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Background Porosity and other defects resultant by additive manufacturing processes are well-known to affect mechanical properties. However, there remains limited understanding regarding how the internal defect structure influences the evolution of the local strain field, as experimental investigations have not presented direct measurements of the evolving internal strain field in the presence of defects. Objective Interrupted in-situ tensile tests in a lab-based X-ray computed tomography machine were used to investigate the evolution of the strain field around internal defects. The evolution of the internal strain field facilitated examination of the role of specific defects in the macroscopic deformation of additively manufactured tensile coupons. Methods Samples were produced in 316L stainless steel by laser powder bed fusion. An in situ loading device was utilized to subject the samples to tensile failure within a tomographic scanning environment. Digital volume correlation was utilized to directly determine local strain levels within the additively manufactured components in the vicinity of porosity defects. Results Effects of porosity on strain localization and eventual failure of the samples were evaluated. Characteristics of the porosity distribution, including presence of porosity at the surface or near-surface of components, as well as the proximity of pores to each other were found to influence the evolution of failure. Early onset of failure was found to be associated with the availability of neighboring porosity that allowed for rapid progression of the fracture path. Conclusions The direct measurements of strain field evolution in the present study established understanding regarding how internal defect structure characteristics influence the evolution of the local strain field for additively manufactured components. This high fidelity characterization and the associated phenomenological observations have bearing for supporting validation of numerical modeling frameworks for describing failure in these materials. 

Neutrinoless double beta decay is one of the most sensitive probes for new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. One of the isotopes under investigation is ${}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}$, which would double beta decay into ${}^{136}\mathrm{Ba}$. Detecting the single ${}^{136}\mathrm{Ba}$daughter provides a sort of ultimate tool in the discrimination against backgrounds. Previous work demonstrated the ability to perform single atom imaging of Ba atoms in a single-vacancy site of a solid xenon matrix. In this paper, the effort to identify signal from individual barium atoms is extended to Ba atoms in a hexa-vacancy site in the matrix and is achieved despite increased photobleaching in this site. Abrupt fluorescence turn-off of a single Ba atom is also observed. Significant recovery of fluorescence signal lost through photobleaching is demonstrated upon annealing of Ba deposits in the Xe ice. Following annealing, it is observed that Ba atoms in the hexa-vacancy site exhibit antibleaching while Ba atoms in the tetra-vacancy site exhibit bleaching. This may be evidence for a matrix site transfer upon laser excitation. Our findings offer a path of continued research toward tagging of Ba daughters in all significant sites in solid xenon. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

Electron-neutrino charged-current interactions with xenon nuclei were modeled in the nEXO neutrinoless double- $\beta$decay detector ( $\sim 5$metric ton, 90% ${}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}$, 10% ${}^{134}\mathrm{Xe}$) to evaluate its sensitivity to supernova neutrinos. Predictions for event rates and detectable signatures were modeled using the Model of Argon Reaction Low Energy Yields (MARLEY) event generator. We find good agreement between MARLEY’s predictions and existing theoretical calculations of the inclusive cross sections at supernova neutrino energies. The interactions modeled by MARLEY were simulated within the nEXO simulation framework and were run through an example reconstruction algorithm to determine the detector’s efficiency for reconstructing these events. The simulated data, incorporating the detector response, were used to study the ability of nEXO to reconstruct the incident electron-neutrino spectrum and these results were extended to a larger xenon detector of the same isotope enrichment. We estimate that nEXO will be able to observe electron-neutrino interactions with xenon from supernovae as far as 5–8 kpc from Earth, while the ability to reconstruct incident electron-neutrino spectrum parameters from observed interactions in nEXO is limited to closer supernovae. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

Abstract. Plant activity in semi-arid ecosystems is largely controlled by pulses of precipitation, making them particularly vulnerable to increased aridity expected with climate change. Simple bucket-model hydrology schemes in land surface models (LSMs) have had limited ability in accurately capturing semi-arid water stores and fluxes. Recent, more complex, LSM hydrology models have not been widely evaluated against semi-arid ecosystem in situ data. We hypothesize that the failure of older LSM versions to represent evapotranspiration, ET, in arid lands is because simple bucket models do not capture realistic fluctuations in upper layer soil moisture. We therefore predict that including a discretized soil hydrology scheme based on a mechanistic description of moisture diffusion will result in an improvement in model ET when compared to data because the temporal variability of upper layer soil moisture content better corresponds to that of precipitation inputs. To test this prediction, we compared ORCHIDEE LSM simulations from (1) a simple conceptual 2-layer bucket scheme with fixed hydrological parameters; and (2) a 11-layer discretized mechanistic scheme of moisture diffusion in unsaturated soil based on Richards equations against daily and monthly soil moisture and ET observations, together with data-derived transpiration / evaporation, T / ET, ratios, from six semi-arid grass, shrub and forest sites in the southwestern USA. The 11-layer scheme also has modified calculations of surface runoff, bare soil evaporation, and water limitation to be compatible with the more complex hydrology configuration. To diagnose remaining discrepancies in the 11-layer model, we tested two further configurations: (i) the addition of a term that captures bare soil evaporation resistance to dry soil; and (ii) reduced bare soil fraction. We found that the more mechanistic 11-layer model results better representation of the daily and monthly ET observations. We show that is likely because of improved simulation of soil moisture in the upper layers of soil (top 5 cm). Some discrepancies between observed and modelled soil moisture and ET may allow us to prioritize future model development. Adding a soil resistance term generally decreased simulated E and increased soil moisture content, thus increasing T and T / ET ratios and reducing the negative T / ET model-data bias. By reducing the bare soil fraction in the model, we illustrated that modelled leaf T is too low at sparsely vegetated sites. We conclude that a discretized soil hydrology scheme and associated developments improves estimates of ET by allowing the model to more closely match the pulse precipitation dynamics of these semi-arid ecosystems; however, the partitioning of T from bare soil evaporation is not solved by this modification alone. 

Oxygen minimum zones (OMZs), large midwater regions of very low oxygen, are expected to expand as a result of climate change. While oxygen is known to be important in structuring midwater ecosystems, a precise and mechanistic understanding of the effects of oxygen on zooplankton is lacking. Zooplankton are important components of midwater food webs and biogeochemical cycles. Here, we show that, in the eastern tropical North Pacific OMZ, previously undescribed submesoscale oxygen variability has a direct effect on the distribution of many major zooplankton groups. Despite extraordinary hypoxia tolerance, many zooplankton live near their physiological limits and respond to slight (≤1%) changes in oxygen. Ocean oxygen loss (deoxygenation) may, thus, elicit major unanticipated changes to midwater ecosystem structure and function. 

Oxygen minimum zones (OMZs), large midwater regions of very low oxygen, are expected to expand as a result of climate change. While oxygen is known to be important in structuring midwater ecosystems, a precise and mechanistic understanding of the effects of oxygen on zooplankton is lacking. Zooplankton are important components of midwater food webs and biogeochemical cycles. Here, we show that, in the eastern tropical North Pacific OMZ, previously undescribed submesoscale oxygen variability has a direct effect on the distribution of many major zooplankton groups. Despite extraordinary hypoxia tolerance, many zooplankton live near their physiological limits and respond to slight (≤1%) changes in oxygen. Ocean oxygen loss (deoxygenation) may, thus, elicit major unanticipated changes to midwater ecosystem structure and function.