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At least 1,639 records · Page 91

Benchmark datasets for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance bioinformatics

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has spread globally and is being surveilled with an international genome sequencing effort. Surveillance consists of sample acquisition, library preparation, and whole genome sequencing. This has necessitated a classification scheme detailing Variants of Concern (VOC) and Variants of Interest (VOI), and the rapid expansion of bioinformatics tools for sequence analysis. These bioinformatic tools are means for major actionable results: maintaining quality assurance and checks, defining population structure, performing genomic epidemiology, and inferring lineage to allow reliable and actionable identification and classification. Additionally, the pandemic has required public health laboratories to reach high throughput proficiency in sequencing library preparation and downstream data analysis rapidly. However, both processes can be limited by a lack of a standardized sequence dataset. We identified six SARS-CoV-2 sequence datasets from recent publications, public databases and internal resources. In addition, we created a method to mine public databases to identify representative genomes for these datasets. Using this novel method, we identified several genomes as either VOI/VOC representatives or non-VOI/VOC representatives. To describe each dataset, we utilized a previously published datasets format, which describes accession information and whole dataset information. Additionally, a script from the same publication has been enhanced to download and verify all data from this study.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Space Research Data Management in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Space related scientific research has passed through a natural evolutionary process. The task of extracting the meaningful information from the raw data is highly involved and will require data processing capabilities that do not exist today. The results are presented of a three year examination of this subject, using an earlier report as a starting point. The general conclusion is that there are areas in which NASA's data management practices can be improved and recommends specific actions. These actions will enhance NASA's ability to extract more of the potential data and to capitalize on future opportunities.

Ludwig, G. H.↗

Toward the Next Generation of Air Quality Monitoring Indicators

This paper introduces an initiative to bridge the state of scientific knowledge on air pollution with the needs of policymakers and stakeholders to design the "next generation" of air quality indicators. As a first step this initiative assesses current monitoring and modeling associated with a number of important pollutants with an eye toward identifying knowledge gaps and scientific needs that are a barrier to reducing air pollution impacts on human and ecosystem health across the globe. Four outdoor air pollutants were considered e particulate matter, ozone, mercury, and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) e because of their clear adverse impacts on human and ecosystem health and because of the availability of baseline data for assessment for each. While other papers appearing in this issue will address each pollutant separately, this paper serves as a summary of the initiative and presents recommendations for needed investments to provide improved measurement, monitoring, and modeling data for policyrelevant indicators. The ultimate goal of this effort is to enable enhanced public policy responses to air pollution by linking improved data and measurement methods to decision-making through the development of indicators that can allow policymakers to better understand the impacts of air pollution and, along with source attribution based on modeling and measurements, facilitate improved policies to solve it. The development of indicators represents a crucial next step in this process.

Particulate matter↗

Ion Temperature Enhancement in the Wake of Ionospheric Spacecraft

Enhancements of the temperature of electrons in spacecraft plasma wakes have been reported for numerous cases [Samir and Wrenn, 1972; Troy et al., 1975; Oran et al., 1975) and this phenomenon has been discussed both empirically (Samir and Stone, 1986; Stone and Samir, 1986) and theoretically (Singh et al., 1987). However, very few measurements seem to have been made of the ion temperature within plasma wakes--possibly because the great majority of ion measurements were focussed on obtaining geophysical parameters and, hence, were confined to the region ahead of the spacecraft. Recently, however, an enhancement of the temperature of ions was discovered in data obtained in the wake of the Space Shuttle during the Spacelab-2 mission (Sorensen et al., 1997). At the time of that publication, this was the only known observation of this type. Herein, we report an additional case of ion temperature enhancement in a plasma wake. The data were taken during the Tethered Satellite System Reflight mission (TSS-IR) in the wake of the tethered satellite during passive (no current flow) operations. The measurements were obtained with the Differential Ion Flux Probe, or DIFP (Stone, 1977 and Stone et al., 1985).

Samir, U.↗

Remote operation of the DIII-D National Fusion Facility

Abstract Full remote scientific operation of the DIII-D National Fusion Facility is now possible through significant advances in the computer science hardware and software infrastructure made over the last decade. Capabilities around information visualization, data movement, and communication have all been enhanced. The level of capability deployed to remotely operate DIII-D required an infrastructure advancement over what had previously been achieved in the fusion community. The large quantity of real-time data that is automatically displayed on DIII-D’s control room screens can now be visualized by remote participants via web-based applications. New audio/video solutions using the VoIP and instant messaging application Discord have been implemented to mimic the dynamic and ad-hoc scientific conversations that are critical in successfully operating an experimental campaign. Discord’s ability for a user to rapidly move between audio channels, text with images, and share screens is a significant enhancement over traditional videoconferencing tools. In addition, multiple combinations of broadcast audio are made available via a web-based application to allow remote participants to simultaneously listen to general announcements/sounds while conducting their own specific conversations. Secure methodologies have been put into place to allow remote control of hardware including DIII-D’s plasma control system application. Secure methods also included the ability of the on-site team to closely coordinate their work with remote team members which has been enhanced through extensions to the wireless network and the use of tablet computers for audio/video/screen sharing. However, no amount of software can fully replace the need for ‘hands on hardware.’ This infrastructure was severely stress tested during the COVID-19 pandemic where occupancy of the DIII-D control room was restricted. Operational efficiency during the pandemic, measured in discharges per hour, remained high (3.8 ± 0.8) compared to values obtained pre-pandemic (3.7 ± 0.8).

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Strategies for community-sourced biocuration in bioinformatics: a case study on MIBiG 4.0

Biocuration is essential to transform molecular sequence data into standardized, machine-readable resources. Such curated datasets enable comparative analysis, predictive modeling, and data integration across bioinformatics platforms. While professional biocuration is resource-intensive and usually limited to institutional settings, community-driven approaches can mobilize large-scale annotation of specialized datasets and are more resilient to disruptions in scientific funding. Here, we present a model for community-powered curation applied to the Minimum Information about a Biosynthetic Gene Cluster (MIBiG) repository. Through a framework of workflows for metadata capture, annotation validation, and contributor coordination, the MIBiG 4.0 initiative recruited 267 scientists across 178 institutions from 33 countries, volunteering an estimated 4000 h of work. These efforts expanded the MIBiG repository by 22% and enhanced its usability in downstream molecular data analyses in comparative genomic analyses, natural product discovery, and machine learning applications. We provide strategies and actionable lessons for adopting this model, supporting the sustainability of curated bioinformatics resources central to nucleic acid research and related fields.

biocuration↗

Machine Learning for Gearbox Fault Prediction by Using Both Scada and Modeled Data

This presentation outlines the work in the paper titled "Prognostics of Wind Turbine Gearbox Bearing Failures Using SCADA and Modeled Data" published by the PHM Society and presented at its 2020 annual conference. It is accessible at https://papers.phmsociety.org/index.php/phmconf/article/download/1292/862. The technical work is on machine learning approaches for prognostics for gearbox faults. The methodology combines SCADA time series data and physics domain modeling data, derived from the models developed by the NREL team, as inputs to machine learning models to predict gearbox bearing failures with one month lead time. Based on SCADA data, modeled data, and bearing failure log data from an actual wind plant, the performances of different machine-learning models on unseen data are then evaluated using industry-standard metrics such as precision, recall, and F1 score, and AUC (area under receiver operating characteristic curve). Results show the overall system performance enhancement in predicting bearing failure when modeled data are included with SCADA data. The reduction in terms of false alarms is about 50%, and improvement in terms of precision, and F1 score, and AUC is about 33%, and 12%, and 6% respectively, based on the best modeling case in this study.

49 EE - Wind and Water Power Program - Wind (EE-4W↗

Performance and Characterization of a Modular Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detector System for Space-to-Earth Optical Communications Links

Space-to-ground photon-counting optical communication links supporting high data rates over large distances require enhanced ground receiver sensitivity in order to reduce the mass and power burden on the spacecraft transmitter. Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) have been demonstrated to offer superior performance in detection efficiency, timing resolution, and count rates over semiconductor photodetectors, and are a suitable technology for high photon efficiency links. Recently photon detectors based on superconducting nanowires have become commercially available, and we have assessed the characteristics and performance of one such commercial system as a candidate for potential utilization in ground receiver designs. The SNSPD system features independent channels which can be added modularly, and we analyze the scalability of the system to support different data rates, as well as consider coupling concepts and issues as the number of channels increases.

Superconductors↗

AMO EXPRESS: A Command and Control Experiment for Crew Autonomy Onboard the International Space Station

NASA is investigating a range of future human spaceflight missions, including both Mars-distance and Near Earth Object (NEO) targets. Of significant importance for these missions is the balance between crew autonomy and vehicle automation. As distance from Earth results in increasing communication delays, future crews need both the capability and authority to independently make decisions. However, small crews cannot take on all functions performed by ground today, and so vehicles must be more automated to reduce the crew workload for such missions. NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems Program funded Autonomous Mission Operations (AMO) project conducted an autonomous command and control experiment on-board the International Space Station that demonstrated single action intelligent procedures for crew command and control. The target problem was to enable crew initialization of a facility class rack with power and thermal interfaces, and involving core and payload command and telemetry processing, without support from ground controllers. This autonomous operations capability is enabling in scenarios such as initialization of a medical facility to respond to a crew medical emergency, and representative of other spacecraft autonomy challenges. The experiment was conducted using the Expedite the Processing of Experiments for Space Station (EXPRESS) rack 7, which was located in the Port 2 location within the U.S Laboratory onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Activation and deactivation of this facility is time consuming and operationally intensive, requiring coordination of three flight control positions, 47 nominal steps, 57 commands, 276 telemetry checks, and coordination of multiple ISS systems (both core and payload). Utilization of Draper Laboratory's Timeliner software, deployed on-board the ISS within the Command and Control (C&C) computers and the Payload computers, allowed development of the automated procedures specific to ISS without having to certify and employ novel software for procedure development and execution. The procedures contained the ground procedure logic and actions as possible to include fault detection and recovery capabilities. The autonomous operations concept includes a reduction of the amount of data a crew operator is required to verify during activation or de-activation, as well as integration of procedure execution status and relevant data in a single integrated display. During execution, the auto-procedures (via Timerliner) provide a step-by-step messaging paradigm and a high-level status upon termination. This messaging and high-level status is the only data generated for operator display. To enhance situational awareness of the operator, the Web-based Procedure Display (WebPD) provides a novel approach to the issues of procedure display and execution tracking. WebPD is a web based application that serves as the user interface for electronic procedure execution. It incorporates several aspects of the HTML5 standard. Procedures are written in a dialect of XML called Procedure Representation Language (PRL). WebPD tracks execution status in the procedure or procedures being displayed. WebPD aggregates and simplifies the auto-sequence execution status information, and formatted to be easily followed and understood by an operator who is not dedicated to actively monitoring the task. WebPD also provides an integrated data and control interface to pause or halt the execution in order to provide a check point of operation and to examine progress before starting the next sequence of activities. For this demonstration, the procedure was initiated and monitored from the ground. As the Timeliner sequences executed, their high-level execution status was written to PLMDM memory. This memory is read and downlinked via Ku-Band at a 1 Hz rate. The data containing the high-level execution status is de-commutated on the ground, and rebroadcast for WebPD consumption. A future demonstration will be performed onboard, with ISS astronauts initiating the operations instead of ground controllers. The AMO EXPRESS experiment demonstrated activation and de-activation of EXPRESS rack 7, providing the capability of future single button activations and deactivations of facility class racks. The experiment achieved numerous technical and operations 'firsts' for the ISS

Stetson, Howard K.↗

Evaluation of existing and proposed computer architectures for future ground-based systems

Parallel processing architectures and techniques used in current supercomputers are described and projections are made of future advances. Presently, the von Neumann sequential processing pattern has been accelerated by having separate I/O processors, interleaved memories, wide memories, independent functional units and pipelining. Recent supercomputers have featured single-input, multiple data stream architectures, which have different processors for performing various operations (vector or pipeline processors). Multiple input, multiple data stream machines have also been developed. Data flow techniques, wherein program instructions are activated only when data are available, are expected to play a large role in future supercomputers, along with increased parallel processor arrays. The enhanced operational speeds are essential for adequately treating data from future spacecraft remote sensing instruments such as the Thematic Mapper.

Schulbach, C.↗

$Z$-Pinch Interferometry Analysis With the Fourier-Based TNT Code

Here, we present the analysis of interferometry diagnostics with the user-friendly Talbot Numerical Tool (TNT), a Fourier-based postprocessing code that enables real-time assessment of plasma systems. TNT performance was explored with visible and infrared interferometry in pulsed-power-driven Z -pinch configurations to expand its capabilities beyond Talbot X-ray interferometry in the high-intensity laser environment. TNT enabled accurate electron density characterization of magnetically driven plasma flows and shocks through phase-retrieval methods that did not require data modification or masking. TNT demonstrated enhanced resolution, detecting below 4 % fringe shift, which corresponds to 8.7 × 10 15 cm –2 within 28 μ m, approaching the laser probing system limit. TNT was tested against a well-known interferometry analysis software, delivering an average resolving power nearly ten times better (~28 μ m versus ~ 210 μ m) when resolving plasma ablation features. TNT demonstrated higher sensitivity when probing sharp electron density gradients in supersonic shocks. A maximum electron areal density of 4.1 × 10 17 cm –2 was measured in the shocked plasma region, and a minimum electron density detection of ~ 1.0 × 10 15 cm –2 was achieved. When probing colliding plasma flows, the calculations of the effective adiabatic index and the associated errors were improved from γ* = 2.6 ± 1.6 – 1.4 ± 0.2 with TNT postprocessing, contributing valuable data for the interpretation of radiative transport. Additional applications of TNT in the characterization of pulsed-power plasmas and beyond are discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

LANDSAT-4 image data quality analysis for energy related applications

No useable LANDSAT 4 TM data were obtained for the Hanford site in the Columbia Plateau region, but TM simulator data for a Virginia Electric Company nuclear power plant was used to test image processing algorithms. Principal component analyses of this data set clearly indicated that thermal plumes in surface waters used for reactor cooling would be discrenible. Image processing and analysis programs were successfully testing using the 7 band Arkansas test scene and preliminary analysis of TM data for the Savanah River Plant shows that current interactive, image enhancement, analysis and integration techniques can be effectively used for LANDSAT 4 data. Thermal band data appear adequate for gross estimates of thermal changes occurring near operating nuclear facilities especially in surface water bodies being used for reactor cooling purposes. Additional image processing software was written and tested which provides for more rapid and effective analysis of the 7 band TM data.

Wukelic, G. E.↗

Finding, Browsing and Getting Data Easily Using SPDF Web Services

The NASA GSFC Space Physics Data Facility (5PDF) provides heliophysics science-enabling information services for enhancing scientific research and enabling integration of these services into the Heliophysics Data Environment paradigm, via standards-based approach (SOAP) and Representational State Transfer (REST) web services in addition to web browser, FTP, and OPeNDAP interfaces. We describe these interfaces and the philosophies behind these web services, and show how to call them from various languages, such as IDL and Perl. We are working towards a "one simple line to call" philosophy extolled in the recent VxO discussions. Combining data from many instruments and missions enables broad research analysis and correlation and coordination with other experiments and missions.

Candey, R.↗

Upgrading the 14x22 Data Acquisition System (DAS)

The 14-by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel recently completed development and installation of a new Data Acquisition System for use in the tunnel and in the Rotor Test Cell (RTC). Planning and development of this new system has been ongoing for several years, and installation was performed over this past year. This effort also required an upgrade of the facility infrastructure to support the upgraded power and cooling requirements. This presentation summarizes the new data acquisition system, improved capabilities, challenges of installation, and proposed future enhancements to the system.

wind tunnel↗

Passive Temperature Sensors for Nuclear Applications

In April 2007, the Department of Energy (DOE) designated the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) a National Scientific User Facility (NSUF) to advance US leadership in nuclear science and technology. By attracting new users from universities, laboratories, and industry, this program supports basic and applied nuclear research to help address the nation's energy security needs. In support of this program, the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) established in-house capabilities to develop, fabricate, test, and qualify new and enhanced temperature sensors for irradiation testing. This effort is continuing today through the DOE?s Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation (ASI) program. Although most efforts emphasize sensors capable of providing real-time data, selected tasks have been completed to enhance passive sensors for irradiations where instrumentation leads cannot be included. These sensors include silicon carbide (SiC) monitors, melt wires and the sublime temperature monitor. SiC monitors are available to detect peak irradiation temperatures between 200°C and 800°C in reactor locations where instrumentation leads cannot be used. SiC monitors may be evaluated using specialized equipment installed at INL?s Measurement Sciences Laboratory (MSL). A melt wire inventory is also maintained at MSL. This inventory contains wires for specific use in irradiation experiments ranging in temperatures from 30°C to 1500°C. Melt wires and SiC monitors have had decades of research and application. Recent research has produced a passive monitor known as the sublime temperature monitor. This passive sensor has the capability of recording temperature gradients. This paper will discuss passive temperature sensors currently being researched and implemented under the ASI program.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

A life prediction methodology for encapsulated solar cells

This paper presents an approach to the development of a life prediction methodology for encapsulated solar cells which are intended to operate for twenty years or more in a terrestrial environment. Such a methodology, or solar cell life prediction model, requires the development of quantitative intermediate relationships between local environmental stress parameters and the basic chemical mechanisms of encapsulant aging leading to solar cell failures. The use of accelerated/abbreviated testing to develop these intermediate relationships and in revealing failure modes is discussed. Current field and demonstration tests of solar cell arrays and the present laboratory tests to qualify solar module designs provide very little data applicable to predicting the long-term performance of encapsulated solar cells. An approach to enhancing the value of such field tests to provide data for life prediction is described.

Coulbert, C. D.↗

Radarsat Processing System at ASF

Radarsat is a Canadian polar orbiting remote sensing satellite scheduled for launch in September 1995. Its lone instrument on-board is a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) that is capable of operating in a number of imaging modes including the first operational ScanSAR mode. As one of the data reception, processing and archive facility for Radarsat data, Alaska SAR Facility (ASF) has responded to its Science users by establishing a Radarsat processing system to handle the data processing of all Radarsat modes. This task involves enhancements to the high throughput hardware based Alaska SAR Processor (ASP) to handle standard mode Radarsat data in addition to its existing ERS and JERS capabilities, the addition of the new ScanSAR Processor (SSP) to process the Radarsat ScanSAR mode data, and the introduction of a Precision Processor (PP) to accommodate the special Radarsat modes such as fine resolution and wide swath. For raw data ingestion and distribution to the appropriate SAR processor, a new Control Processor (CP) and Raw Data Scanner (RDS) subsystem is also incorporated.

Radarsat↗