Award Data

Opportunity: Guayule, a US native plant, is the only alternate rubber crop with an established, mechanized, agronomic system. Problem: Low rubber yields and lack of effective resin and bagasse coproduct valorization, have prevented widespread adoption by American farmers and processors. Rubber is only made when the cytoplasmic monomer pool (isopentenyl-pyrophosphate; IPP) is larger than that requi ...

Glucose abnormalities significantly affect patient morbidity and mortality. Currently, glycemic control is achieved via medications and exogenous insulin regimens that are costly both in terms of qualified personnel and consumables. Furthermore, none of these approaches are curative. Strategies under development such artificial pancreases do not necessarily address these limitations because they w ...

The objective of this proposal is to develop instrumentation and algorithms for acquiring facial features for facial recognition in low- and no-light conditions.We will use cross-spectrum matching by exploiting infrared polarimetric imagery which tends to show features that match more closely visible imagery than conventional infrared.In addition to thermal infrared, we will also test subjects in ...

In resource limited settings, rapid and accurate diagnosis of infections is critical for managing potential exposures to highly virulent pathogens,whether occurring from an act of bioterrorism or a natural event. This is especially important for hard to detect intracellular bacterial andalphavirus infections, that overlap symptomatically and often treated empirically due to a lack of reliable and ...

In a pandemic or exposure to weaponized Marburg virus the morbidity, mortality and social unrest that will ensue before vaccines orMilitary operating on foreign soil as well as to the population of the US Homeland. Practically all threat agents of biological origin (except forcertain non-proteinaceous toxins, typically produced by marine organisms and fungi) have their structure and vital function ...

Methods for interconversion between cell types (cellular reprogramming) are currently discovered through resource intensive trial and error. Experiments may test a multitude of transcription factors to identify correct combinations that influence cell fate. In addition, reprogramming approaches commonly use stem cell intermediates such as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are generated ...

This STTR will develop atomically precise fabrication and measurement technology that will enable a new experimental regime to study the physics of strongly correlated quantum systems.The fabrication techniques are based primarily on Hydrogen Depassivation Lithography (HDL) which uses Scanning Tunneling Microscope technology to create atomically precise patterns of H on a Si (100) 2x1 surface in a ...

Pressure gain combustion has the potential to significantly improve the specific fuel consumption for gas turbine engines by realizing a pressure rise through the combustor as opposed to a pressure drop. One drawback to this form of combustion is the cycl

Federal Aviation Administration Advisory Circular 20-107B provides guidance on the achievement of compliance with Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations regarding airworthiness type certification requirements for composite aircraft structures necessi

Among the factors that inhibit the use of composite materials in both general aviation aircraft and DoD platforms are the high cost of engineering and the cost of certification. Unless manufacturers can control risk when introducing new materials and pro