A single crystal yttrium aluminum perovskite scintillator has a minimum thickness of at least 5 mm and a transmittance of at least 50% at a wavelength of 370 nm. A method for fabricating the yttrium aluminum perovskite scintillator includes acquiring a yttrium aluminum perovskite single crystal boule, annealing the yttrium aluminum perovskite single crystal boule in an oxygen containing environment to obtain a partially annealed crystal, and annealing the partially annealed crystal in an inert environment or a reducing environment to obtain the yttrium aluminum perovskite single crystal scintillator.

There is disclosed a substrate with an electron donating surface, characterized in having metal particles on said surface, said metal particles comprising palladium and at least one metal selected from the group consisting of gold, ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, iridium, and platinum, wherein the amount of said metal particles is from about 0.001 to about 8 g/cm.sup.2. Examples of coated objects include contact lenses, pacemakers, pacemaker electrodes, stents, dental implants, rupture nets, rupture mesh, blood centrifuge equipment, surgical instruments, gloves, blood bags, artificial heart valves, central venous catheters, peripheral venous catheters, vascular ports, haemodialysis equipment, peritoneal dialysis equipment, plasmapheresis devices, inhalation drug delivery devices, vascular grafts, arterial grafts, cardiac assist devices, wound dressings, intermittent catheters, ECG electrodes, peripheral stents, bone replacing implants, orthopaedic implants, orthopaedic devices, tissue replacing implants, intraocular lenses, sutures, needles, drug delivery devices, endotracheal tubes, shunts, drains, suction devices, hearing aid devices, urethral medical devices, and artificial blood vessels.

One-dimensional nanostructures having uniform diameters of less than approximately 200 nm. These inventive nanostructures, which we refer to as nanowires, include single-crystalline homostructures as well as heterostructures of at least two single-crystalline materials having different chemical compositions. Because single-crystalline materials are used to form the heterostructure, the resultant heterostructure will be single-crystalline as well. The nanowire heterostructures are generally based on a semiconducting wire wherein the doping and composition are controlled in either the longitudinal or radial directions, or in both directions, to yield a wire that comprises different materials. Examples of resulting nanowire heterostructures include a longitudinal heterostructure nanowire (LOHN) and a coaxial heterostructure nanowire (COHN).

The invention concerns a substrate with an electron donating surface with metal particles on the surface. The particles comprise palladium and at least one metal selected from the group consisting of gold, ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, iridium, and platinum. The amount of said metal particles is from about 0.001 to about 8 g/cm.sup.2. Examples of coated objects include contact lenses, pacemakers, pacemaker electrodes, stents, dental implants, rupture nets, rupture mesh, blood centrifuge equipment, surgical instruments, gloves, blood bags, artificial heart valves, central venous catheters, peripheral venous catheters, vascular ports, haemodialysis equipment, peritoneal dialysis equipment, plasmapheresis devices, inhalation drug delivery devices, vascular grafts, arterial grafts, cardiac assist devices, wound dressings, intermittent catheters, ECG electrodes, peripheral stents, bone replacing implants, orthopedic implants, orthopedic devices, tissue replacing implants, intraocular lenses, sutures, needles, drug delivery devices, endotracheal tubes, shunts, drains, suction devices, hearing aid devices, urethral medical devices, and artificial blood vessels.

Processes for making high-performance polyethylene multi-filament yarn are disclosed which include the steps of a) making a solution of ultra-high molar mass polyethylene in a solvent; b) spinning of the solution through a spinplate containing at least 5 spinholes into an air-gap to form fluid filaments, while applying a draw ratio DR.sub.fluid; c) cooling the fluid filaments to form solvent-containing gel filaments; d) removing at least partly the solvent from the filaments; and e) drawing the filaments in at least one step before, during and/or after said solvent removing, while applying a draw ratio DR.sub.solid of at least 4, wherein in step b) each spinhole comprises a contraction zone of specific dimension and a downstream zone of diameter Dn and length Dn with Ln/Dn of from 0 to at most 25, to result in a draw ratio DR.sub.fluid=DR.sub.sp* DR.sub.ag of at least 150, wherein DR.sub.sp is the draw ratio in the spinholes and DR.sub.ag is the draw ratio in the air-gap, with DR.sub.sp being greater than 1 and DR.sub.ag at least 1. High-performance polyethylene multifilament yarn, and semi-finished or end-use products containing said yarn, especially to ropes and ballistic-resistant composites, are also disclosed.

Disclosed are improved polymer materials. Also disclosed are fine fiber materials that can be made from the improved polymeric materials in the form of microfiber and nanofiber structures. The microfiber and nanofiber structures can be used in a variety of useful applications including the formation of filter materials.

The present invention is directed to a stabilized bioactive hydrogel matrix coating for substrates, such as medical devices. The invention provides a coated substrate comprising a substrate having a surface, and a bioactive hydrogel matrix layer overlying the surface of the medical device, the hydrogel matrix comprising a first high molecular weight component and a second high molecular weight component, the first and second high molecular weight components each being selected from the group consisting of polyglycans and polypeptides, wherein at least one of the first and second high molecular weight components is immobilized (e.g., by covalent cross-linking) to the surface of the substrate.

Systems and methods for treating a fluid with a body are disclosed. Various aspects involve treating a fluid with a porous body. In select embodiments, a body comprises ash particles, and the ash particles used to form the body may be selected based on their providing one or more desired properties for a given treatment. Various bodies provide for the reaction and/or removal of a substance in a fluid, often using a porous body comprised of ash particles. Computer-operable methods for matching a source material to an application are disclosed. Certain aspects feature a porous body comprised of ash particles, the ash particles have a particle size distribution and interparticle connectivity that creates a plurality of pores having a pore size distribution and pore connectivity, and the pore size distribution and pore connectivity are such that a first fluid may substantially penetrate the pores.

This is provided a hydrophobic or superhydrophobic surface configuration and method of forming a hydrophobic or superhydrophobic material on a metallic substrate. The surface configuration comprises a metallic substrate having a carbon nanotube/carbon fibers configuration grown thereon, with the carbon nanotubes/carbon fibers configuration having a heirarchial structure formed to have a predetermined roughness in association with the surface. The method comprises providing a metallic substrate having a predetermined configuration, and growing a plurality of carbon nanotubes/fibers or other nanostructures formed into a predetermined architecture supported on the substrate.

The assemblies of the invention can comprise a fine fiber layer having dispersed within the fine fiber layer an active particulate material. Fluid that flows through the assemblies of the invention can have any material dispersed or dissolved in the fluid react with, be absorbed by, or adsorbed onto, the active particulate within the nanofiber layer. The structures of the invention can act simply as reactive, absorptive, or adsorptive layers with no filtration properties, or the structures of the invention can be assembled into filters that can filter particulate from a mobile fluid while simultaneously reacting, absorbing, or adsorbing materials from the mobile fluid.