Technologies & Strategies That Enable R&D
Secret ways of nuclear waste
September 24, 2008 3:21 pm | Award WinnersTDRW (Time Domain Random Walk) Version 2, Modeling software Unsurprisingly, underground storage of high-level nuclear waste has prompted the development of modeling studies to track how this material will behave, or transport, in the Earth’s subsurface. The TDRW (Time Domain Random Walk) Version 2, developed by Southwest Research Institute (San Antonio, Texas), is significant step up from previous models, which relied on simplified geological medium data.
Search, the human way
September 24, 2008 3:17 pm | Award WinnersIn an effort to mimic the learning, association and recall powers of people, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, Calif.) and SeeqPod, Inc. (Emeryville, Calif.), have built the Biomimetic Search Engine. Working from an unsupervised algorithm, this software solves search queries by linking relevant information automatically from each analyzed source of information.
More than a bit faster
September 24, 2008 3:15 pm | Award WinnersComputing advances have allowed us to assemble monstrous repositories of information. Searching the latest terabyte-size databases is a daunting engineering challenge. The FastBit Bitmap Index, developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, Calif.), was originally designed to help particle physicists sort through billions of data records in databases like these.
Iteractive solvers know millions of unknowns
September 24, 2008 3:13 pm | Award WinnersXyce 4.0.2, Parallel analog circuit simulator The world’s first massively parallel analog circuit simulator, the Xyce 4.0.2, invented by Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, N.M.), is intended to re-invigorate IC design with a modular, object-oriented C++ approach using pre-conditioned iterative linear solvers.
Voltage-steady LED leaves DC power problems behind
September 24, 2008 3:11 pm | Award WinnersAceLED, Alternating current light-emitting diode The LED is a semiconductor junction effect device that emits light under a direct current power source of the right polarity and voltage. Unfortunately, LEDs can often only be directly powered in an alternating current environment with bulky and inefficient AC-DC converter sub-asssemblies. With its AceLED, Industrial Technology Research Institute (Chutung, Hsinchu, Taiwan), has designed a way around this and other limitations.
RF test multiplies
September 24, 2008 3:09 pm | Award Winners4x4 MIMO RF Test System, RF test system The 4x4 MIMO RF Test System, from Keithley Instruments Inc. (Cleveland, Ohio), was designed to accommodate the growing test needs for next-generation systems and a wide range of communications standards.
LED headlight illuminates the way forward
September 24, 2008 3:07 pm | Award WinnersAutomotive LED Headlamps, LED headlamp Intensive development in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for general lighting has yet to yield the reduced energy consumption and long-life lighting necessary to replace incandescent bulbs. But for use in automotive applications, the LED has made great strides. Automotive LED Headlamps from Koito Manufacturing Co. (Tokyo, Japan) mark the first such devices fitted for low-beam use on a road vehicle, namely the 2007 Lexus LS600h/LS600hL.
Fiber-optic sampler cuts out artifacts
September 24, 2008 3:05 pm | Award WinnersUnwanted artifacts are unavoidable in electrical sampling because of non-ideal impedance matching. Typically, oscilloscopes used for sampling high-speed telecom use hardware-based clock recovery and trigger. It’s a costly and power-intensive solution that PicoSolve Inc. (Fogelsville, Penn.) and Chalmer Univ. of Technology (Gothenburg, Sweden) avoid with their Optical Sampling Oscilloscope.
Speeding drug discovery
September 24, 2008 3:03 pm | Award WinnersBioFlux 200 System, Microfluidic device for high-throughput live-cell analysis The BioFlux 200 System from Fluxion Biosciences (South San Francisco, Calif.) is a microfluidic device for high-throughput live-cell analysis using microscopic imaging or plate reader scanning which delivers physiologically relevant data much earlier in the drug discovery process.
Stacked sustainability
September 24, 2008 3:01 pm | Award WinnersYieldGard VT Triple, Hybrid corn improved with biotechnology With a growing world population, a sustainable food production system that produces more crop per unit of land with less environmental impact and fewer resources is critical. Facilitating this sustainability is YieldGard VT Triple from Monsanto Co. (St. Louis, Mo.). It is the first hybrid corn improved with biotechnology.
Automated analysis of genes
September 24, 2008 2:59 pm | Award WinnersThe Ziplex Automated Gene-Expression System, from researchers at Xceed Molecular Corp., MetriGenix Corp., Catalyst Consulting, and Engenuity Corp., was designed with turnkey functionality and significant advances in automation, array format, fluidics, parallel sample processing, and analytics to minimize complexity, user interaction, and variability between users and sites.
Administering medicine made easy
September 24, 2008 2:57 pm | Award WinnersAddressing the need for a growth hormone delivery device is the easypod from EMD Serono, Inc. (Rockland, Mass.) easypod is the first automated electromechanical device for subcutaneous injection of medicinal products.
Surgical FOCUS
September 24, 2008 2:55 pm | Award WinnersHarmonic FOCUS Curved Shear with HARMONIC Blue Hand Piece, Surgical shear Steady hands help ensure patient safety in operating room, but surgeons can always use more help. Enhancing surgical precision is the Harmonic FOCUS Curved Shear with HARMONIC Blue Hand Piece, from Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. (Cincinnati, Ohio). The shear is designed to precisely dissect, grasp, cut, and coagulate tissue, allowing for safer dissection near vital structures, increased surgical efficiency, and reduced operating time compared to electrocautery.
Faster forensics
September 24, 2008 2:53 pm | Award WinnersThe investigators on CSI take many samples and quickly receive DNA test results, and by the end of a one-hour show, they arrest their suspect. Real-life forensics testing takes longer—sometimes months longer—and can cost thousands of dollars per sample. What if forensic sample testing could be faster and cheaper? With Antibody Profiling Identification—AbP ID, and accompanying software—Image ID from Idaho National Laboratory and Identity Sciences, LLC, it can be both.
Detecting the undetectable
September 24, 2008 2:51 pm | Award WinnersThe Berkeley Lab PhyloChip, developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is a DNA microarray that quickly, comprehensively, and accurately identifies species within microbial samples from any environmental source, without any culturing required.
