Award Data

A major problem facing the existing U.S. fleet of Light Water Reactor facilities is stress corrosion cracking of austenitic nickel and iron alloys, which comprise the bulk of wetted components in LWR facilities; up to 70% of wetted non-fuel areas in a typical facility, making this problem particularly widespread and especially prevalent with extended service life. Cold spray technology offers an e ...

Many bioethanol plants in the U.S. have been running energy-intensive PSA processes for more than 10 years, and these systems will soon require adsorbent bed retrofitting. Energy-efficient separation technologies such as membrane methodology can play a critical role in the future of bioethanol dehydration. NaA zeolite membranes are highly effective for dehydration of bioethanol and many other orga ...

We have been witnessed the Industroyer power grid cybersecurity attack in Ukraine’s power system in which attackers controlled the substation’s circuit breakers and protection relays. In 2018, CyberwarCon forum in Washington, DC reported that a variety of hacker groups (e.g., Russian Energetic Bear) have been targeting to the U.S. power grids. For defending these attacks, grid data integrity a ...

Long-term disposal of nuclear waste continues to be an issue of national and international importance. A 2012 Blue Ribbon Commission report to the Secretary of Energy states, .“..this nation’s failure to come to grips with the nuclear waste issue has already proved damaging and costly and it will be more damaging and more costly the longer it continues….” The proposed thermal salt sealing ...

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Genital tract infection with Neisseria gonorrhoeae does not induce a state of specific protective immunity and can be acquired repeatedly. Despite public health measures, the disease persists at an unacceptably high frequency; there is no vaccine against it, and resistance even to the latest generations of antibiotics continues to emerge. TherapyX, Inc. is advancing GneX12 ...

Project Summary/Abstract Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is an autosomal dominant genetic disease that leads to the development of hundreds to thousands of adenomas in the rectum and the colon. Current medical management involves endoscopic monitoring, resection of advanced polyps and ultimately colectomy in the second decade of life. The risk of developing colorectal cancer is 100% and chemo ...

Abstract A general mechanism for neurodegeneration, including Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's dementia, is the breakdown and subsequent aggregation of misfolded neuronal proteins. In the “synucleinopathies” for example neurotoxicity is associated with the cleavage of mis-folded alpha-synuclein (ASYN), probably mainly by asparagine endopeptidase (AEP) [Zhang et al 2017]. This generates neur ...

ABSTRACT Genital tract infection with Neisseria gonorrhoeae does not induce a state of specific protective immunity and it can be acquired repeatedly. Despite public health measures, the disease persists at an unacceptably high frequency; there is no vaccine against it, and resistance even to the latest generations of antibiotics continues to emerge. Our SBIR Phase I work established proof-of-prin ...

ABSTRACT As early detection and better treatment have increased cancer patient survival rates, the importance of protecting normal organs during radiation treatment is drawing more attention, which is critical in reducing long term toxicity of cancers. To avoid excessively high radiation doses to organs-at-risk (OARs), OARs need to be correctly segmented from simulation computed tomography (CT) sc ...

Abstract Substance use disorders (SUDs) are at epidemic levels in the US [Mack et al 2017] and this has accelerated efforts to find effective pharmacotherapies. All SUDs are associated with increased synaptic dopamine in the mesolimbic pathway. This makes the dopamine transporter (DAT) a primary molecular target, and “atypical” DAT inhibitors, with low abuse potential, are the most promising t ...