. Fusion 30 1035–49), demonstrating that edge-localized current density information can be obtained from external magnetic measurements only, without the help of kinetic profiles and internal diagnostics, and without using the bootstrap current model. Furthermore, with the constraints of external magnetic and MSE measurements, current profiles in full radius obtained from the new model are in good agreement with the results of kinetic equilibrium reconstruction, which not only improves the efficiency of current reconstruction but also helps avoid possible errors caused by different kinds of diagnoses. Possible applications are also discussed, and a brief analysis of the evolution of the full-radius current density is performed. Noticeable decreases in both the magnitude and gradient of the edge current around the time of ELM bursts are observed. Moreover, analysis of the full radius current density profiles ( ρ N = 0 − 1.0, ρN denotes to square root of the normalized toroidal flux) reveals that as the edge current changes, the inner current also changes following a sinusoidal-like pattern at almost all time slices during four type-I ELMs in discharge 161493. The current evolution in the inner region ( ρ N = 0.2 − 0.6) is synchronized with the boundary region ( ρ N = 0.89 − 1.0), while the intermediate region ( ρ N = 0.6 − 0.89) shows opposite behavior. This sinusoidal-like variations in full-radius current density profile indicates strong core-pedestal coupling, suggesting ELMs significantly affect core plasmas, though current changes manifest differently across radial regions.

EFIT↗

Detection of magnetic circular dichroism in amorphous materials utilizing a single-crystalline overlayer

Physicists are fascinated with topological defects in solid-state materials, because by breaking the translational symmetry they offer emerging properties that are not present in their parental phases. For example, edge dislocations—the 2π phase-winding topological defects—in antiferromagnetic NiO crystals can exhibit ferromagnetic behaviors. Herein, we study how these defects could give rise to exotic topological orders when they interact with a high energy electron beam. To probe this interaction, we formed a coherent electron nanobeam in a scanning transmission electron microscope and recorded the far-field transmitted patterns as the beam steps through the edge dislocation core in [001] NiO. Surprisingly, we found the amplitude patterns of the <020> Bragg disks evolve in a similar manner to the evolution of an annular solar eclipse. Using the ptychographic technique, we recovered the missing phase information in the diffraction plane and revealed the topological phase vortices in the diffracted beams. Through atomic topological defects, the wave function of electrons can be converted from plane wave to electron vortex. This approach provides a new perspective for boosting the collection efficiency of magnetic circular dichroism spectra with high spatial resolution and understanding the relationship between symmetry breaking and exotic property of individual topological defect at atomic level.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Mixed Delay/Nondelay Embeddings Based Neuromorphic Computing with Patterned Nanomagnet Arrays

Patterned nanomagnet arrays (PNAs) have been shown to exhibit a strong geometrically frustrated dipole interaction. Some PNAs have also shown emergent domain wall dynamics. Previous works have demonstrated methods to physically probe these magnetization dynamics of PNAs to realize neuromorphic reservoir systems that exhibit chaotic dynamical behavior and high-dimensional nonlinearity. These PNA reservoir systems from prior works leverage echo state properties and linear/nonlinear short-term memory of component reservoir nodes to map and preserve the dynamical information of the input time-series data into nondelay spatial embeddings. Such mappings enable these PNA reservoir systems to imitate and predict/forecast the input time series data. However, these prior PNA reservoir systems are based solely on the nondelay spatial embeddings obtained at component reservoir nodes. As a result, they require a massive number of component reservoir nodes, or a very large spatial embedding (i.e., high-dimensional spatial embedding) per reservoir node, or both, to achieve acceptable imitation and prediction accuracy. These requirements reduce the practical feasibility of such PNA reservoir systems. To address this shortcoming, we present a mixed delay/nondelay embeddings-based PNA reservoir system. Our system uses a single PNA reservoir node with the ability to obtain a mixture of delay/nondelay embeddings of the dynamical information of the time-series data applied at the input of a single PNA reservoir node. Our analysis shows that when these mixed delay/nondelay embeddings are used to train a perceptron at the output layer, our reservoir system outperforms existing PNA-based reservoir systems for the imitation of NARMA 2, NARMA 5, NARMA 7, and NARMA 10 time series data, and for the short-term and long-term prediction of the Mackey Glass time series data.

Ti, Changpeng↗

Seasonal changes in GPP/SIF ratios and their climatic determinants across the Northern Hemisphere

Satellite-derived sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) has been increasingly used for estimating gross primary production (GPP). However, the relationship between SIF and GPP has not been well defined, impeding the translation of satellite observed SIF to GPP. Previous studies have generally assumed a linear relationship between SIF and GPP at daily and longer time scales, but support for this assumption is lacking. Here, we used the GPP/SIF ratio to investigate seasonal variations in the relationship between SIF and GPP over the Northern Hemisphere (NH). Based on multiple SIF products and MODIS and FLUXCOM GPP data, we found strong seasonal hump-shaped patterns for the GPP/SIF ratio over northern latitudes, with higher values in the summer than in the spring or autumn. This hump-shaped GPP/SIF seasonal variation was confirmed by examining different SIF products and was evident for most vegetation types except evergreen broadleaf forests. The seasonal amplitude of the GPP/SIF ratio decreased from the boreal/arctic region to drylands and the tropics. For most of the NH, the lowest GPP/SIF values occurred in October or September, while the maximum GPP/SIF values were evident in June and July. The most pronounced seasonal amplitude of GPP/SIF occurred in intermediate temperature and precipitation ranges. GPP/SIF was positively related to temperature in the early and late parts of the growing season, but not during the peak growing months. These shifting relationships between temperature and GPP/SIF across different months appeared to play a key role in the seasonal dynamics of GPP/SIF. Several mechanisms may explain the patterns we observed, and future research encompassing a broad range of climate and vegetation settings is needed to improve our understanding of the spatial and temporal relationships between SIF and GPP. Nonetheless, the strong seasonal variation in GPP/SIF we identified highlights the importance of incorporating this behavior into SIF-based GPP estimations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Beyond the Textbook: Ethics Education in Physics

The existing research on why people fail to act ethically identifies a range of motivations, with character traits and peer pressure being the top two causes. Other factors include gain, fear of loss, relationships, competition, opportunity, and cultural factors. In addition to the ethics component, studies have identified also individual and institutional ones. For instance, narcissism plays a significant role in misconduct. The effect of institutional actions, from neglecting punishment in many cases of misconduct up to letting researchers succeed through unethical behavior, was also studied. The only way for an organization to have every member perceive that ethical conduct will enhance their standing and reputation is to display leadership by example. However, despite leaders in academia being nowadays much more educated than twenty years ago about equity, diversity, inclusion and ethical behavior, the occurrence of misconduct has not decreased. Because of the power t hat this demographic holds in enacting reform, as opposed to minority groups who are already encumbered enough, it would be helpful to target the former for equity education. Education and intervention in identifying patterns of thought and action that prevent ethical progress, in deflecting peer pressure, in assuming accountability for their departments, etc. can help. Once again, all roads lead to Rome: an educated and inspired leadership is the most effective tool for change.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗