Armed with Science | Tag Archive

Metamaterials & Plasmonics

Filed under Videos by jtozer on April 1, 2013 at 7:54 am {no comments}

What do you know about metamaterials and plasmonics? Well you’re about to learn a little more (or what those are in general)!

Dr. Paras N. Prasad, a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Physics, Medicine and Electrical Engineering at the State University of New York, University of Buffalo discusses his groundbreaking AFOSR-funded research in the fields of metamaterials and plasmonics.

Video provided by The Air Force Office of Scientific Research YouTubeChannel

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Stronger Compounds, New Solutions

Filed under STEM, Uncategorized by jtozer on August 16, 2012 at 7:12 am {no comments}

Nicole Favreau Farhadi and Ferdinando Bruno, research chemists at the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, hope that polymerization will help to make food last longer, create better flame-retardant material and possibly to develop a cancer-fighting drug. (By David Kamm, NSRDEC Photographer)

What if you could take a naturally occurring compound and make it stronger so that it could make food last longer, create better flame-retardant material, and possibly develop a cancer- fighting drug?

Research chemists at Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center believe they may have found an answer to this question. They took a naturally occurring phenolic-based compound and enzymatically polymerized it; this chemical process basically means the compound is reacted to form a long chain of repeating units.

“As you make this polymer chain longer, it becomes a more potent anti-oxidant than what you actually find in nature,” said Nicole Favreau Farhadi, an NSRDEC research chemist. “(Due to the conjugation of this polymer, it) is more potent than its naturally occurring monomer.”

Roughly 10 years ago, this process began to be used with epicatechin, an anti-oxidant found in green tea, white tea, red wine, and elsewhere in nature. Research chemists at Natick thought they could use this same tactic for other compounds, such as hydroxytyrosol, one of the most potent antioxidants found in olive oil.

Polymerization in this way is incredibly important because it is relatively simple, now that the process has been formulated, which means polymerizing on a mass scale is feasible.

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A Hilltop in Foggy Bottom – Brother Against Brother & A New Mission

Filed under Scientific Military History, Videos by jtozer on July 17, 2012 at 7:30 am {no comments}

The home of the Old Naval Observatory (1844-1893) and the Navy Medical Department (1894-2012) is where many firsts in science and technology took place.

This is where the science of oceanography was born, where the moons of Mars were discovered, where the underwater path of the first transatlantic cable was plotted. This location played a key role in the Civil War, our first westward expansion, and in the development of military medicine.

In 1902, the Naval Observatory was renamed the Naval Medical School, and later became home to the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery until it was closed through the Department of Defense’s Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC).

Videos courtesy of the Office of Medical History, U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery

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A Hilltop in Foggy Bottom: Light House In The Sky And Pathfinder Of The Seas

Filed under Scientific Military History, Videos by jtozer on July 16, 2012 at 7:10 am {no comments}

The home of the Old Naval Observatory (1844-1893) and the Navy Medical Department (1894-2012) is where many firsts in science and technology took place.

Videos courtesy of the Office of Medical History, U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery

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Open Waters, Open Spirit

Filed under Technology, Videos by jtozer on June 13, 2012 at 7:37 am {no comments}

Navy Diver 1st Class William Davis takes slack out of a line connecting a surface buoy to an underwater concrete anchor at the line separating U.S. military and Cuban waters. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class, Navy diver, Brett Roberts/Released)

U.S. Navy divers take on dangerous tasks every day—and now they are part of a multinational effort near Estonia to help clear the Baltic Sea of underwater mines left over from as long ago as the First and Second World Wars.

“Open Spirit” will be among the biggest naval exercises in the Baltic Sea this year, where more than 150,000 naval mines were planted during the two world wars. It’s all part of a day’s work for U.S. Navy divers, who in addition to hazardous missions face natural perils like oxygen toxicity and decompression sickness every day.

This video highlights how Office of Naval Research (ONR) scientists are working with medical experts to protect America’s undersea warriors.

The field is called Undersea Medicine—and it is designated a National Naval Responsibility by the Chief of Naval Research. Viewers can get an inside look at this remarkable world of the deep in “Protecting Navy Divers: The Undersea Medicine Solution”—a look at the groundbreaking work being done by the divers beneath the waves, and the scientists improving their ability to perform missions.

“There is no such thing as a pure 100 percent safe dive,” said Cmdr. Matthew Swiergosz, a program manager with ONR. “Navy divers take on jobs that are extraordinarily dangerous, and they do them with a poise and professionalism that would inspire every American who could see it.”

Continued domination of the undersea domain, officials say, is a vital component of national security.

“The Earth is mostly water,” said Swiergosz. “Most people live within a handful of miles of our oceans, seas, rivers. So any military force that’s supposed to provide national security must have underwater capabilities.”

The new video offers viewers unique insights into the hazards that await divers every time they splash into the water—and the progress being made to lessen the dangers.

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Controlling Sepsis Can Save Service Member Lives

Filed under Physical Sciences, Technology by jtozer on June 1, 2012 at 7:46 am {no comments}

Sepsis is an overwhelming blood infection, which when coupled with shock (such as that which may be experienced following a combat injury) has a mortality rate near 50 percent.

Current methods to identify and treat sepsis may take 48 hours or longer – resulting in increased recovery time from combat wounds and hundreds of preventable deaths.

In fall 2011, DARPA began research to limit the impact of sepsis on the U.S. warfighter through the Dialysis-Like Therapeutics (DLT) program. The goal of DLT is to demonstrate a portable device capable of sensing and removing various targets in the blood (e.g. bacteria, viruses, toxins, and cytokines) on clinically relevant time scales.

As pathogen load is strongly correlated with patient morbidity and mortality, early detection and rapid reduction is considered fundamental to program success and eventual clinical impact. Research to date has focused on advancing the components needed for such a device.

Today, DARPA announced a solicitation seeking integration of previously awarded DLT projects to develop sensors, complex fluid manipulation architectures, separation technologies and closed-loop control algorithms.

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Building the Future Force of Navy Medicine

Filed under Education & Culture, Life Sciences, Policy by Armed with Science on February 20, 2011 at 10:42 am {no comments}

Vice Admiral Robinson is the 36th Surgeon General of the Navy and Chief of the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. (Photo: US Navy)

This blog post was shared with us by the US Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. Stay connected on Twitter and Facebook.

“Our mission spans the globe, from U.S. hospitals within the TRICARE network, to our operational fleet and fleet Marine forces, overseas hospitals, Medical Battalions, Research Units, and hospital ships. None of this would be possible without a razor sharp focus on taking care of our people. Integral to that is having the right education, training, recruiting/retention, and diversity programs that attract, train, retain, and build our future force.”

~ Vice Admiral Adam M. Robinson Jr., MC, Surgeon General of the Navy

Background

This year’s focus of the Navy Surgeon General annual Leadership Symposium was “Total Force-Focusing on the Future.” The Symposium’s focus was building the future force of Navy Medicine and objectives included: 1) Improving readiness to fully support current and future operations; 2) Attaining agility in how we lead, how we communicate, and how we support our diverse staff; 3) strengthening our delivery of primary care; and 4) adapting to the changing environmental healthcare needs of our population.

The foundation of our future force is having a highly skilled and diverse people with the right education and training in order to deliver cutting edge health care, anytime, anywhere, in support of the full range of military operations, from the benefit mission at home, to the research and development advancements that save lives, to the combat casualty care we provide, from the battlefield to the bedside.

Our personnel are the single most important asset in our organization, constituting about 70% of our O&M budget. How we educate, train, organize, and lead our people is critical to mission accomplishment. This includes Active Duty and Reserve personnel, Officers and Enlisted, Civilians, and Contractors.
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Medical Home Port: Navy Medicine’s New Game Changer

Filed under Life Sciences, STEM by Armed with Science on January 15, 2011 at 12:06 pm {3 comments}

Vice Admiral Robinson, 36th Surgeon General of the Navy. (Photo: US Navy)

This blog post was shared with us by the US Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. Stay connected on Twitter and Facebook.

“Medical Home Port will be a real game changer for Navy Medicine and the entire Military Health System. It will provide our service members and their families’ better access to care, reducing reliance on private sector care and emergency room visits for off hour standard care needs.”

~ Vice Admiral Adam M. Robinson Jr., MC, Surgeon General of the Navy

Background

Navy Medicine’s Medical Home Port initiative introduces a new model of patient and family-centered health care delivery for primary care. This model is team-based, comprehensive, and designed to fully implement the complete primary care health and wellness needs of our patients. We anticipate increased access to care for patients both in person and via electronic media – a true paradigm shift in how we have traditionally provided care to and communicated with our beneficiaries. In the coming years, full implementation of the Medical Home Port initiative will improve population health, access, patient satisfaction, and readiness while reducing overall costs in the long term.

The Medical Home Port model will be implemented and will require a culture of change and leadership to ensure success. This is a ‘game changer’ in how Navy Medicine has done business in the past. It is the right thing to do and is consistent with our mission to deliver high-quality patient and family-centered care.

The key challenge is that the provider-centric model does not leverage the entire healthcare team in patient care. This decreases the ability for providers to see the right amount of patients, enhance success, and spend time doing the tasks which are appropriate for the provider’s level of certification and education. One of the key differences between civilian and military medicine historically is how we execute case management. We make sure we bring healthcare to the patient. We don’t make the patient find and coordinate their own healthcare. We ensure our Sailors, Marines, and their families get the right care, when and where they need it. Our Medical Home Port model is the perfect example of this philosophy. We must embrace this fundamental change in how we provide care to our beneficiaries and do everything possible to assist the full implementation of Medical Home Port across the Navy Medicine community.