Award Data

Millions of heat pumps are used to heat and cool homes and buildings year round. Continuous operation means that components wear out at a greater rate. As a result, maintenance of residential heat pumps is a major cost driver. Current methods focus on reduced use through control settings. Typically, demand has wide swings throughout the day and people are unable to customize controls. Inevitably, ...

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and methane (CH4) are two of the major pollutants associated with animal waste and sewage. Their release to the atmosphere has consequences both locally, where H2S can be present at toxic levels that influence human health and quality of life, and globally, where CH4 acts as a greenhouse gas to influence climate change. Southwest Sciences proposes to develop a compact, inexp ...

Biofuels from agricultural sources is one component of the strategy for achieving energy independence. Specifically, bio-butanol is a more attractive fuel than bio-ethanol because it:provides better gas mileage;achieves higher blends with gasoline than bioethanol;runs in existing engines;has greater compatibility with existing fuel infrastructure;is less volatile than ethanol;is more amenable to t ...

In a large portion of the population the strong desire to eat sweet foods is a major contributing factor leading to overweightness and obesity, and the concomitant predisposition to diabetes diseases. Low calorie sweeteners like Saccharin, Aspartame, Cyclamate and Acesulfame K are popular with patients affected by diseases caused by the consumption of sugar, e.g. diabetes, hyperlipemia, caries, ob ...

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a synthetic chemical which does not occur naturally in the environment,it has been used in many commercial applications. A number of scientific findings since the late 1990's have elevated PFOAs to the category of great environmental concern beacuse of its persistence, and the potential for bioaccumulation and biomagnification. Effective environmental and health pr ...

Small businesses are the bedrock of the American economy. To bring economic development to rural America, these regions must have more effective tools for attracting and retaining the businesses that will provide the jobs and investment these communities need to thrive. The proposal seeks to apply an existing technology, Geographic Information Systems, on a proven platform, DecisionTree, in an inn ...

Recreation trails are a key component of the social, economic and health of rural communities. People with mobility impairments are often excluded from trails, shared-use paths, parks and other public areas where barriers are erected to prevent access by motorized trail vehicles (MTVs), to control livestock or wildlife, as an access point in a fenced area, or for a variety of other reasons. Many p ...

The waste of unprocessed vegetable matter from normal harvesting can be used to create feeds for livestock and the pulp can be used to produce methanol for fuel. We feel that we should use all resources to their fullest potential. To create a refined machine that will allow the field processing of current waste products into viable feed and fuel products.

Extensive worldwide reservoirs of rabies virus (RV) in wildlife and stray dogs continue to pose a serious risk of lethal infection of humans and cause a high economic burden. Immunization of wildlife and stray dogs with live vaccines is the only effective method to control and eventually eliminate rabies in carnivore species worldwide. In this application we propose to select canine adenovirus typ ...

Economic losses due to inadequate ripeness detection in the orchard and post-harvest continue to plague the apple industry. It is anticipated that the in-orchard/packinghouse sensor approach will significantly reduce the waste/spoilage-to-edible-fruit ratio, thereby increasing fruit quality and availability and resultant consumer demand at the domestic retail level as well as in the export market. ...