Award Data

Development of semantic technologies to support materials design and development. This project is intended to start constructing the building blocks for 1. Common Vocabulary Development, 2. Annotation, exposure, and discovery of existing published material properties and processes using standard and existing technologies, and 3. New ways to share and discover materials and processes.

Semantically Linked Data is widely seen as a revolutionary approach for maximizing the usefulness of existing and future information. In the materials domain, semantically linked materials data holds considerable promise with the ability to facilitate materials research and product development, improve communication, and open up avenues for new types of materials informatics. But realizing the pro ...

This effort proposes to develop a toolset to evaluate the effectiveness of a safety-controller that monitors a learning-based autonomous control system. The traditional use of deterministic verification techniques for real-time monitoring is not feasible in the presence of uncertainty. This effort would advance the recommended verification techniques to include non-deterministic approaches. The ...

Barron Associates has assembled a team of researchers that include Dr. Sayan Mitra of the University of Illinois and Dr. Ufuk Topcu of the University of Pennsylvania. They will spearhead three complimentary investigations into the development of verification and validation (V & V) approaches for adaptive systems protected by run time assurance (RTA) mechanisms. Two of these approaches involve us ...

Existing physics-based device simulation tools are prohibitively expensive computationally, and therefore ill-suited for parametric analysis and design optimization of photonic integrated circuits (PIC). The proposed effort aims to develop and demonstrate an innovative, easy-to-use simulation tool for accurate, fast circuit/system analysis of PICs. The salient aspects of the proposed solution are: ...

Physical vulnerability, visual impairment, mobility limitations, and cognitive disorders can make selecting a safe & accessible walking route very challenging for many older adults. Familiar online mapping & wayfinding services can be helpful, but they do not answer important questions about the built environment that older & disabled adult face on a daily basis. What are the sidewalks like alon ...

Coccidioidomycosis, also known as Valley Fever, is a disease caused by inhalation of Coccidioides arthroconidia. This disease is endemic to the southwestern United States, parts of Mexico, and Central and South America. Every year approximately 150,000 people in the United States become infected with Coccidioides spp. Importantly, the rate of Valley Fever cases is increasing dramatically, earni ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The current industry standard for predicting contact dermal sensitization is the murine Local Lymph Node Assay (LLNA). A significant limitation of the LLNA is the frequency of false positives, as well as the occurrenceof false negatives. This limitation occurs as a result of the LLNA inability to always correctly distinguish between substances that are strongly ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Despite improvements in vaccine design, manufacture, and distribution, influenza A infection remains a significant public health concern. The February 2013 CDC Interim Adjusted Estimates of Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness reported overall vaccine effectiveness of 56% and 67% against influenza A and B infections, respectively, with much reduced effect ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Botulinum toxin is one of the six categories of pathogens that have been designated as Category A Select Agents by the Centers for Disease Control. The toxin, which is generally acknowledged to be the most potent biological poison known, enters the body and acts on peripheral cholinergic nerve endings to cause paralysis of transmission. In seriously poisoned pa ...