Award Data

HIGH-PRESSURE WATERJET IS ONE OF SEVERAL NEW METHODS FOR CUTTING MATERIALS DEVELOPED DURING THE LAST DECADE. CURRENTLY IT IS USED, AT STATIC WATER PRESSURE UP TO 60,000 PSI, TO CUT A WIDE VARIETY OF SOFT AND MEDIUM-HARD MATERIALS IN FACTORIES; IT HAS BEEN EVALUATED FOR GEOTECHNICAL APPLICATIONS WITH VERY LIMITED SUCCESS. THIS RESEARCH CONCERNS THE USE OF ABRASIVE-ENTRAINED WATERJET FOR CUTTING AND ...

LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED IN A STRATIFIED TOW TANK ARE PROPOSED TO CHARACTERIZE VORTEX WAKES UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ATOMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCE. FLOW RESEARCH HAS DEVELOPED INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUES FOR STRATIFYING THE FLUID IN THE TANK, GENERATING A CURRENT SHEAR AND CREATING AMBIENTTURBULENCE WITH GOOD CONTROL. SUCH CAPABILITIES WOULD FACILITATE THE ISOLATION OF THE EFFECTS OF THE DISTURBANCE S ...

THE PHASE I RESEARCH IS INTENDEDTO DEMONSTRATE THE BASIC FEASIBILITY OF CONSTRUCTING AND OPTIMIZING A NEW MAGNETO-OPTIC 'SANDWICH' DEVICE INTENDED FOR DIRECT VISUALIZATION OF FLAWSIN FERROUS MATERIALS (STEEL) IN A MARINE ENVIRONMENT. THE DEVICE IS BASED IN THE PROPERTY OF SOME MAGNETO-OPTIC GARNETFILMS TO ROTATE THE PLANES OF POLARIZATION OF AN INCIDENT, LINEARLY POLARIZED LIGHT WAVE (FARADAY MAGN ...

NIST is using a sensitive optical technique called cavity ring-down detection to permit detection of impurities in semiconductor process gases, which cause substantial losses in manufacturing yield. In order to increase the sensitivity and range of application of this technique, improved single frequency laser sources are required. In particular, lasers providing more power, narrower line-width, b ...

Brief Description of Problem: NOAA¿s AWIPS is a cornerstone of NWS¿ forecast mission. As advanced as AWIPS is, it still faces challenges similar to many systems, including: system capacity over-/under-utilization; data and analysis stovepiping; and complex data management needs. Innovations: In Phase 1, FTI successfully demonstrated that grid computing and ontologies could enable communicati ...

As fish farmers attempt to increase capacity they are being forced to move to more Exposed growing sites. The technology for rearing fish in this high-energy environment is dependent on robust fish pens and infrastructure to support them. One very important technology that must be developed is an automated feeding system capable of operating in this difficult environment. Based on the results of ...

Although companies based outside the U.S. have tested and, in some cases, sold basic anti-viral vaccines to aquaculture producers, practicing veterinarians and virologists have been unimpressed by their extremely limited effectiveness (J. Mullins, pers. comm. 2002; J. Winton, pers. comm. 2004). The consensus is that new approaches are urgently needed to develop viral vaccines that do not rely on ...

Magnetic regions in the Sun’s outer atmosphere exert major impacts on space weather in the near-Earth environment. Near-term impacts at Earth are predominantly due to magnetic regions in the Sun’s near hemisphere; however, because the Sun rotates, mag- netic regions in the far hemisphere cross into the near hemisphere with little warning—except for our ability to monitor the Sun’s far hemi ...

Animal-borne electronic instruments (tags) are critical tools for monitoring the behavior and ecology of cetaceans, providing data needed for managing their populations and mitigating the threats they face. Although remote-deployment of tags onto cetaceans that cannot be captured has provided valuable data, attachment durations have been frustratingly short and variable. Our Phase II goal is to de ...

Research conducted in Phase I identified a range of data sources providing vehicle related information to consumers shopping around or interested in knowing more about vehicles. Majority of the commercial data sources focused on vehicle features, new/used/CPO pricing, and vehicles listings. Such data sources lacked safety as their central focus, which is a concern for U.S. Department of Transporta ...