Award Data

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): WAYFINDER: A Cognitive Aid for Independent Transportation ABSTRACT Transportation and mobility have long been areas of great dependency for individuals with intellectual disabilities, such as mental retardation. Few ind ividuals with intellectual disabilities obtain drivers licenses. Other typical modes of transit, such as taxi service, are prohibitive due to c ...

Electrochemical capacitors are being developed for utility applications, providing emergency backup power, improving system stability, and lowering demand peaks. These functions reduce congestion at critical times for transmission and distribution systems. However, the use of electrochemical capacitors is limited by their performance (energy and power densities), safety, and short cycle life. T ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Carbohydrate functionalized nanoparticles, i.e., the glyco-nanoparticles, have wide application ranging from studies of carbohydrate-protein interactions, in vivo cell imaging, biolabeling, cancer diagnostics, and to vaccine discovery. However, in comparison with DNA and protein functionalized nanoparticles, the development of glyco-nanoparticle has been left f ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Glycomics is an emerging field that focuses on studying the interactions of carbohydrates with other biopolymers, particularly proteins, to gain a better understanding of the roles of carbohydrates in biological processes. Carbohydrate microarray technologies represent a new development at the frontier of glycomics. Microarrays of carbohydrates (glycoconjugates ...

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Worldwide fossil-fuel consumption is skyrocketing, creating major social, political, economic, and environmental problems for the US and once again throwing the spotlight upon the urgent need for boosting renewable energy sources, including biodiesel. However, key technical and economic challenges continue to make biodiesel fuel production too costly to compete with other liquid fuels, largely ba ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Malaria sickens over 100 million people each year. The vast majority of the victims live in endemic, tropical countries. Aggressive mosquito eradication programs in the 1940s essentially ended the incidence of locally-acquired malaria in the US, but resurgence remains a risk, so surveillance and research remain vital to US public health interests, as well as to ...

Polymers and paints in space are subjected to a barrage of incident oxygen atoms, UV and VUV photons and ions. The oxygen atoms and photons can erode the polymer and the ions can lead to the buildup of static charge. This Phase I proposal will use atomic layer deposition (ALD) methods to coat polymers with various conformal films to protect the polymer and prevent the buildup of static charge. ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ultimate goal of the proposed work is to develop a compact, label free, sensitive and real-time platform capable of multiplex detection of biomarkers and pathogens using glycan microarrays. Glycans, which are predominant surface components of immune cells and microorganisms, give rise to high levels of anti-glycan antibodies of all classes that can be used ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our research is focused on the potential of acid-prepared mesoporous silica (APMS) as a delivery agent for siRNA constructs to inhibit the ERK1/2 and ERK5 pathways in the treatment of human malignant mesothelioma (MM). These pathways are critical to MM cell proliferation and chemoresistance. Our initial research suggests that APMS will be significantly more eff ...