Award Data

SOLID-STATE IONIZATION DETECTORS INCREASINGLY FIND USE IN MEDICAL, NUCLEAR, AND HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS AND IN MAGNETIC FUSION RESEARCH. UNFORTUNATELY, SILICON-BASED DETECTORS ARE HIGHLY SUSCEPTIBLE TO RADIATION DAMAGE, CAN OPERATE ONLYIN A NARROW TEMPERATURE REGIME, AND HAVE UNDESIRABLE SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIOS EVEN AT ROOM TEMPERATURE. A NEW CLASS OF RADIATION-RESISTANT, HIGH TEMPERATURE DETECTORS BAS ...

SYNCHROTRON RADIATION FACILITIES ARE BEING USED INCREASINGLYFOR ADVANCED MATERIALS RESEARCH. THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THIS RESEARCH IS NOW COMPROMISED BY A SHORTAGE OF SUITABLE CRYSTALS TO MAKE DEVICES FOR LONG WAVELENGTH SPECTROSCOPY INTHE SOFT X-RAY REGION OF 6 TO 30 ANGSTROM. THE CRYSTAL, YTTRIUM BORIDE (YB66), HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS A POTENTIAL MONOCHROMATOR FOR DISPERSING SYNCHROTRON RADIATION. K ...

N/A

THERE HAS BEEN RECENT INTEREST IN THE SMALL SCALE PRODUCTIONOF LIQUIDS FROM COAL BY MILD GASIFICATION WHICH CAN BE INTEGRATED INTO THE CURRENT ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE. WHILE MOST WORK ON MILD GASIFICATION IS ADDRESSING DENSE PHASE REACTORS OR LARGE PARTICLES, SEVERAL LABORATORIES REPORT THAT FLASH PYROLYSIS USING SMALL PARTICLES IN DISPERSED-PHASE REACTORS PRODUCES A HIGHER YIELD (SOMETIMES TWO TO T ...

THE U.S. EPA ESTIMATES THAT 290 MILLION TONS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE ARE PRODUCED ANNUALLY IN THE U.S. THE MOST PROMISING METHOD FOR THE PERMANENT DISPOSAL OF ORGANIC WASTES IS HIGH-TEMPERATURE INCINERATION. WHILE SOLAR INCINERATION OFFERS SIGNIFICANT PROMISE AS A WASTE DISPOSAL TECHNOLOGY, THERE IS A STRONG NEED FOR ON-LINE AND IN-SITU DIAGNOSTICS DURING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROCESS AND FOR EVENTUAL ...

FOR THE CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF COAL LIQUEFACTION PROCESSES, ON-LINE DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES ARE NEEDED THAT ALLOW ONE TO "SEE" INSIDE THE VARIOUS PROCESS STAGES AND MONITOR PARAMETERS SUCH AS CATALYST ACTIVITY, UPGRADING OF LIQUIDS, DEPLETION OF SOLVENT, HETEROATOM REMOVAL, ETC. THIS PROJECT IS BASED ON TWO INNOVATIONS. THE FIRST IS THE APPLICATION OF FOURIER TRANSFORM-INFRARED (FT-IR) DIAGNOSTICS ...

NITRIC ACID IN THE GAS PHASE IS ONE OF THE MOST ABUNDANT TRACE NITROGEN OXIDE SPECIES IN THE ATMOSPHERE. ITS DEPOSITION AT THE SURFACE PROVIDES THE MAJOR SINK FOR NOX AND IS A SIGNIFICANT COMPONENT OF ACID PRECIPITATION. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP AN INSTRUMENT TO MEASURE THE SURFACE FLUXES OF NITRIC ACID USING THE EDDY CORRELATIONTECHNIQUE WITH INFRARED TUNABLE DIODE LASER ABSORPTION ...

SCINTILLATION SPECTROMETERS ARE CURRENTLY THE MOST WIDELY USED DEVICES FOR THE DETECTION AND SPECTROMETRY OF ENERGETIC PHOTONS (X-RAYS AND GAMMA RAYS) AT ROOM TEMPERATURE. THEY ARE VERY WIDELY USED IN NUCLEAR AND HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS RESEARCH, MEDICAL IMAGING AND INDUSTRIAL GAUGING APPLICATIONS. RECENTLY, SILICON SEMICONDUCTOR OPTICAL DETECTORS HAVE BEEN USED TO DETECT THE LIGHT PRODUCED BY THE SCI ...

SCINTILLATION DETECTORS HAVE REMAINED THE LEADING TYPE OF DETECTOR IN MANY AREAS OF NUCLEAR PHYSICS. ALTHOUGH IMPROVEMENTS IN SCINTILLATOR CYYSTAL TECHNOLOGY HAVE EXTENDED THE UTILITY OF SCINTILLATOR-BASED SYSTEMS, SERIOUS DEFICIENCIES IN THE OPTICAL DETECTORS USED WITH THE SCINTILLATOR CRYSTALS ARE LIMITING THE FULL POTENTIAL OF THIS DETECTOR TECHNOLOGY. CONVENTIONAL SCINTILLATION SYSTEMS USE PHO ...

SO-CALLED "FOULING" OF FILTRATION MEMBRANES, WHICH LEADS TO DIMINISHED FILTRATE FLUX AND ALTERED SOLUTE REJECTION AND SELECTIVITY WITH TIME, IS ATTRIBUTABLE TO BUILDUP OF SURFACEMATERIALS. RESPONSIBLE MECHANISMS INCLUDE BOUNDARY LAYER, GEL AND CAKE PHENOMENA, AND INTERACTIONS OF PARTICLES OR SOLUBLE COMPONENTS (E.G., PROTEINS) WITH THE MEMBRANE. A POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM IS VIBRATION OF ...