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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Term Matrix: a novel Gene Ontology annotation quality control system based on ontology term co-annotation patterns

Biological processes are accomplished by the coordinated action of gene products. Gene products often participate in multiple processes, and can therefore be annotated to multiple Gene Ontology (GO) terms. Nevertheless, processes that are functionally, temporally and/or spatially distant may have few gene products in common, and co-annotation to unrelated processes probably reflects errors in literature curation, ontology structure or automated annotation pipelines. We have developed an annotation quality control workflow that uses rules based on mutually exclusive processes to detect annotation errors, based on and validated by case studies including the three we present here: fission yeast protein-coding gene annotations over time; annotations for cohesin complex subunits in human and model species; and annotations using a selected set of GO biological process terms in human and five model species. For each case study, we reviewed available GO annotations, identified pairs of biological processes which are unlikely to be correctly co-annotated to the same gene products (e.g. amino acid metabolism and cytokinesis), and traced erroneous annotations to their sources. To date we have generated 107 quality control rules, and corrected 289 manual annotations in eukaryotes and over 52 700 automatically propagated annotations across all taxa.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2011

Online Time Series Analysis of Land Products over Asia Monsoon Region via Giovanni

Time series analysis is critical to the study of land cover/land use changes and climate. Time series studies at local-to-regional scales require higher spatial resolution, such as 1km or less, data. MODIS land products of 250m to 1km resolution enable such studies. However, such MODIS land data files are distributed in 10ox10o tiles, due to large data volumes. Conducting a time series study requires downloading all tiles that include the study area for the time period of interest, and mosaicking the tiles spatially. This can be an extremely time-consuming process. In support of the Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Study (MAIRS) program, NASA GES DISC (Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center) has processed MODIS land products at 1 km resolution over the Asia monsoon region (0o-60oN, 60o-150oE) with a common data structure and format. The processed data have been integrated into the Giovanni system (Goddard Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure) that enables users to explore, analyze, and download data over an area and time period of interest easily. Currently, the following regional MODIS land products are available in Giovanni: 8-day 1km land surface temperature and active fire, monthly 1km vegetation index, and yearly 0.05o, 500m land cover types. More data will be added in the near future. By combining atmospheric and oceanic data products in the Giovanni system, it is possible to do further analyses of environmental and climate changes associated with the land, ocean, and atmosphere. This presentation demonstrates exploring land products in the Giovanni system with sample case scenarios.

Shen, Suhung↗
DOE OSTI2021

Using Computationally-Determined Properties for Machine Learning Prediction of Self-Diffusion Coefficients in Pure Liquids

The ability to predict transport properties of liquids quickly and accurately will greatly improve our understanding of fluid properties both in bulk and complex mixtures, as well as in confined environments. Such information could then be used in the design of materials and processes for applications ranging from energy production and storage to manufacturing processes. As a first step, we consider the use of machine learning (ML) methods to predict the diffusion properties of pure liquids. Recent results have shown that Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) can effectively predict the diffusion of pure compounds based on the use of experimental properties as the model inputs. In the current study, a similar ANN approach is applied to modeling diffusion of pure liquids using fluid properties obtained exclusively from molecular simulations. A diverse set of 102 pure liquids is considered, ranging from small polar molecules (e.g., water) to large nonpolar molecules (e.g., octane). Self-diffusion coefficients were obtained from classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Since nearly all the molecules are organic compounds, a general set of force field parameters for organic molecules was used. The MD methods are validated by comparing physical and thermodynamic properties with experiment. Computational input features for the ANN include physical properties obtained from the MD simulations as well as molecular properties from quantum calculations of individual molecules. Furthermore, fluid properties describing the local liquid structure were obtained from center of mass radial distribution functions (COM-RDFs). Feature sensitivity analysis revealed that isothermal compressibility, heat of vaporization, and the thermal expansion coefficient were the most impactful properties used as input for the ANN model to predict the MD simulated self-diffusion coefficients. The MD-based ANN successfully predicts the MD self-diffusion coefficients with only a subset (2 to 3) of the available computationally determined input features required. A separate ANN model was developed using literature experimental self-diffusion coefficients as model targets. Although this second ML model was not as successful due to a limited number of data points, a good correlation is still observed between experimental and ML predicted self-diffusion coefficients.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Air Evacuation Bridge

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory are researching and designing technology intended to help reduce the exposure of patients and medical staff to pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2 while providing medical staff the dexterity and flexible work conditions necessary to conduct routine and complex patient care on infected patients. This investigative technology would potentially enable hospitals to adapt, utilize, and re-purpose existing and otherwise infrequently used equipment in the fight against COVID-19, thereby saving hospitals significant money, reducing exposure to staff and patients, and increasing the supply of critically needed devices at a time when supplies are scarce in the market place. A provisional patent has been filed on the technology and we are seeking a commercialization partner to license and further develop the product for commercial purposes, including processing the device through the FDA authorization or clearance process. Once FDA has cleared the product, at least one hospital system has expressed interest in the experimental test components for use in their hospitals.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1972

Techniques for control of long-term reliability of complex integrated circuits. I - Reliability assurance by test vehicle qualification.

Development of an alternate approach to the conventional methods of reliability assurance for large-scale integrated circuits. The product treated is a large-scale T squared L array designed for space applications. The concept used is that of qualification of product by evaluation of the basic processing used in fabricating the product, providing an insight into its potential reliability. Test vehicles are described which enable evaluation of device characteristics, surface condition, and various parameters of the two-level metallization system used. Evaluation of these test vehicles is performed on a lot qualification basis, with the lot consisting of one wafer. Assembled test vehicles are evaluated by high temperature stress at 300 C for short time durations. Stressing at these temperatures provides a rapid method of evaluation and permits a go/no go decision to be made on the wafer lot in a timely fashion.

Van Vonno, N. W.↗
NASA NTRS2005

A Robust, Low-Cost Virtual Archive for Science Data

Despite their expense tape silos are still often the only affordable option for petabytescale science data archives, particularly when other factors such as data reliability, floor space, power and cooling load are accounted for. However, the complexity, management software, hardware reliability and access latency of tape silos make online data storage ever more attractive. Drastic reductions in low-cost mass-market PC disk drivers help to make this more affordable (approx. 1$/GB), but are challenging to scale to the petabyte range and of questionable reliability for archival use, On the other hand, if much of the science archive could be "virtualized", i.e., produced on demand when requested by users, we would need store only a fraction of the data online, perhaps bringing an online-only system into in affordable range. Radiance data from the satellite-borne Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument provides a good opportunity for such a virtual archive: the raw data amount to 140 GB/day, but these are small relative to the 550 GB/day making up the radiance products. These data are routinely processed as inputs for geophysical parameter products and then archived on tape at the Goddard Earth Sciences Distributed Active Archive (GES DAAC) for distributing to users. Virtualizing them would be an immediate and signifcant reduction in the amount of data being stored in the tape archives and provide more customizable products. A prototype of such a virtual archive is being developed to prove the concept and develop ways of incorporating the robustness that a science data archive requires.

Lynnes, Christopher↗
NASA NTRS2009

Internet Protocol Display Sharing Solution for Mission Control Center Video System

With the advent of broadcast television as a constant source of information throughout the NASA manned space flight Mission Control Center (MCC) at the Johnson Space Center (JSC), the current Video Transport System (VTS) characteristics provides the ability to visually enhance real-time applications as a broadcast channel that decision making flight controllers come to rely on, but can be difficult to maintain and costly. The Operations Technology Facility (OTF) of the Mission Operations Facility Division (MOFD) has been tasked to provide insight to new innovative technological solutions for the MCC environment focusing on alternative architectures for a VTS. New technology will be provided to enable sharing of all imagery from one specific computer display, better known as Display Sharing (DS), to other computer displays and display systems such as; large projector systems, flight control rooms, and back supporting rooms throughout the facilities and other offsite centers using IP networks. It has been stated that Internet Protocol (IP) applications are easily readied to substitute for the current visual architecture, but quality and speed may need to be forfeited for reducing cost and maintainability. Although the IP infrastructure can support many technologies, the simple task of sharing ones computer display can be rather clumsy and difficult to configure and manage to the many operators and products. The DS process shall invest in collectively automating the sharing of images while focusing on such characteristics as; managing bandwidth, encrypting security measures, synchronizing disconnections from loss of signal / loss of acquisitions, performance latency, and provide functions like, scalability, multi-sharing, ease of initial integration / sustained configuration, integration with video adjustments packages, collaborative tools, host / recipient controllability, and the utmost paramount priority, an enterprise solution that provides ownership to the whole process, while maintaining the integrity of the latest technological displayed image devices. This study will provide insights to the many possibilities that can be filtered down to a harmoniously responsive product that can be used in today's MCC environment.

Brown, Michael A.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA/GEWEX SRB Surface Radiation Budget Fluxes Through the Prism of Weather States

The NASA/GEWEX Surface Radiation Budget Version 4 (SRB Rel4) product is now publicly available, covering the period from July 1983 through June 2017. This supersedes the SRB Rel3 (Stackhouse et al., 2011) product which has been used in the community for a wide variety of applications, including climate model validation, agriculture, solar energy, and architecture. SRB Rel4 uses the newly recalibrated and processed ISCCP HXS product as its primary input for cloud and radiance data, replacing ISCCP DX with a ninefold increase in pixel count (10km instead of 30km). This version retains a 1°x1° resolution but benefits from a much larger number of samples per grid box than the SRB Rel3. ISCCP also provides an atmospheric temperature and moisture dataset known as nnHIRS which we use here, along with Seaflux and Landflux surface and near-surface meteorological parameters. Rel4 incorporates several important algorithm improvements. These include recalculated shortwave (SW) atmospheric transmissivities and reflectivities yielding a somewhat less transmissive atmosphere. Both shortwave and longwave (LW) now also include variable aerosol composition and radiative properties, allowing for the use of a detailed aerosol history from the Max Planck Institute Aerosol Climatology (MACv1). LW and SW algorithms now produce pristine sky fluxes, allowing the aerosol flux effects to be quantified. For SW, ocean albedo and snow/ice albedo are improved from Release 3. Total solar irradiance is now variable, and reduced to an average of 1361 Wm-2. The radiative treatment of ice cloud is improved. For the LW, a climatological monthly varying spectral surface emissivity is added. Here we evaluate the SRB Rel4 top of atmosphere (TOA) and surface fluxes in the context of weather states and oceanic regions. Weather states (Tselioudis et al., 2013, Tselioudis et al., 2021) are defined by K-means clustering 2-D histograms of satellite-retrieved cloud optical depths and cloud top pressures. The most recent (Tselioudis et al., 2021) weather states derived from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) H-series data results in eight cloud weather states and one clear sky weather state, for a total of nine weather states. We examine the statistics of SRB Rel4 fluxes for each weather state and a variety of relevant land and ocean regions. We compare to similar analyses performed on CERES EBAF and SYN1Deg flux products, and validate against Baseline Surface Radiometer Network (BSRN) land stations and Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) ocean buoy data. It is demonstrated that the weather state concept is valuable when examining the comparative strengths and weaknesses of satellite radiative flux algorithms.

Atmospheric Radiation↗
DOE OSTI2021

BETO 2021 Peer Review - Strategic Analysis Support WBS 4.1.1.30

Strategic Analysis Support. The objective of the NREL strategic support project is to provide sound, unbiased, and consistent analyses to inform the strategic direction of the DOE BETO office. This project addresses key technological questions, provides critical data needed to inform strategy, and highlights barriers, gaps and data needs in support of the DOE BETO's mission to improve the affordability of bio-based fuels and products. This task employs various quantitative (techno-economic analysis, TEA) and qualitative (gap analysis) approaches to allow for direct comparisons of biomass conversion technologies across a wide slate of processing platforms and products. Furthermore, this project develops and utilizes novel analyses beyond traditional biorefinery focused TEA/LCAs to identify both technical (e.g., in sustainable design) and non-technical (e.g., in value proposition) barriers, as well as to outline mitigation strategies and R&D needs for emerging technologies. Additionally, the project is tasked with evaluating drivers that support the growing bio-economy, which is achieved by the development and public release of tools to advance the understanding and facilitate comparisons of socio-economic impacts along the supply chain. Critical to the success of this project is the development of defensible methodologies, analyses, and tools that are publicly available to support stakeholders and bioeconomy growth. To develop such high-quality analyses, the biggest challenge to this project, as with most analysis focused projects, is the availability and reliability of the underlying data. Therefore, the project team works extensively with key stakeholders (e.g., policy makers, bioenergy technology developers, and investors) in developing and reviewing the results of these analyses to overcome this challenge. Any remaining uncertainties associated with the analysis efforts are clearly defined and quantified.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Step toward Process Electrification: Microwave-Assisted Co-Gasification of Waste Plastics and Biomass to Produce Clean Energy

Barely 9% of the 353 million metric tons of plastic waste produced worldwide over the last two decades has been recycled, with the majority of it being either landfilled or incinerated. Recycling and upcycling plastic waste is thus essential in mitigating environmental pollution. Gasification is the thermochemical conversion of solid carbon feedstock at high temperatures using a gasifying agent to produce hydrogen-rich syngas. Existing gasification technologies are energy-intensive and require high operating temperatures (>1000 °C), leaving them uncommercial. Microwave heating has sparked attention in a variety of chemical processes due to its specific advantages over traditional heating technologies, such as rapid and selective heating to improve process efficiency. NETL’s research team recently investigated the synergistic advantages of corn stover and mixed plastics in producing hydrogen-rich syngas via microwave heating. As a continuation of the research, this study provides an outlook over the non-catalytic versus catalytic effects of plastic-corn stover gasification via process electrification to enhance H2 production, minimize undesired tar, and improve process efficiency. Our aim is to provide complete electrification of the existing gasification process by using waste plastics as a starting block to produce valuable fuel and support the nation’s net zero goals.

Abedin, Ashraf↗
DOE OSTI2025

Data and Scripts associated with a manuscript on ecosystem responses to wildfires in the Columbia River Basin

This data package is associated with the publication “Ecosystem leaf area, gross primary production, and evapotranspiration responses to wildfire in the Columbia River Basin” submitted to Biogeosciences (Shi et al., 2024; doi: 10.22541/au.171053013.30286044/v1). In this research, data products, leaf area index (LAI), gross primary production (GPP), and evapotranspiration (ET), from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are used to quantify the resistance and resilience of different ecosystem types in the Columbia River Basin (CRB). A machine learning algorithm, random forest (RF), was used to examine the impacts of precipitation, vapor pressure deficit (VPD), and burn severity from Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) on ecosystem resilience. The data package includes the processed MODIS data products, precipitation, VPD, and burn severity in 138 fire regions in CRB and the input files for RF model training. This data package includes six folders. The MODIS products are included in three MODIS_* folders with shell scripts for data clipping and *ncl files for data processing: (1) “/MODIS_LAI_CRB”; (2) “/MODIS_GPP_CRB”; and (3) “/MODIS_ET_CRB”. All the processed data for each fire event are NetCDF formatted. The MTBS burn severity data and the shell and *ncl scripts used for data processing are in the folder named (4) “MTBS_fire”. The ERA meteorological fields and the data processing scritps are in (5) “ERA_Var_CR”. All the scripts for figure development are in the format of *ncl and in the folder (6) “paper_scripts”. See the file ending in “flmd.csv” for a list of all files contained in this data package and descriptions for each. Tabular column headers and units are described in the data dictionary file ending in “dd.csv”.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evaluating Lunar Water Processing System Model Configurations for Small Scale Oxygen and Hydrogen Production Within JAXA'S ISRU Technology

Introduction: In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) refers to novel methods of extracting and processing local resources for use in life support and propulsion systems, reducing or eliminating the required consumables to be transferred from Earth. Current estimates of water-ice availability embedded in regolith within the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions (PSR’s) range between 1-5% by weight. However, the composition and characteristics of the “wet” regolith is unknown. Alternate ISRU excavation techniques and Concept of Operations (ConOps) must be explored to optimize surface system operations based on these factors. To assess the feasibility of different ISRU subsystem technologies and compare system architecture configurations, an interchangeable system model was generated to incorporate technologies spanning excavation of raw materials to storage of products and determine optimal arrangement of total system processing needs. Total Mass, Volume, and Power (M/V/P) requirements were computed for 168 design iterations of this water processing plant. System Model: In FY24, the System Engineering and Integration (SE&I) ISRU Modeling and Analysis (SIMA) team developed a lunar water processing system model using the Mission Analysis and Integration Tool (MAIT) to estimate the M/V/P for ISRU subsystems operating under a wide range of Hydrogen (H2) and Oxygen (O2) production targets for the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) [1]. Based on Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) surface operational requirements, this system architecture was modified to include the ability to excavate consolidated icy regolith (versus granular ice excavation using Kennedy Space Center’s (KSC) ISRU Pilot Excavator, IPEx) and explore the feasibility of processing the lunar water both inside and outside of the PSR. For the consolidated icy regolith case study, excavation was performed via a mobility transport chassis outfitted with The Regolith Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT) for drilling [2] and the Cold Operable Lunar Deployable Arm (COLDArm) [3] for regolith transfer. The system model determines the required rover and payload. M/V/P to handle the required regolith processing rates. The regolith is then sorted and heated to sublimate the ice (via an auger dryer). The exiting high temperature, low pressure vapor is cleaned of volatiles (via cold trap) and electrolyzed to produce H2 and O2. These products are then dried, liquified with 20 K and 90 K cryocoolers (for H2 and O2, respectively), and stored in cylindrical tanks. Study Goals: Due to the different ConOps options of regolith transport to the ridge for processing versus processing it directly inside the PSR, as well as the unknown regolith/water-ice composition, new excavation techniques and their power configurations are being evaluated within a ISRU system architecture for production targets less than NASA’s pilot plant (1 mT). This analysis investigates the feasibility of numerous excavation techniques, power architectures, and logistical operations and determines an optimal system configuration with regards to M/V/P. It aims to investigate which parameters, both locally and globally, have the greatest effect on each subsystem within the plant. This can be used to identify the most critical components of the plant, and guide future decisions on allocating funding for research and development. The results from this study may provide subsystem developers with appropriate interfaces with excavation subsystems and downstream processes, and assessing the overall feasibility of each excavation technique, power architecture, and logistical timeframe. References: [1] Carlson, A. et. al. (2024) ICES. [2] Zacny, K., et. al. (2024) “ASCE Earth and Space”. [3] McCormick, R., et. Al. (2024) IEEE Xplore.

ISRU↗
NASA NTRS1989

Energy management study for lunar oxygen production

Energy management opportunities in the process of hydrogen reduction of ilmenite for lunar oxygen production are being investigated. An optimal energy system to supply the power requirements for the process will be determined.

Fazzolare, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Classifying Floating Potential Measurement Unit Data Products as Science Data

We are Co-Investigators for the Floating Potential Measurement Unit (FPMU) on the International Space Station (ISS) and members of the FPMU operations and data analysis team. We are providing this memo for the purpose of classifying raw and processed FPMU data products and ancillary data as NASA science data with unrestricted, public availability in order to best support science uses of the data.

Coffey, Victoria↗
DOE OSTI2022

PURE Biomanufacturing: Secure, Pandemic-Adaptive Biomanufacturing

Biopharmaceutical production systems and processes are vulnerable to cyberattacks from sophisticated adversaries. Consequently, it is imperative to start building biopharmaceutical manufacturing systems that offer verifiable formalism and transform the current state of security across all production stages.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
NASA NTRS2004

Initial Processing of Infrared Spectral Data

The Atmospheric Infrared Spectrometer (AIRS) Science Processing System is a collection of computer programs, denoted product generation executives (PGEs), for processing the readings of the AIRS suite of infrared and microwave instruments orbiting the Earth aboard NASA's Aqua spacecraft. Following from level 0 (representing raw AIRS data), the PGEs and their data products are denoted by alphanumeric labels (1A, 1B, and 2) that signify the successive stages of processing. Once level-0 data have been received, the level-1A PGEs begin processing, performing such basic housekeeping tasks as ensuring that all the Level-0 data are present and ordering the data according to observation times. The level-1A PGEs then perform geolocation-refinement calculations and conversions of raw data numbers to engineering units. Finally, the level-1A data are grouped into packages, denoted granules, each of which contain the data from a six-minute observation period. The granules are forwarded, along with calibration data, to the Level-1B PGEs for processing into calibrated, geolocated radiance products. The Level-2 PGEs, which are not yet operational, are intended to process the level-1B data into temperature and humidity profiles, and other geophysical properties.

De Picciotto, Solomon↗
NASA NTRS1978

Odd nitrogen production by meteoroids

The process by which odd nitrogen species (atomic nitrogen and nitric oxide) are formed during atmospheric entry of meteoroids is analyzed theoretically. An ablating meteoroid is assumed to be a point source of mass with a continuum regime evolving in its wake. The amounts of odd nitrogen species, produced by high-temperature reactions of air in the continuum wake, are calculated by numerical integration of chemical rate equations. Flow properties are assumed to be uniform across the wake, and 29 reactions involving five neutral species and five singly ionized species are considered, as well as vibrational and electron temperature nonequilibrium phenomena. The results, when they are summed over the observed mass, velocity, and entry-angle distribution of meteoroids, provide odd-nitrogen-species annual global production rates as functions of altitude. The peak production of nitric oxide is found to occur at an altitude of about 85 km; atomic nitrogen production peaks at about 95 km. The total annual rate for nitric oxide is 40 million kg; for atomic nitrogen it is 170 million kg.

Park, C.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Minority carrier diffusion lengths and absorption coefficients in silicon sheet material

Most of the methods which have been developed for the measurement of the minority carrier diffusion length of silicon wafers require that the material have either a Schottky or an ohmic contact. The surface photovoltage (SPV) technique is an exception. The SPV technique could, therefore, become a valuable diagnostic tool in connection with current efforts to develop low-cost processes for the production of solar cells. The technique depends on a knowledge of the optical absorption coefficient. The considered investigation is concerned with a reevaluation of the absorption coefficient as a function of silicon processing. A comparison of absorption coefficient values showed these values to be relatively consistent from sample to sample, and independent of the sample growth method.

Dumas, K. A.↗