Award Data

Develops and evaluates the Accessible Testing Learning and Assessment System (ATLAS), a testing and assessment system which can be used by teachers and evaluators to create independently accessible, self-paced tests and evaluations for students and adults with intellectual disabilities

Demonstrates the technical merit and feabisibility of Geo Talk approach for providing indepndent access to speech output functionality for individuals with intellectual disabilities with speech impairments

Develops and tests the Visual Media Literacy System, an accessible software system with a simplifed, picture-based interface design used for accessing electronic media resources on a standard desktop and/or portable palmtop computer

Investigates the utility of Web-Voyagaer as an online, dynamically driven information and service management program, specifically designed to deliver personalized content from the Internet to individuals with intellectual disabilities thereby fostering self-determination and independence.

"The United States floriculture industry reached a total of $5.6 billion in domestic consumption in 2002 with an additional $111 million in exports. As the industry continues to move towards mechanized harvesting in order to increase production, the potential for bulb injury and resulting fungal infection has increased, as well. Current chemical methods to reduce fungal infection are often costly, ...

Millions of dollars are lost worldwide due to insect and fungi caused spoilage in stored grain. We propose to develop new technology for early detection that takes advantage of the fact that small amounts of spoilage cause significant increases in CO2 concentration throughout the grain mass and storage structure. The new sensor will be designed for placement in stored grain structures to continuou ...

This Phase II program will produce a sensitive, reliable and cost-effective monitor for ammonia emissions in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). CAFOs have become a major form of animal production. There is increased concern over emissions from confinements houses and health effects on workers and animals. The CAFO industry needs reliable monitoring solutions to support manure management a ...

By 2020, fully one quarter of Americans will be over 60. Some 77 million Baby Boomers ages 42 to 60 are just beginning to face this critical juncture in their lives. In Maine, the oldest state in the nation, some people, due to lack of planning, may leave their homes and enter assisted living facilities or nursing homes at a huge economic and social cost to themselves, their heirs and public resou ...

The high cost of producing microalgae as food for bivalves constrains the size to which large quantities of bivalve seed can be grown in controlled hatchery conditions prior to transfer into a nursery. Larger hatchery seed translates to larger juveniles planted in the fall, and dramatically improves yields at harvest. Based on preliminary bench-top studies conducted by Mook Sea Farm, the SBIR Phas ...

Biofouling is a costly and serious problem for all types of aquaculture and with certain types of shellfish, culture is highly vulnerable. Fouling organisms not only clog gear, stopping water flow and food delivery, they can also settle and grow on the cultured organisms themselves, causing reduced growth rates, decreased product quality and mortality. In response to increasing problems with biofo ...