Award Data

THE MATERIALS USED IN THIN-FILM PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS AND MANY OTHER SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES ARE FREQUENTLY GROWN USING CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION (CVD) OR OTHER VAPOR-BASED PROCESSES. MANY OF THE PROCESS GASES USED, FOR EXAMPLE, ARSINE, PHOSPHINE, AMMONIA, DIBORANE, AND SILANE, ARE HIGHLY REACTIVE. CONTAMINATION, CHEMICAL OR PARTICULATE, OF THESE REACTIVE GASES SERIOUSLY INTERFERES WITH DEVICE PERFORMA ...

THE RAPID GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN MICROELECTRONICS INDUSTRY HAS SPAWNED NEW ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROCESSES USED TO PREPARE SEMICONDUCTOR CHIPS, THE KEY COMPONENTS OF SOPHISTICATED ELECTRONIC DEVICES. MOST OF THESE PROBLEMS HAVE BEEN IGNORED BECAUSE RELATIVELY LOW VOLUMES OF CHEMICALS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH SEMICONDUCTOR FABRICATION. HOWEVER, THE EXCEPTIONALLY HIGH TOXICITY OF THE ...

MANY IMPORTANT PROBLEMS IN CHARACTERIZING MATERIALS IN THE EARTH'S LITHOSPHERE INVOLVE DETERMINING BOTH ORGANIC AND INORGANIC CONSTITUENTS. RECENT PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE IN THE USE OF THERMAL ANALYSIS IN WHICH THE SAMPLE IS TAKEN THROUGH A TEMPERATURE EXCURSION AND ITS WEIGHT LOSS OR EVOLVED PRODUCTS ARE MONITORED. WHILE THESE TECHNIQUES HAVEPROVIDED IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ORGANIC MATERI ...

AS PART OF A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF RADIOLOGY AT THE MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL, ADVANCED MAGNETICS INTENDS TO ASSESS THE POTENTIAL OF LIVER-TARGETED,FERRITE-BASED CONTRAST AGENTS TO ENHANCE THE POTENTIAL OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE (MR) IMAGING FOR DETECTION OF LIVER METASTASES USING A RAT TUMOR MODEL. ALTHOUGH MOST STUDIES WITH MR CONTRAST AGENTS HAVE INVOLVED ONLY IONS OR ION ...

HOME CARE INHALATION THERAPY REQUIRES A READY SUPPLY OF OXYGEN FOR PATIENT COMFORT. UNFORTUNATELY, AVAILABLE TECHNIQUES FOR SUPPLYING OXYGEN ALL SUFFER FROM MAJOR DRAW- BACKS. THE MOST NOTABLE COMMON PROBLEM IS EXCESSIVE WEIGHT WHICH LIMITS PATIENT MOBILITY BOTH INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE HOME. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING A TRULY PORTABLE HOME CARE UN ...

THIS RESEARCH WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A WHOLE-BODY MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI) SYSTEM CAPABLE OF ACQUIRING COMPLETE TOMOGRAPHIC PROTON IMAGES IN ABOUT 50 MILLISECONDS. IN PARTICULAR, THE POTENTIAL UTILIZATION OF 180-DEGREE RADIOFREQUENCY PULSES IS ADDRESSED AS A MEANS OF ELIMINATING ARTIFACTS THAT ARISE AS A RESULT OF MAGNETIC FIELD STRENGTHS MANDATED BY SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO AN ...

SOLID BORON HAS LONG BEEN RECOGNIZED AS A POTENTIAL HIGH VOLUMETRIC DENSITY PROPELLANT FOR VOLUME LIMITED ROCKET AND AIR BREATHING PROPULSION SYSTEMS. HOWEVER, ACHIEVING THIS POTENTIAL HAS BEEN DIFFICULT DUE TO LOW COMBUSTION AND HEAT RELEASE EFFICIENCIES IN CONVENTIONALLY DESIGNED COMBUSTORS. A THREE PHASE MODEL OF BORON ASSISTED COMBUSTION IS POSTULATED AND THE ROLE THAT KINETIC SENSITIVITY ANAL ...

SPACE-BASED FACILITIES FACE AN UNEXPECTEDLY HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT AT ORBITAL ALTITUDES DUE TO CHEMICAL INTERACTIONS WITH ATOMIC OXYGEN AT THE HIGH VELOCITIES OF ORBITING SPACECRAFT. DEGRADATION AND EROSION OF MATERIALS FACING INTO THE ATMOSPHERIC WIND POSE A THREAT TO THE EFFECTIVE LIFE AND UTILITY OF SATELLITES, SPACE STATION SYSTEMS, AND EXPECIALLY SPACE-BASED OPTICAL INSTRUMENTATION. WE PROPOSE T ...

THIS PROJECT WILL DEFINE A COMPUTER SIMULATION CAPABILITY THAT CAN SYNTHESIZE CLOUD CLUTTER AND SEA RADIANCE SCENES MEASURED BY SHIPBORNE IRST SENSORS. THE CAPABILITY WILL BE AN EXPANSION OF ARI'S EXISTING AERIE (AERODYNE INFRARED EARTH) IR BACKGROUND RADIANCE SIMULATION CODE, DEVELOPED TO SYNTHESIZE INFRARED SCENE RADIANCES MEASURED BY IMAGING SENSORS. DETAILS OF THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE CL ...

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF FREE FATTY ACIDS AND METHYL ESTERIFIED FREE FATTY ACIDS OF SEED OIL AS ADJUVANTS FOR PESTICIDE SPRAYS WILL BE CONDUCTED. LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS WILL BE CONDUCTED TO DEVELOP EMULSIFIER SYSTEMS FOR FREE FATTY ACIDS AND METHYL ESTERIFIED FREE FATTY ACIDS OF SEED OIL WHICH ARE COMPATIBLE WITH COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE HERBICIDES. SMALL PLOT FIELD EXPERIMENTS WILL BE CONDUCTED ...