We report a general diffusion based method to form micrometer-scale lateral chemical gradients in polymer brushes via selective alkylation. A quaternized brush gradient is derived from a concentration gradient of alkylating agent formed by diffusion in permeable media around a microchannel carrying the alkylating agent. Polymer brushes containing both charge and aromatic gradients are formed us...

A new type of contrast agent for Xe NMR based on surfactant-stabilized perfluorocarbon-in-water nanoemulsions has been produced. The contrast agent uses dissolved hyperpolarized xenon gas as a nonperturbing reporting medium, as xenon freely exchanges between aqueous solution and the perfluorocarbon interior of the droplets, which are spectroscopically distinguishable and allow for chemical exch...

A self-healing fiber-reinforced structural polymer matrix composite material is demonstrated. In the composite, a microencapsulated healing agent and a solid chemical catalyst are dispersed within the polymer matrix phase. Healing is triggered by crack propagation through the microcapsules, which then release the healing agent into the crack plane. Subsequent exposure of the healing agent to th...

This paper describes how multiple interacting swarms of adaptive mobile agents can be used to solve problems in networks. The paper introduces a new architectural description for an agent that is chemically inspired and proposes chemical interaction as the principal mechanism for inter-swarm communication. Agents within a given swarm have behavior that is inspired by the foraging activities of ...

We propose a new approach to the classical detection problem of discrimination of a true signal of interest from an interferent signal, which may be applied to the area of chemical sensing. We show that the detection performance, as quantified by the receiver operating curve (ROC), can be substantially improved when the signal is represented by a multicomponent data set that is actively manipul...

Somatosensory dysfunction is a widely reported clinical consequence of chemical exposure. Assessment of such dysfunction should be an important component of agent safety testing, necessarily implying evaluation of psychophysical functions in laboratory animals. The logic of testing agent-induced sensory dysfunction, conceptual and practical factors affecting such tests, and the categories of ex...

– thermostat – chemical plants with valves, pumps – control modes for complex systems, eg. intelligent cruise control in automobiles, aircraft autopilot modes • Coordinating processes: systems which are comprised of many interacting subsystems (called multiple agent, or multi-agent systems) typically feature continuous controllers to optimize performance of individual agents, and coordination a...