Award Data

NanoCeramr filtration media has been developed for purification of water. The active component is a nano alumina fiber only 2 nanometers in diameter. When dispersed with microglass fibers as part of a non-woven fibrous filter it is capable of retaining sub-micron and nanosize particles smaller than virus while maintaining a high flux. Such media has a dirt holding capacity tens of times greater ...

It is proposed to formulate an equation(s) to describe the (A) evaporation and (B) death rates of aerosolized bacteria in their spent culture fluid droplets. This formulation will account for effects of atmospheric temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, droplet solute concentration, and droplet size effects perhaps including effects of solute-particle (i.e,, bacteria) concentration and p ...

Defense against chemical weapons is a critical DoD requirement. An effective defense requires the development of a combination of unique clothing systems that provide a physical barrier to toxic vapors, liquids, and aerosols, as well as a system to detect chemical threats. Protective clothing and detection systems currently exist, but ideally the detection equipment should be miniaturized and inte ...

Surfaces and enclosed spaces (such as vehicle crew compartments) that are contaminated with chemical warfare (CW) or biological warfare (BW) agents must be rapidly decontaminated to allow continued operations. Unfortunately, all of the current decon technologies have significant disadvantages, such as excessive weight, bulk, cost and complexity, limited storage stability, and a need for hazardous ...

Organophosphorus chemical warfare nerve agents (OP-CWA) are attractive to terrorist groups and rogue states as an inexpensive and accessible technology for chemical warfare. OP-CWA and organophosphate pesticides cause severe neurological symptoms and death by inhibiting the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE); the resulting excess acetylcholine accumulates and overstimulates the human or animal bo ...

Composite materials, with their high strength to weight ratios, manipulative properties, and corrosion resistance are now widely utilized throughout the military. High performance composites are required for air, sea, and land platforms. One of the drawbacks of these composite systems is the excessive costs and time required for part manufacturing. Prolonged elevated temperature curing is typic ...

Organophosphate (OP) nerve agents are the most dangerous chemical warfare agents and therefore pose a significant threat. Rapid and exact identification of the OP agent involved in any hazardous material incident could significantly facilitate the administration of the most effective therapeutic and allow for appropriate measures of protection and decontamination, thereby increasing survival of t ...

In peacetime environments, concerns over improbable encounter with agent threats are supplanted by the need to understand and assess the performance status or residual life (RL) capacity of sorbent-based technologies used in Collective Protection (ColPro) systems. Systems such as the M98 and M48A1 run continuously and therefore sample large volumes of outside air over their lifetime. It is well- ...

The goal of this SBIR project is to develop and demonstrate an electrokinetically driven nanofluidic sensor device of the physical size and shape that will allow integration with a THz spectroscopic instrument. The substrate and channel surfaces within the device will be appropriate for the acquisition of THz-frequency spectroscopic features from bio-molecules (e.g., DNA, RNA, proteins) in soluti ...

Though vast improvements have been made in various protein expression platforms, limitations arise in the implementation of current purification methods. Traditional chromatographic methods are time intensive, carry heavy material costs, and are difficult to scale - reducing the benefits achieved in protein expression. Affinity-binding methods are promising for scale-up and swiftness of purificati ...