Award Data

WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP A SIMPLE, PORTABLE, ONE-STEP ASSAY FOR THE DETECTION OF MYCOPLASMA PNEUMONIAE AND INFLUENZA A WHICH CAN BE PERFORMED INDEPENDENT OF A SOPHISTICATED LABORATORY BY UNTRAINED OR SEMI-SKILLED PERSONNEL. THIS SIMPLE, ONE-STEP METHOD IS CALLED AN OPTICAL BIOASSAY (OBA) AND UTILIZES AN INEXPENSIVE LASER AND PHOTODETECTOR TO DETECT AN ANTIGEN-ANTIBODY BINDING EVENT. ANTIBODY IS COVAL ...

AUTOMATIC AIDS FOR SITUATION ASSESSMENT, GENERAL INFORMATION FUSION, DECISION MAKING AND PLANNING ARE VULNERABLE TO DECEPTION IN ADVERSARIAL SITUATIONS. COUNTER-DECEPTION CAPABILITIES TO DETECT POSSIBLE DECEPTIVE ACTIONS AND OBTAIN THE CORRECT ASSESSMENT ARE NEEDED TO PRESERVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THESE AIDS. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL CREATE TECHNOLOGICAL SUPPORT SO THAT THE EFFECTS OF DECEPTION ...

SUCCESSFULLY APPLYING MODEL-BASED REASONING TO REAL WORLD VISION PROBLEMS (E.G. AUTOMATIC TARGET RECOGNITION ?ATR?) REQUIRES ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF COMPLEX RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THINGS IN THE WORLD AND OBSERVABLE IMAGE FEATURES. EVIDENCE ACCRUAL TECHNIQUES MUST BE ABLE TO OPERATE OVER THESE RELATIONSHIPS WITH LITTLE LOSS IN INFORMATION. CURRENT TECHNIQUES SUCH AS BAYESIAN NETWORKS SHOW PROMISE, ...

HIGH-RESOLUTION COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY SHOWS SIGNIFICANT PROMISE IN AIDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED COMPOSITE MATERIALS WHICH ARE IMPORTANT IN IMPROVING AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE. NONDESTRUCTIVE IMAGING OF THE INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THESE MATERIALS CAN HELP IN IMPROVING PROCESSING QUALITY, IN DEVELOPING PERFORMANCE MODELS, AND IN EVALUATING MANUFACTURED COMPONENTS. CURRENT IMAGING PERFORMANCE COULD BE S ...

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A WAFER-LEVEL TESTING TECHNIQUE FOR MULTIGIGAHERTZ GAAS DIGITAL INTEGRATED CIRCUITS TO CHARACTERIZE THE TRANSIENT-RADIATION-INDUCED UPSET LEVEL IS PROPOSED. THIS CONCEPT WILL ALLOW THE OPTIMIZATION OF THE UPSET LEVEL IN HIGH PIN-OUT DENSITY CIRCUITS USING AN ON-SITE, QUICK TURNAROUND PROCEDURE FOR TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AS WELL AS CIRCUIT SCREENING. THIS NONDESTRUCTIVE TECHNIQUE ...

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED WORK IS TO DEVELOP TECHNIQUES FOR DETECTING AND QUANTIFYING WEAK OR "KISSING" DEBONDS IN SOLID ROCKET MOTORS. THE PROPOSED TECHNIQUE IS BASED ON X-RAY COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY.IT IS INNOVATIVE BECAUSE IT DOES NOT REQUIRE THAT ANY GAPS IN THE DEBOND AREA BE RESOLVED. INSTEAD, IT RELIES ON MEASUREMENTS OF THE PROPELLANT DILATATION NEAR THE BONDED INTERFACE TO SHOW WHETHER LO ...

AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO DESIGNING AN ADAPTIVE BBT MISSILE AUTOPILOT USING A TECHNIQUE KNOWN AS GSLQ IS THE BASIS OF THE FOLLOWING PROPOSAL, THE BENEFITS OF WHICH INCLUDE: (1) BEST TRADEOFFSBETWEEN PERFORMANCE AND ROBUSTNESS AMONG DIFFERENT DESIGN METHODOLOGIES; (2) THE ABILITY TO ACHIEVE LOOP TRANSFER FUNCTION RECOVERY (LTR) EXACTLY, AND NOT ASYMPTOTICALLY; (3) ADDITIONAL POLE PLACEMENT CAPABILI ...

THE INNOVATIVE PROPOSED HERE IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW TYPE OF RADIATION-DISCRIMINATING, LONG-WAVELENGTH INFRARED (LWIR) DETECTOR BASED ON IMPURITY-BAND-CONDUCTION (IBC). THE NEW CONFIGURATION ENABLES ONE TO DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN GAMMA-RAY AND LWIR-INDUCED EVENTS. PAST USE OF IBC PHOTODETECTORS HAS SHOWN THAT INJECTED DARK CURRENT FROM THE CONTACTS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM LIMITING THEIR USE. FOR THE I ...

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THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PHASE I RESEARCH IS TO DEVELOP A COMPUTATIONAL PROCEDURE FOR PREDICTING THE LIFE AND RELIABILITY OF COMPOSITE STRUCTURAL PANELS SUBJECTED TO COMPLEX DYNAMIC LOADS FROM ACOUSTIC, AERODYNAMIC, AND THERMAL ENVIRONMENTS. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH USES A NONCLASSICAL VARIATIONAL APPROACH AND A TIME DOMAIN MONTE CARLO METHOD TO DEVELOP ANALYTICAL EQUATIONS OF HIGH ACCURACY AND EFFICIEN ...