Award Data

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The shortage of nurses and medical technologists is accelerating. Shortages can be reduced by scheduling staff to precisely meet the hour-by-hour demand for medical service. Think of bank teller scheduling, where more staff are scheduled at peak demand. Current attempts to schedule to demand are relatively primitive: a small number of quantized fixed shifts, fo ...

A versatile and portable instrument for stray light detection and diagnosis at both visible and infrared wavelengths will be designed, built, and demonstrated. The core idea of the proposed approach is to use subaperture, rather than full aperture, illumination for stray light detection. The subaperture approach uses a scanning pencil beam (SPB) that provides information about the location of a s ...

Accurate measurement of atmospheric parameters with high resolution needs advanced lasers. In this SBIR program we propose to develop innovative Q-switched high power 2.05micron fiber laser with pulse energy greater than 10mJ, repetition rate of 10Hz to 1KHz, and pulse duration of 200ns using our proprietary innovative highly efficient Tm-doped glass fiber. This new fiber laser will be an all-fibe ...

The GHz-rate phase-stabilized fiber-laser frequency comb system is proposed to be used as a light source for coherent Fourier transform spectroscopy. The system will be developed based on our proprietary glass/fiber technology, which features a low-cost, robust, highly stable, mid-infrared light source that enables the development of a robust portable c-FTIR spectrometer for absorption measurement ...

Increasing the power density of current jet aircraft engines requires the replacement of conventional high temperature materials by new materials capable of operating at higher temperatures. Ceramics and ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) represent excellent candidates for increased use in hot engine parts due to their ability to withstand temperatures in excess of 2000 C. Due to the complexity of t ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cerebral edema (and its counterpart in the spinal cord) is a major contributor to the damage caused by stroke, traumatic brain injury, traumatic spinal-cord injury, and bacterial meningitis. Stroke alone is the third leading cause of death in the USA and the leading cause of disability. Unfortunately, few treatment options are available for cerebral and spinal- ...

The Office of Secretary of Defense is seeking advanced materials for electrochemical energy storage devices having a five to ten times improvement in performance over current Li-ion batteries. A candidate material having a theoretical advantage over current graphite anode technology is silicon, with a capacity of 4,200 mAh/g compared to

With the increasing volatility of petroleum and natural gas resources, small coal-fired boilers have become increasingly more attractive for steam and power generation in several industries. This switch to small-scale, coal-fired plants is expected to continue, and increases the need for clean coal utilization technology. The U.S. Energy Policy Act includes support for a clean coal technology init ...

Gun barrel bores have been traditionally plated with chromium to reduce erosion and increase barrel life. However, the chrome electro deposition process generates hazardous waste and the DoD has been moving to eliminate its use. Liners made from Tantalum-Tungsten (Ta-W) alloys have been shown to be an acceptable substitute. These alloys have a high melting temperature, are more erosion resistant t ...

There is an acute need for lightweight, articulating elbow and knee ballistic systems that provide protection against NIJ Level II threat projectiles. The goal of this SBIR Phase II program is to continue development and optimization of an innovative lightweight, articulating elbow and knee protection system that is capable of meeting current Level II protection requirements. The design success w ...