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MCNC PROPOSES A FEASIBILITY STUDY AND EVALUATION OF THREE PROMISING APPROACHES TO THE FABRICATION OF SURFACE TEST STRUCTURES ON SILICON. SURFACE FEATURES ON THE FIRST STRUCTURE WILL BE PRODUCED BY CONTROLLABLY ETCHING THERMALLYGROWN OXIDES. FEATURES ON THE SECOND WILL BE MADE BY ETCHING PIEZOELECTRIC THIN FILMS. USING THE PIEZOELECTRIC FILM AS PART OF A CAPACITOR, STEP-HEIGHT CAN BE VARIED AND PRO ...

DNA AND BIOSEQUENCES ARE BEING DETERMINED FASTER THAN THEY CAN BE COMPARED AND ANALYZED. PRESENT TECHNIQUES FOR RIGOROUSLY SEARCHING A LARGE DATABASE ARE COSTLY AND TIME CONSUMING. UNDER ALL PLAUSIBLE GROWTH PROJECTIONS, THE PROBLEM WILL SOON BECOME OVERWHELMING. A CUSTOM, VERY LARGE SCALE INTEGRATED CIRCUIT THAT COULD BE USED FOR HIGH SPEED COMPARISON, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION OF DNA AND PROT ...

THIS PROJECT STUDIES AN EFFICIENT AND INNOVATIVE NATURAL GAS EXPLORATION SYSTEM COMPOSED OF A HIGHLY SENSITIVE, PORTABLE, REAL TIME, INFRARED LASER DETECTION SYSTEM FOR METHANE AND ETHANE COUPLED TO A PORTABLE SHALLOW DRILLING SYSTEM AND AN AUTOMATED DATA MAPPING SYSTEM. THIS SAME SYSTEM WILL BE DIRECTLY USEFUL IN EVALUATING AND LOCATING UNDERGROUND LEAKS IN NATURAL GAS TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTI ...

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THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP DATA COMPRESSIONTECHNIQUES USED TO COMPRESS DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE DATA FROM THE NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER (NCDC) ARCHIVES SUCH THAT THE RESULTING DATA CAN BE READILY USED WITHIN THE LIMITED RESOURCES OF PC/AT SYSTEMS. THE JOINT PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPERTS GROUP (JPEG) HAS DEVELOPED ANINTERNATIONAL STANDARD FOR THE COMPRESSION OF CONTINUOUS TONE DI ...

THE ADVENT OF GRAPHITE REINFORCED COMPOSITES HAS LED TO MAJOR ADVANCES IN AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY. SUCH COMPOSITE MATERIALS ARE BECOMING ESSENTIAL TO MODERN FLIGHT TECHNOLOGYDUE TO THEIR EXCEPTIONALLY HIGH STRENGTH-TO-WEIGHT RATIOS WHEN COMPARED TO METALS AND ALLOYS. MANY AIRCRAFT AND ROCKET COMPONENTS ARE CURRENTLY MADE FROM THESE NEW MATERIALS AND MANY NEW DEVELOPMENTS REQUIRE THEIR UNIQUE PROPERTI ...

A HIGH SPEED AVALANCHE PHOTODIODE (APD) IS BEING INVESTIGATED THAT WOULD MEET THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE CENTRAL TRACKER DETECTOR SYSTEM OF THE SUPERCONDUCTING SUPER COLLIDER (SSC). THE APPROACH WOULD MODIFY EXISTING APD DESIGNS TO YIELD A DEVICE WITH LOWER DARK CURRENT AND FASTER CYCLE TIME WHEN OPERATED IN THE SINGLE-PHOTON COUNTING GEIGER MODE. CONSIDERATIONS INCLUDE THE ADAPTABILITY OF THE DIODE ...

POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY (PET) IS EMERGING AS AN IMPORTANT FUNDAMENTAL TOOL FOR BOTH CLINICAL DIAGNOSIS AND MEDICAL RESEARCH. PET IS A NONINVASIVE MEDICAL IMAGING TECHNIQUE THAT PROVIDES AN IMAGE OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF A POSITRON-EMITTING RADIOISOTOPE IN THE BODY. THE PERFORMANCE OF THIS INSTRUMENT IS LIMITED BY THE NUCLEAR DETECTORS USED. RESEARCHERS FROM LAWRENCE BERKELEY LABORATORY (LBL) HA ...