Marshall Space Flight Center Faculty Fellowship Program

The 2017 Marshall Faculty Fellowship Program involved 21 faculty in the laboratories and departments at Marshall Space Flight Center. These faculty engineers and scientists worked with NASA collaborators on NASA projects, bringing new perspectives and solutions to bear. This Technical Memorandum is a compilation of the research reports of the 2017 Marshall Faculty Fellowship program, along with the Program Announcement (Appendix A) and the Program Description (Appendix B). The research affected the following six areas: (1) Materials (2) Propulsion (3) Instrumentation (4) Spacecraft systems (5) Vehicle systems (6) Space science The materials investigations included composite structures, printing electronic circuits, degradation of materials by energetic particles, friction stir welding, Martian and Lunar regolith for in-situ construction, and polymers for additive manufacturing. Propulsion studies were completed on electric sails and low-power arcjets for use with green propellants. Instrumentation research involved heat pipes, neutrino detectors, and remote sensing. Spacecraft systems research was conducted on wireless technologies, layered pressure vessels, and two-phase flow. Vehicle systems studies were performed on life support-biofilm buildup and landing systems. In the space science area, the excitation of electromagnetic ion-cyclotron waves observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission provided insight regarding the propagation of these waves. Our goal is to continue the Marshall Faculty Fellowship Program funded by Center internal project offices. Faculty Fellows in this 2017 program represented the following minority-serving institutions: Alabama A&M University and Oglala Lakota College

Integrated Circuits/Microchips

With the world marching inexorably towards the fourth industrial revolution (IR 4.0), one is now embracing lives with artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoTs), virtual reality (VR) and 5G technology. Wherever we are, whatever we are doing, there are electronic devices that we rely indispensably on. While some of these technologies, such as those fueled with smart, autonomous systems, are seemingly precocious; others have existed for quite a while. These devices range from simple home appliances, entertainment media to complex aeronautical instruments. Clearly, the daily lives of mankind today are interwoven seamlessly with electronics. Surprising as it may seem, the cornerstone that empowers these electronic devices is nothing more than a mere diminutive semiconductor cube block. More colloquially referred to as the Very-Large-Scale-Integration (VLSI) chip or an integrated circuit (IC) chip or simply a microchip, this semiconductor cube block, approximately the size of a grain of rice, is composed of millions to billions of transistors. The transistors are interconnected in such a way that allows electrical circuitries for certain applications to be realized. Some of these chips serve specific permanent applications and are known as Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICS); while, others are computing processors which could be programmed for diverse applications. The computer processor, together with its supporting hardware and user interfaces, is known as an embedded system.In this book, a variety of topics related to microchips are extensively illustrated. The topics encompass the physics of the microchip device, as well as its design methods and applications

Reliability Analysis of Electrotechnical Devices

This is a book on the practical approaches of reliability to electrotechnical devices and systems. It includes the electromagnetic effect, radiation effect, environmental effect, and the impact of the manufacturing process on electronic materials, devices, and boards

Smart Sensors for Healthcare and Medical Applications

This book focuses on new sensing technologies, measurement techniques, and their applications in medicine and healthcare. Specifically, the book briefly describes the potential of smart sensors in the aforementioned applications, collecting 24 articles selected and published in the Special Issue “Smart Sensors for Healthcare and Medical Applications”. We proposed this topic, being aware of the pivotal role that smart sensors can play in the improvement of healthcare services in both acute and chronic conditions as well as in prevention for a healthy life and active aging. The articles selected in this book cover a variety of topics related to the design, validation, and application of smart sensors to healthcare

Development and Preclinical Evaluation of A Compact Image-guided Microbeam Radiation Therapy System

Microbeam radiation therapy (MRT) is a novel and experimental cancer treatment modality. It has received increasing emphasis worldwide in recent years due to the demonstrated high therapeutic ratio in preclinical studies. MRT uses arrays of quasi-parallel radiation beams that are up to a few hundred microns wide and separated by several times of its beamwidth. Extensive preclinical experiments conducted at European Synchrotron Radiation Facility and several other national synchrotron facilities have shown that microbeams with doses of several hundreds of grays are well tolerated by healthy brain tissues while causing preferential damage in tumors. As the effort now moves towards large animal and clinical trials, there are eminent needs to develop compact and economically-viable microbeam irradiators for MRT radiobiology research and clinical installation eventually. Our research group has invented the carbon nanotube (CNT) field emission based X-ray source technology and has been dedicated to CNT-based medical device research over the past decade. A laboratory-scale microbeam irradiator has been recently developed with the CNT source array technology. The unique nature of CNT X-ray cathode allows for optimization of the anode focal spot shape and size, and therefore overcomes the obstacles of producing high flux microbeam radiation with conventional X-ray tubes. Preliminary studies have shown that the CNT-based MRT prototype is capable of generating orthovoltage radiation with all essential dosimetric characteristics of microbeam radiation therapy. The goals of this dissertation are to characterize and to optimize the system performance, to implement image guidance for dose delivery, and to evaluate the treatment efficacy in preclinical studies. Characterization of radiation source and dosimetric parameters was performed and described in detail. An on-board imaging system was constructed and integrated with the microbeam irradiating system. Dedicated image-guidance protocols were developed for high accuracy microbeam delivery in small animal models. Therapeutic assessment of brain tumor bearing mice was conducted with the CNT-MRT prototype. Preliminary results included encouraging treatment effects in terms of tumor local control and mean survival time extension. MRT radiobiological evaluations were carried out, for the first time, using a non-synchrotron-based compact radiation source. Additionally, feasibility of delivering multi-arrays of microbeams cross-firing geometry at the brain tumor target was successfully demonstrated facilitated by multi-modality 3D image guidance. The results in this work demonstrate the advantages of CNT-based MRT system as an attractive alternative for microbeam generation and delivery. With continued effort in system development and optimization, this nanotechnology-based compact MRT system could become a powerful research tool that can be installed in a laboratory environment for elucidating the still poorly understood therapeutic mechanism of MRT without the need of synchrotron light sources. The feasibility studies also showed that the CNT-based MRT technology offers a promising pathway for clinical implementation in the near future.Doctor of Philosoph

Microbeam design in radiobiological research

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel UniversityRecent work using low-doses of ionising radiations, both in vitro and in ViVO, has suggested that the responses of biological systems in the region of less than 1 Gray may not be predicted by simple extrapolation from the responses at higher doses. Additional experiments, using high-LET radiations at doses of much less than one alpha particle traversal per cell nucleus, have shown responses in a greater number of cells than have received a radiation dose. These findings, and increased concern over the effects of the exposure of the general population to low-levels of background radiation, for example due to radon daughters in the lungs, have stimulated the investigation of the response of mammalian cells to ionising radiations in the extreme low-dose region. In all broad field exposures to particulate radiations at low-dose levels an inherent dose uncertainty exists due to random counting statistics. This dose variation produces a range of values for the measured biological effect within the irradiated population, therefore making the elucidation of the dose-effect relationship extremely difficult. The use of the microbeam irradiation technique will allow the delivery of a controlled number of particles to specific targets within an individual cell with a high degree of accuracy. This approach will considerably reduce the level of variation of biological effect within the irradiated cell population and will allow low-dose responses of cellular systems to be determined. In addition, the proposed high spatial resolution of the microbeam developed will allow the investigation of the distribution of radiation sensitivity within the cell, to provide a better understanding of the mechanisms of radiation action. The target parameters for the microbeam at the Gray Laboratory are a spatial resolution of less than 1 urn and a detection efficiency of better than 99 %. The work of this thesis was to develop a method of collimation, in order to produce a microbeam of 3.5 MeV protons, and to develop a detector to be used in conjunction with the collimation system. In order to determine the optimum design of collimator necessary to produce a proton microbeam, a computer simulation based upon a Monte-Carlo simulation code, written by Dr S J Watts, was developed. This programme was then used to determine the optimum collimator length and the effects of misalignment and divergence of the incident proton beam upon the quality of the collimated beam produced. Designs for silicon collimators were produced, based upon the results of these simulations, and collimators were subsequently produced for us using techniques of micro-manufacturing developed in the semiconductor industry. Other collimator designs were also produced both in-house and commercially, using a range of materials. These collimators were tested to determine both the energy and spatial resolutions of the transmitted proton beam produced. The best results were obtained using 1.6 mm lengths of 1.5 µm diameter bore fused silica tubing. This system produced a collimated beam having a spatial resolution with 90 % of the transmitted beam lying within a diameter of 2.3 ± 0.9 µm and with an energy spectrum having 75 % of the transmitted protons within a Gaussian fit to the full-energy peak. Detection of the transmitted protons was achieved by the use of a scintillation transmission detector mounted over the exit aperture of the collimator. An approximately 10 urn thick ZnS(Ag) crystal was mounted between two 30 urn diameter optical fibres and the light emitted from the crystal transmitted along the fibres to two photomultiplier tubes. The signals from the tubes were analyzed, using coincidence counting techniques, by means of electronics designed by Dr B Vojnovic. The lowest counting inefficiencies obtained using this approach were a false positive count level of 0.8 ± 0.1 % and an uncounted proton level of 0.9 ± 0.3 %. The elements of collimation and detection were then combined in a rugged microbeam assembly, using a fused silica collimator having a bore diameter of 5 urn and a scintillator crystal having a thickness of - 15 µm. The microbeam produced by this initial assembly had a spatial resolution with 90 % of the transmitted protons lying within a diameter of 5.8 ± 1.6 µm, and counting inefficiencies of 0.27 ± 0.22 % and 1.7 ± 0.4 % for the levels of false positive and missed counts respectively. The detector system in this assembly achieves the design parameter of 99 % efficiency, however, the spatial resolution of the beam is not at the desired I urn level. The diameter of the microbeam beam produced is less than the nuclear diameter of many cell lines and so the beam may be used to good effect in the low-dose irradiation of single cells. In order to investigate the variation in sensitivity within a cell the spatial resolution of the beam would require improvement. Proposed methods by which this may be achieved are described.Cancer Research Campaign; Radiation Protection Action Programme of the European Communit

National Programme for Radiation Safety Research

This report provides an update on the national radiation safety research programme and the activities of the Consortium for Radiation Safety Research (Cores), giving more detail on radiation safety research carried out by the consortium members. While there has been long-standing cooperation between STUK and universities, such ties were further strengthened and formalised after the government decided to introduce a omprehensive reform of the Finnish research and innovation system in 2013. This subsequently led to the setting up of the national Consortium for Radiation Safety Research (Cores) and the formulation of a national programme on radiation safety research in Finland. The main goal of the government reform was to strengthen multidisciplinary, high-level research of social significance. One line of action was to deepen cooperation between research institutes and universities. To achieve this goal, the Resolution envisaged a step-by-step integration process leading to centres of competence (agreement-based consortia). According to the government policy, such agreement-based consortia must have common research equipment, laboratories and information resources (e.g. follow-up material, sample material, statistical and register material) as well as engage in close cooperation in research and education (e.g. sharing of mutually complementary competencies, joint professorships and duties, and shared staff). Based on the Government Resolution, a process was initiated to strengthen the cooperation between STUK and universities and to create a national research consortium that would carry out research on various aspects of ionising and non-ionising radiation safety. The agreement to set up the Consortium was signed between STUK and nine universities by 2015. In addition to STUK, the following universities signed the Consortium Agreement forming the Finnish Consortium for Radiation Safety Research (Cores), and contributed to the national programme: Aalto University, appeenranta University of Technology, Tampere University of Technology, the University of Helsinki, the University of Eastern Finland, the University of Jyväskylä, the University of Oulu, the University of Tampere and the University of Turku. More recently, Åbo Akademi University and Technology Research Centre VTT Oy also joined Cores. The first version of a National Programme for radiation Safety Research was published in parallel (Salomaa et al., 2015). After publishing the national programme in 2015, a stakeholder consultation on the national programme was carried out in 2016. The programme was sent to almost 80 stakeholders and statements were received from about half of them. The feedback from stakeholders was analysed by the Cores Board and taken into account in the new version of the programme, along with emerging research needs. A new strategy and a roadmap for 2018–2022 has now been set up and the national programme has been updated accordingly, providing more detail on the research plans of each consortium member. The roadmap involves engaging new partners, universities and research institutes, and organising activities fostering the cooperation, such as joint symposia and working groups. Dissemination of Cores aims and chievements is supported by newsletters and the Cores website. Fostering the education and training and promoting the joint use of infrastructure and databases (open science) are important lines of action. Cores also promotes national and international funding for radiation sciences and links with the European radiation protection research platforms. In the longer term, the objective is to actively participate in international collaboration, in particular the Horizon Europe programme. Cores research activities are well in line with the objectives of European radiation protection research. A long-term funding plan is among the key objectives for the next strategy period.Tämä raportti antaa päivitettyä tietoa kansallisen säteilyturvallisuustutkimuksen ohjelmasta ja kansallisen säteilyturvallisuustutkimuksen yhteenliittymän (Cores) toiminnasta, erityisesti kuvaten tarkemmin eri osapuolien tekemää tutkimusta. Vaikka STUKin ja yliopistojen välillä on ollut pitkäaikaista yhteistyötä, näitä yhteyksiä edelleen vahvistettiin sen jälkeen kun hallitus teki periaatepäätöksen valtion tutkimuslaitosuudistuksesta vuonna 2013. TULA-päätöksen seurauksena perustettiin kansallinen säteilyturvallisuustutkimuksen yhteenliittymä ja laadittiin kansallinen säteilyturvallisuustutkimuksen ohjelma. TULA-uudistuksen päämääränä oli tukea monitieteistä, korkeatasoista ja yhteiskunnallisesti merkittävää tutkimusta. Yhtenä tavoitteena oli syventää tutkimuslaitosten ja yliopistojen tutkimusyhteistyötä. TULA-päätöksessä edelleen linjataan, että tutkimuslaitosten ja korkeakoulujen yhteistyön syventämiseksi synnytetään valtakunnallisesti ohjattu useampivuotinen kehittämisprosessi, jossa tutkimuslaitokset ja korkeakoulut muodostavat asteittain aitoja osaamisen keskittymiä (sopimusperusteiset yhteenliittymät). Valtioneuvoston periaatepäätöksen mukaan tutkimuslaitosten ja korkeakoulujen sopimusperusteisilla yhteenliittymillä tulee olla yhteisiä tutkimuslaitteita, laboratorioita ja tietovarantoja (mm. seuranta-aineistot, näyteaineistot, tilasto? ja rekisteriaineistot), ja tiivis yhteistyö tutkimuksessa ja opetuksessa (mm. toisiaan täydentävien osaamisten yhdistäminen, yhteiset professuurit, tehtävät ja yhteistä henkilökuntaa). Valtioneuvoston periaatepäätöksen pohjalta lähdettiin tiivistämään STUKin ja yliopistojen yhteistyötä ja perustettiin STUKin ja yhdeksän yliopiston keskeinen yhteenliittymä, jonka tavoitteena on tehdä ionisoivaan ja ionisoimattomaan säteilyn turvallisuuskysymyksiin liittyvää tutkimusta. STUKin lisäksi sopimusosapuolina olivat: Aalto yliopisto, Helsingin yliopisto, Itä-Suomen yliopisto, Jyväskylän yliopisto, Lappeenrannan teknillinen yliopisto, Oulun yliopisto, Tampereen teknillinen yliopisto, Tampereen yliopisto, ja Turun yliopisto. Sittemmin myös Åbo Akademi ja Teknologian tutkimuskeskus VTT Oy ovat liittyneet Coresin jäseniksi. Kansallisen ohjelman ensimmäinen versio julkaistiin 2015 (Salomaa ym. 2015). Kansallisen ohjelman julkaisemisen jälkeen pyydettiin sidosryhmien kommentteja kansalliseen ohjelmaan vuonna 2016. Raportti lähetettiin lähes 80 sidosryhmälle ja näistä lähes puolet toimittivat lausuntonsa. Coresin johtoryhmä analysoi palautteen ja kommentit otettiin huomioon ohjelman päivityksessä, uusien tutkimustarpeiden ohella. Uusi strategia ja tiekartta vuosille 2018–2022 on sittemmin valmisteltu ja tutkimussuunnitelmiin on päivitetty aiempaa tarkempaa tietoa kunkin konsortion jäsenen osalta. Tiekartan toimintalinjoihin kuuluu uusien osapuolien, niin yliopistojen kuin tutkimuslaitostenkin, ottaminen mukaan toimintaan sekä yhteistyötapojen kehittäminen, kuten yhteisten symposiumien ja työpajojen järjestäminen. Viestintää Coresin tavoitteista edistetään verkkosivun ja uutiskirjeiden avulla. Myös koulutuksen ja infrastruktuurien ja tietoaineistojen käytön edistäminen (avoin tiede) on keskeinen toimintalinja. Cores myös edistää kansallisen ja kansainvälisen rahoituksen saamista säteilyturvallisuustutkimukseen yhteistyössä eurooppalaisten tutkimusyhteenliittymien kanssa. Pitemmällä tähtäimellä tavoitteena on aktiivisesti osallistua kansainväliseen tutkimusyhteistyöhän, erityisesti Horizon Europe -ohjelmassa. Cores-yhteenliittymän tutkimus on hyvin linjassa eurooppalaisen säteilysuojelututkimuksen tavoitteiden kanssa. Pitkän aikavälin rahoitussuunnitelma on keskeinen tavoite seuraavalla strategiakaudella