Award Data

APPROXIMATELY 200,000 PATIENTS PER YEAR IN THE UNITED STATESUNDERGO THE SURGICAL REMOVAL OF LUMBAR DISKS. CANDELA LASERCORPORATION PLANS TO DEVELOP A LASER-BASED METHOD FOR PERCUTANEOUS DECOMPRESSION OF HERNIATED LUMBAR DISKS. A PULSED HOLMIUM:YAG LASER WITH A FIBEROPTIC DELIVERY SYSTEM WILL BE USED TO ABLATE MATERIAL AND REDUCE THE VOLUME OF THENUCLEUS PULPOSUS, ACHIEVING A CLINICALLY IMPORTANT R ...

THIS PROPOSAL ADDRESSES SUBTOPIC 1.D, "DEVELOPMENT OF SELF- INSTRUCTIONAL MODULES, EQUIPMENT, OR SOFTWARE THAT CAN BE USED TO TRAIN COURT STENOGRAPHERS TO DO REAL-TIME CAPTIONING." REAL-TIME CAPTIONING BASED ON COMPUTER-AIDED TRANSCRIPTION (CAT) EQUIPMENT HAS BEEN A MAJOR ADVANCE IN CAPTIONING SERVICES FOR HEARING IMPAIRED PEOPLE. HOWEVER, CAPTIONING AGENCIES ARE CURRENTLY HAVING DIFFICULTY FINDIN ...

THE OVERALL GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DETERMINE WHETHER FROZEN RED BLOOD CELLS STORED AT -25 DEGREES CENTIGRADE FOR PERIODS UP TO 6 MONTHS WILL HAVE AN IN VIVO SURVIVAL EQUAL TO THAT OF FROZEN RED BLOOD CELLS STORED AT -65 DEGREES CENTIGRADE FOR PERIODS UP TO 10 YEARS AND WHETHER THEY WILL MEET THE CRITERIA ESTABLISHED BY THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION OFFICE OF BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND REVIEW F ...

ADVANCED COAL UTILIZATION AND CONVERSION PROCESSES UNDER DEVELOPMENT BY THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY REQUIRE CLEANUP OF GAS STREAMS FOLLOWING GASIFICATION OR COMBUSTION OF COAL. FOR EXAMPLE, IT IS DESIRABLE TO REMOVE GASEOUS AND PARTICULATE CONTAMINANTS FROM THESE GAS STREAMS AT HIGH TEMPERATURE AND HIGH PRESSURE PRIOR TO GAS EXPANSION IN TURBINES. WHILE SEVERAL NOVEL FILTRATION DEVICES HAVE BEEN ...

AIRBORNE PARTICULATES FROM ATMOSPHERIC COAL-FIRED COMBUSTORS POSE BOTH ENVIRONMENTAL AND HUMAN HEALTH PROBLEMS. OF NOTABLE CONCERN IARE PARTICULATES OF LESS THANTEN MICRONS IN DIAMETER WHICH CAN REMAIN IN THE RESPIRATORY TRACT IF INHALED. WHILE CONVENTIONAL POLLUTION CONTROL DEVICES SUCH AS FABRIC FILTER BAGHOUSES PROVIDE HIGH REMOVALEFFICIENCIES IN FLUE GAS SERVICE, THEY OFTEN REQUIRE LARGE AND C ...

THE ON-LINE IMPLEMENTATION OF NUMERICAL ALGORITHMS FOR SOLVING THE OPTIMUM TRAJECTORY/GUIDANCE PROBLEM FOR ADVANCED SPACE VEHICLES SUCH AS ALS, HLLV, AOTV, TRANSATMOSPHERIC VEHICLES AND INTERPLANETARY SPACECRAFT IS NOT POSSIBLE DUE TO THEIR COMPLEXITY. HENCE, THE CURRENT APPROACH TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF REAL-TIME GUIDANCE LAWS FOR THESE ADVANCED SPACE VEHICLES IS TO USE APPROXIMATION THEORY TO OBTAI ...

RECENT ADVANCES IN BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY HAVE BROUGHT ABOUT NEW CONCERNS IN PROTEIN PURIFICATION. THE PROTEIN PURIFICATION KNOWLEDGE BASE ADDRESSES SOME OF THESE ISSUES BY PROVIDING NEW COMPUTER-READABLE PROTEIN PURIFICATION DATABASES COUPLED WITH AN EXPERT SYSTEM TO SUGGEST PROTOCOLS FOR PURIFYING NEW PROTEINS. EXPERIMENTAL DATA WILL BE SCANNED, DIGITIZED, AND ANALYZED FOR RELEVANT ...

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO DEVELOP A MANUAL FOR THOSE CONSIDERING IMPLEMENTING EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS IN THEIR BUSINESS SETTINGS AS WELL AS FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN IMPROVING, EXPANDING, AND/OR EVALUATING EXISTING EAPS. THE SEVERAL PURPOSES OF THE HANDBOOK OF THIS EFFORT WOULD BE: TO EDUCATE BOTH LARGE AND SMALL BUSINESSES ABOUT THE CONCEPT OF EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE; TO ACQUAINT POTENT ...

THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP A SYSTEM OF COMPUTER SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE BROADLY APPLICABLE TO PROBLEMS OF STEREOTAXIC NEUROSURGERY. A NEUROSURGICAL WORKSTATION WOULD PROVIDE THESURGEON WITH EASY ACCESS TO DATA FROM DIFFERING IMAGE MODALITIES (E.G., CT, MRI, AND PET) TO OPTIMIZE STEREOTAXIC PROCEDURES. IN CONTRAST TO EXISTING SYSTEMS, THE WORKSTATION WOULD EASILY INTEGRATE MULTIPLE IMAGES IN A COMMON ...

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PROTOTYPE GENERAL PURPOSE ANALOG NEURAL COMPUTER. THE MACHINE IS INTENDED FOR REAL TIME, REAL WORLD MASSIVELY PARALLEL COMPUTATIONS SUCH AS HIGH SPEED OPTICAL AND ACOUSTICAL PATTERN RECOGNITION, ROBOTICS AND THEE DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIAL PURPOSE NEURAL NETWORKS. THE COMPUTER WILL BE BUILT FROM VLSI MODULES DEVELOPED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVA ...