Award Data

ADEQUATE ELECTRICAL POWER FOR SPACECRAFT OPERATIONS IS A CRUCIAL MISSION TASK. THE ISOTOPE HEAT SOURCES USED IN RADIO-ISOTOPE-THERMOELECTRIC-GENERATORS FOR MANY NASA MISSIONS ARE EXPENSIVE. FOR A GIVEN ELECTRICAL POWER, THERMAL-TO-ELECTRIC CONVERSION WITH AMTEC RATHER THAN CONVENTIONAL THERMOELECTRIC CONVERTERS SHOULD PERMIT REDUCTION OF THE GPHS COMPLEMENT BY A FACTOR OF 3. THE ESTIMATED COST SAV ...

GEL ELECTROPHORESIS IS A POWERFUL TOOL FOR SEPARATING, IDENTIFYING, AND PURIFYING DNA FRAGMENTS. MOLECULAR INFORMATION OBTAINABLE BY THIS TECHNIQUE IS DIRECTLY ATTRIBUTABLE TO INTRINSIC PROPERTIES OF THE INDIVIDUAL DNA FRAGMENTS. ALTHOUGH INDISPENSABLE FOR PREPARATIVE WORK, WHICH REQUIRES A PHYSICAL SEPARATION OF THE FRAGMENTS, THE USE OF GEL ELECTROPHORESIS FOR ANALYSIS OF FRAGMENT-SIZE DISTRIBUT ...

THIS PROJECT WILL INVESTIGATE THE FESSIBILITY OF USING SALIVA AS AN ALTERNATIVE BIOLOGICAL FLUID FOR THE QUANTITATIVE MEASUREMENT OF DRUGS OF ABUSE. COLLECTION OF SPECIMEN IS BASED ON A PATENTED DEVICE FOR THE COLLECTION OF AN ULTRAFILTRATE OF SALIVA WITHIN A FEW MINUTES. AS A NONINVASIVE METHOD, SALIVA CAN BE UNOBTRUSIVELY OBTAINED ON SITE WITHOUT INVASION OF PRIVACY AND THE RISK OF SAMPLE TAMPER ...

BECAUSE BACTERIAL DISEASES ARE FREQUENTLY TRANSMITTED THROUGH CONTAMINATED WATER, THE DETECTION OF MICROBIOLOGICALCONTAMINATION IS IMPORTANT, TO ENSURE SANITARY WATER SUPPLIES. CURRENT TESTS ARE LABOR INTENSIVE AND TAKE SEVERAL DAYS TO CONFIRM CONTAMINATION LEVELS. THIS PROJECT WILL DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF A UNIQUE, RAPID, WATER-QUALITY TEST FOR BACTERIA. PHASE I FOCUSES ON THE DEVELOPMENT ...

MICROBIOLOGICAL MONITORING WILL BE A CRITICAL FUNCTION IN THE BIOMASS-PROCESSING REACTORS OF THE NASA CONTROLLED ECOLOGICAL LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM (CELSS). MEASUREMENT OF CELLDENSITY AND CELL ACTIVITY IN SOME REACTORS WILL ALLOW FOR THE AUTOMATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF BIOCHEMICAL PROCESSES WITHOUT THE NEED FOR EXPERIENCED SKILLED PERSONNEL. IN OTHER REACTORS, MICROBIOLOGICAL DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZA ...

A TELEROBOT-SENSOR PLANNING SYSTEM WILL BE DEVELOPED BY COMBINING MATURE VISION-BASED GUIDANCE TECHNOLOGY, STANDARDIZED ROBOTIC PLATFORM INTERFACES, AND AN INTERACTIVEROBOT PLANNING SYSTEM INTEGRATED INTO A GRAPHICAL ROBOTIC VISUALIZATION SYSTEM. TO SUPPORT ADVANCED ROBOTIC SERVICINGOPERATED FROM THE GROUND (THROUGH TIME DELAYS AND BANDWIDTH LIMITATIONS), THIS TECHNOLOGY WILL ACCOMMODATE RAPID SER ...

MODERN TECHNIQUES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF RECURRENT CARDIAC ARRHYTHMIAS ARE FREQUENTLY BASED ON THE RESULTS OF ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY STUDIES IN A CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION LABORATORY. AMONG THE MOST IMPORTANT YET DIFFICULT AND TIME-CONSUMING ASPECTS OF THESE STUDIES ARE THE OBSERVATION AND ACCURATE MEASUREMENT OF THE TIMING OF INTRACARDIAC ELECTROGRAMS. CERTAIN PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONSMUST BE MADE DURING ...

THE OBJECTIVE IS TO DEVELOP NEW IN SITU (HYBRIDIZATION AND IMMUNOCYTOCHEMISTRY) ASSAY TECHNOLOGY TO TAKE FULL ADVANTAGEOF THE NEW GENERATION OF REAGENTS FOR DETECTING LOW-ABUNDANCE REGULATORY MACROMOLECULES IN CELLS. IN SITU ASSAYS OFTEN DEFER TO BIOCHEMICAL ASSAYS EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE BETTER SUITED, BECAUSE THEY ARE LESS CONVENIENT AND RELIABLE. STANDARD IN SITU METHODS ARE CAPILLARITY-BASED, OPE ...

MASS SPECTROMETRY (MS) COMBINED WITH GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY, (GC) IS THE MOST POWERFUL TECHNIQUE AVAILABLE FOR IDENTIFYING BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS AND FOR THE SELECTIVE DETECTION OF DRUG METABOLITES. RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN GC RESOLUTION HAVE SURPASSED INCREASES IN THE SPEED AND SENSITIVITY OF MS, THUS PREVENTING THIS WIDELY-USED COMBINATION FROM ACHIEVING ITS FULL POTENTIAL. TIME-OF-FLIGHT MS (TOFMS), COM ...

CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY IS ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ADVANCES IN OPTICAL MICROSCOPY. ITS ABILITY TO VIRTUALLY ELIMINATE OUT-OF-FOCUS BLURRING PERMITS OPTICAL SECTIONING OF CELLS AND THICK TRANSPARENT SPECIMENS. THIS TECHNIQUE IS RAPIDLY BEING ADOPTED FOR THE THREE- DIMENSIONAL VISUALIZATION OF CELLULAR AND TISSUE ORGANIZATION. THE SPECIFIC AIMS OF THIS PROJECT ARE TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF USI ...