Award Data

Magnetic Resonance Imaging data needs to be calibrated using a universal standard. NIST and the ISMRM SQRM committee have developed the NIST/NIST MR phantom. The group had two phantoms manufactured to their specifications and these phantoms have been imaged at numerous imaging facilities. Sigma-K now proposes to develop a complete manufacturing method that will produce 50 MRI phantoms. These phant ...

Sepax Technologies, Inc. has identified a new type of anoin-exchange resin which separates single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with >80% recovery yield and resolves in a single pass the chiral tubes of (6,5) well from commercial SWCNT starting materials by Chromatography. Improvement and scale up of the targeted resin production will facilitate the separation of chiral nanotubes for the academic ...

The region of the electromagnetic spectrum from 100 GHz to 400 GHz is currently underutilized but an area of exciting promise. Although atmospheric attenuation is higher in this region, the high frequency enables higher bandwidth operation. Transmit and receive components are also small resulting in the potential for lightweight miniature systems. Sub-millimeter waves also have the unique ability ...

PaneraTech is proposing a non-contact dual sensor for broadband and real-time characterization of thin nanofiber films during the manufacturing. Our solution offers several unique aspects that are ideal for this application. For instance, it uses a dual CPW sensor for low frequencies and free space transmission system for higher frequency band. Our proposed sensor system is also equipped with high ...

Automated milking systems make dairy operations more efficient and less stressful for animals and farmers alike. However when a problem occurs, a suspect animal must be found and diagnosed quickly. This effort aims to evaluate the feasibility of a Q-Track Milk Operations Optimization (Q-MOO) system. The proposed Q-MOO system will employ a novel, low-frequency real-time location system (RTLS) that ...

A technically literate workforce, capable of math and science problem solving, is essential in order to attract and maintain high-tech industry and manufacturing within rural counties. Math and science intervention in problem solving has been shown to facilitate peak performance and to engage students in math, science and technology for the longer term, however, access to the instructional materia ...

Present farm and industrial meat production methods and technologies have a number of associated problems including health risks (infectious animal diseases, nutrition-related diseases), resource intensity (land, water, energy), damage to environment (green house gas emission, erosion, biodiversity loss) and ethical challenges (animal welfare). With increasing worldwide demand for meat, it is expe ...

Consumers are now demanding more information about farm production processes and their resulting harvests. Harvest records, although difficult for farmers to capture, can contain rich product data such as grading information and macro and micronutrient content, allowing farmers to differentiate themselves from competitors and market their produce effectively, as in organic farming. Harvest records ...

Nationwide, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) plays a crucial health care role in the well-being of rural populations. There are substantial challenges within the rural EMS system including: high costs for providing EMS care to sparsely populated regions; fewer tax dollars to fund health programs and trouble with providing public services. In addition, rural regions have difficulties with increasin ...

There continues to be a need for production of biofuels from agricultural sources. Butanol is a more attractive fuel than ethanol because it leads to better gas mileage, it achieves higher blends with gasoline than bioethanol, it has greater compatibility with existing fuel infrastructure, it is less volatile, it is more amenable to transport via pipeline due to low water absorption, there is no n ...