INEL Spray-forming Research

Spray forming is a near-net-shape fabrication technology in which a spray of finely atomized liquid droplets is deposited onto a suitably shaped substrate or mold to produce a coherent solid. The technology offers unique opportunities for simplifying materials processing without sacrificing, and oftentimes substantially improving, product quality. Spray forming can be performed with a wide range of metals and nonmetals, and offers property improvements resulting from rapid solidification (e.g., refined microstructures, extended solid solubilities and reduced segregation). Economic benefits result from process simplification and the elimination of unit operations. Researchers at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) are developing spray-forming technology for producing near-net-shape solids and coatings of a variety of metals, polymers, and composite materials. Results from several spray forming programs are presented to illustrate the range of capabilities of the technique as well as the accompanying technical and economic benefits. Low-carbon steel strip greater than 0.75 mm thick and polymer membranes for gas/gas and liquid/liquid separations that were spray formed are discussed; recent advances in spray forming molds, dies, and other tooling using low-melting-point metals are described

The genesis of Sean O\u27Casey\u27s later plays.

Dept. of English Language, Literature, and Creative Writing. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1972 .M15. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-07, page: . Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1972

Age-related macular degeneration: interventional tissue engineering and predictive modeling of disease progression

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston UniversityAge-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in people over the age of 50. As many as 50 million people are affected by AMD worldwide and prevalence is expected to continue to rise due to an aging population. There are two forms of the disease, dry (geographic atrophy) and wet (choroidal neovascularization), both of which result in retinal degeneration and central vision loss. Although anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapies are moderately successful at treating the wet form, there are no treatments currently available for the more common dry form. Pharmacological therapies have been extensively explored for the treatment of dry AMD, but have achieved little success because the pathogenesis underlying AMD is unknown and likely varies among patients . Recently, tissue engineering has emerged as a promising approach to restore function by replacing diseased retinal tissue with healthy retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). While AMD-associated vision loss occurs when photoreceptors degenerate, this process arises as a consequence of earlier RPE dysfunction. In the healthy retina, the RPE acts as a critical regulator of the microenvironment for both photoreceptors and the nearby vasculature. However in AMD, the RPE no longer performs these essential homeostatic functions leading to photoreceptor apoptosis and vision loss. This dissertation describes the development and in vitro characterization of a tissue engineering scaffold for RPE delivery as potential treatment for dry AMD. First, a novel microfabrication-based method termed "pore casting" was developed to produce thin scaffolds with highly controlled pore size, shape, and spacing. Next, human RPE were cultured on pore-cast poly(c-caprolactone) (PCL) scaffolds and compared to cells on track-etched polyester, the standard RPE culture substrate. RPE on porous PCL demonstrated enhanced maturation and function compared to track-etched polyester including improved pigmentation, barrier formation, gene expression, growth factor secretion, and phagocytic degradation. Lastly, this study established a patient-specific method for predicting AMD progression using retinal oxygen concentration. This approach differs from current diagnosis techniques because it uses physiologically-relevant mechanisms rather than generalized clinical associations which have little, if any, prognostic value

Near-net-shape manufacturing: Spray-formed metal matrix composites and tooling

Spray forming is a materials processing technology in which a bulk liquid metal is converted to a spray of fine droplets and deposited onto a substrate or pattern to form a near-net-shape solid. The technology offers unique opportunities for simplifying materials processing without sacrificing, and oftentimes substantially improving, product quality. Spray forming can be performed with a wide range of metals and nonmetals, and offers property improvements resulting from rapid solidification (e.g. refined microstructures, extended solid solubilities and reduced segregation). Economic benefits result from process simplification and the elimination of unit operations. The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory is developing a unique spray-forming method, the Controlled Aspiration Process (CAP), to produce near-net-shape solids and coatings of metals, polymers, and composite materials. Results from two spray-accompanying technical and economic benefits. These programs involved spray forming aluminum strip reinforced with SiC particulate, and the production of tooling, such as injection molds and dies, using low-melting-point metals

LWRS Fuels Pathway: Engineering Design and Fuels Pathway Initial Testing of the Hot Water Corrosion System

The Advanced LWR Nuclear Fuel Development R&D pathway performs strategic research focused on cladding designs leading to improved reactor core economics and safety margins. The research performed is to demonstrate the nuclear fuel technology advancements while satisfying safety and regulatory limits. These goals are met through rigorous testing and analysis. The nuclear fuel technology developed will assist in moving existing nuclear fuel technology to an improved level that would not be practical by industry acting independently. Strategic mission goals are to improve the scientific knowledge basis for understanding and predicting fundamental nuclear fuel and cladding performance in nuclear power plants, and to apply this information in the development of high-performance, high burn-up fuels. These will result in improved safety, cladding, integrity, and nuclear fuel cycle economics. To achieve these goals various methods for non-irradiated characterization testing of advanced cladding systems are needed. One such new test system is the Hot Water Corrosion System (HWCS) designed to develop new data for cladding performance assessment and material behavior under simulated off-normal reactor conditions. The HWCS is capable of exposing prototype rodlets to heated, high velocity water at elevated pressure for long periods of time (days, weeks, months). Water chemistry (dissolved oxygen, conductivity and pH) is continuously monitored. In addition, internal rodlet heaters inserted into cladding tubes are used to evaluate repeated thermal stressing and heat transfer characteristics of the prototype rodlets. In summary, the HWCS provides rapid ex-reactor evaluation of cladding designs in normal (flowing hot water) and off-normal (induced cladding stress), enabling engineering and manufacturing improvements to cladding designs before initiation of the more expensive and time consuming in-reactor irradiation testing

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ENHANCED VIDEO AND WEB CONFERENCING SECURITY FOR DUAL ACCOUNT ENDPOINTS

Dual account video and web conferencing endpoints have both a personal user account and a shared room account that are registered on the same device. When such an endpoint joins a meeting (e.g., after completing a pairing process) it raises a number of security, etc. challenges. To address these types of challenges, various solutions are presented herein through several techniques. In particular, the techniques may include support for devices utilizing proximity in a reverse fashion (i.e., personal mode endpoints may use ultrasound pairing to detect that the personal user is in proximity to a device and allow them to perform authenticated actions directly using the device’s user interface (UI)). The techniques may further provide a way of pairing personal devices with clients without the need for ultrasound or manual pairing

Development of a novel automated perfusion mini-bioreactor ambr® 250 perfusion

Session proposals: Towards other cell lines and systems – opportunities and challenges beyond CHO cells Pushing the Limits on Process Intensification: 10 grams/Liter and Beyond Process Scale Up/Down, Characterization and Control Strategy Definition In recent years a strong trend towards continuous biopharmaceutical processing has gathered momentum, driven by the promise of process intensification, reduced cost of goods, and more consistent and better controlled product quality. Key technologies in upstream cell culture (ATF, TFF) have enabled the start of a shift towards process intensification/continuous processing in the seed train (N-1 perfusion) and main production culture (concentrated fed-batch, perfusion) for biopharmaceutical production processes. While these technologies are now available for large scale bioreactor operations, small-scale application is limited to traditional benchtop bioreactor scales and formats. Benchtop bioreactors do provide a route to developing this new wave of intensified/continuous cell culture processes, however this approach is manually intensive, relatively low throughput and cost-intensive to operate. In the last 5 years, fed-batch cell culture process development has been significantly accelerated by wide spread implementation of the ambr 15 and ambr 250 fully automated, single-use, micro and mini bioreactor systems. Case studies will be presented on the utility of the ambr 15 as a perfusion mimic, and we also present here novel performance data of a new version of the ambr 250 system ‘ambr 250 perfusion’. Technical description and operating data and cell culture results presented for the novel ‘ambr 250 perfusion’ system outline the capacity and capability of this technology. As established with ambr 250 for fed-batch processes, ambr 250 perfusion has the potential to provide the industry with a step change in perfusion process development capacity, enabling implementation of DoE based approaches for process optimization and characterization. It is envisaged that ‘ambr 250 perfusion’ can therefore facilitate and significantly accelerate an industry wide transition to upstream cell culture perfusion processes for novel biopharmaceuticals currently in early development