North Carolina State University

USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

John F Muth

Tushar K Ghosh

Anuj Dhawan

Abdelfattah M Seyam

Jagdish Narayan

Ajay Kumar Sharma

Jason Alan Cox

Noel A Guardala

Edward R Grant

James P Dieffenderfer

Jack L Price

Yong Zhu

Amanda Myers

Shanshan Yao

Ian Patrick Wellenius

Abhishek Malhotra

John Steven Cottle

Brian Ellery Dessent

Irina K Shmagin

Mike A Brown

Jim Anto Simpson

Robert M Kolbas

Leigh M Johnson

A spirometer includes a housing, a mouthpiece coupled to the housing, and a measurement unit. The measurement unit is configured to receive air expelled by a user, and generate an electrical quantity corresponding to a peak expiratory flow or a forced expiratory volume based on the expelled air. The spirometer also includes a processing module supported by the housing, and configured to receive the electrical quantity from the measurement unit, a display coupled to the measurement unit to display an indication of the peak expiratory flow or the forced expiratory volume, and an energy harvester. The energy harvester is coupled to the measurement unit and the processing module, and is configured to receive energy from one of a group consisting of the measurement unit and an energy sensor, store the received energy in an energy storage device, and transfer the energy to the processing module.

System and method of monitoring respiratory parameters

Disclosed are various embodiments for a flexible hydration sensor that can be implemented in a wearable device. A hydration monitoring device can include at least one flexible electrode comprising a plurality of silver nanowires embedded within a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate. Processing circuitry can be configured to measure a hydration level of an individual wearing the hydration monitoring device based at least in part on a measurement of a skin impedance of the individual. In some embodiments, the hydration monitoring device can also generate a hydration metric based on the level of hydration and display the hydration metric.

Personal hydration monitor

Methods, systems, and computer readable for providing smart underwater free space optical communications are provided. According to one aspect, a system for smart underwater free space optical communications is provided. The system includes a receiver. The receiver includes an optical detector array for detecting incident light under water. The receiver further includes a compound lens array located optically in front of the optical detector. The compound lens array includes lenses that steer incident light arriving at different angles to different portions of the optical detector array. A controller processes signals generated by the optical detector based on the incident light and controls an aspect of the underwater communications based on the steered incident light detected by the detector array. Components of the controller may include a backscatter estimator and an angle of arrival estimator for estimating water quality obtained from backscattered light and an angle of arrival of incident light, respectively.

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for providing smart underwater free space optical communications

As typically embodied, the inventive method features bombardment of atomic nuclei withHe ions in order to effect transmutation of atoms from a first atomic element to a second atomic element. Two notable inventive genres describe transmutation of: oxygen to nitrogen in an oxygen-containing target (e.g., including ZnO film); and, carbon to boron in a carbon-containing target (e.g., including SiC film). According to the former, transmutation ofO toN occurs; more specifically, transmutation ofO toO occurs via nuclear bombardment, and then transmutation ofO toN occurs via decay by positron emission. According to the latter, transmutation ofC toB occurs; more specifically, transmutation ofC toC occurs via nuclear bombardment, and then transmutation ofC toB occurs via decay by positron emission. Inventive practice frequently results in significant alteration of at least one physical property among: electronic carrier concentration; resistivity; photoconductivity; luminescence; morphology.

Doping of semiconductor materials by nuclear transmutation

Coaxial and twisted pair conductive yarn structures reduce signal crosstalk between adjacent lines in woven electrical networks. A coaxial conductive yarn structure includes an inner conductive yarn having a plurality of conductive strands twisted together. An outer conductive yarn is wrapped around the inner conductive yarn. An insulating layer separates the inner and outer yarns. A twisted pair conductive yarn structure includes first and second conductive yarns, each including a plurality of conductive strands being twisted together. The first and second conductive yarns are twisted together to form a helical structure. In a woven electrical network, at least one conductor of adjacent conductive yarn structures is connected to ground to reduce signal crosstalk. Coaxial and twisted pair yarn structures may also be formed simultaneously with weaving or knitting the threads that make up the structures into a fabric.

Fabric and yarn structures for improving signal integrity in fabric-based electrical circuits

Methods and systems for selectively connecting and disconnecting conductors in a fabric are disclosed. First and second conductors are integrated into a fabric such that the conductors intersect at a crossover point. The conductors are bonded to each other at the crossover point to improve AC and DC characteristics. Disconnect areas may be provided near the crossover point to allow selective disconnection of the conductors from the crossover point.

Methods and systems for selectively connecting and disconnecting conductors in a fabric

An electronic device has an alloy layer containing magnesium oxide and at least one of zinc oxide and cadmium oxide and having a cubic structure on a substrate. The alloy layer may be directly on the substrate or, alternatively, one or more buffer layers may be between the alloy layer and the substrate. The alloy layer may be domain-matched epitaxially grown directly on the substrate, or may be lattice-matched epitaxially grown directly on the buffer layer. The cubic layer may also be used to form single and multiple quantum wells. Accordingly, electronic devices having wider bandgap, increased binding energy of excitons, and/or reduced density of growth and/or misfit dislocations in the active layers as compared with conventional III-nitride electronic devices may be provided.

Method for making optoelectronic and microelectronic devices including cubic ZnMgO and/or CdMgO alloys

A robotic apparatus adapted for locomotion in an enclosed space such as a pipe includes a combination of articulated gripping and locomotive modules. Each gripping module includes an actuator mechanically linked to gripping members such that axial forces produced by the actuator are translated to radial forces in the gripping members, whereby the gripping members are caused to alternately hold and release the engagement of the robotic apparatus with surfaces of the enclosed space. Each locomotive module includes one or more actuators adapted to alternatively expand and contract the length of the locomotive module. The sequence of operations of the gripping and locomotive modules can be controlled such that the robotic apparatus can crawl through the enclosed space in an inchworm-like fashion and is capable of navigating turns and traversing inclines.

Modular observation crawler and sensing instrument and method for operating same

Optoelectronic and microelectronic devices including cubic ZnMgO and/or CdMgO alloys

Spatially localized radiation, preferably ultraviolet visible radiation, representing information is impinged onto a spatially localized area of a heterostructure comprising a ternary Group III-V Nitride semiconductor material. It has been found that the spatially localized optical radiation reversibly changes the properties of the heterostructure comprising ternary Group III-V Nitride semiconductor material in the spatially localized area, to thereby provide an optical memory. The stored information can be read from the memory by impinging blanket radiation, preferably ultraviolet radiation of the same frequency which was used to write the information, onto the heterostructure comprising ternary Group III-V Nitride semiconductor material including onto the spatially localized area thereof. Simultaneously, the changes in the properties of the heterostructure comprising ternary Group III-V Nitride semiconductor material in the spatially localized area as a result of the impinged blanket radiation are detected, to thereby read the information. Thus, high density, high contrast patterns can be written in spatially localized areas of a heterostructure comprising ternary Group III-V Nitride semiconductor material with ultraviolet light at room temperature and at cryogenic temperatures.

Growing community of inventors

Raleigh, NC, United States of America

John F Muth