Award Data

Our OASIS tool will support government agencies and potential investors, developers, and operators by providing a sophisticated and comprehensive management tool and by applying advanced system engineering techniques to offshore aquaculture development in the United States. The major near-term impediments to offshore aquaculture development are centered, first, on the regulatory bottleneck driven ...

Situation or Problem The blue orchard bee (BOB), Osmia lignaria, is a solitary, native bee species that has been demonstrated to be an excellent pollinator of almonds, cherries, apples, pears and other crops, but has yet to become available on a large scale. The economics and scientific knowledge are now in place for the BOB to become a commercial pollinator, but only if large populations of the b ...

Cellulosic biofuels promise a sustainable, renewable path to replacing the ~200 billion gallons of fuel consumed in the United States in 2008, but the key hurdle is how to economically convert cellulosic biomass into liquid fuels. Cellulose, the most abundant natural polymer on earth, is made of sugar molecules connected by difficult-to-break bonds. To make fuels from cellulosic biomass, it must b ...

Mechanical damage (typically from third party excavations) is the most frequent source of leaks and ruptures in pipelines. The most common type of mechanical damage is dents, sometimes associated with secondary features such as gouges, external corrosion, or cracks. Currently used techniques for assessing dents are not accurate enough for reliable determination of fitness for service. In this p ...

The goal of the project is to provide control of an important insect pest of citrus trees(citrus leafminer that transmits a lethal citrus canker bacterium) for small and medium US citrus growers. This project is utilizing the sex pheromone of the citrus leaf miner and their Specialized Pheromone and Lure Application Technology (SPLAT) approach to develop a biocontrol program to control the citrus ...

Liquid concentration minimizes packaging, transportation, handling and storage costs where the most commonly-used process is a thermal concentration process, such as evaporation and freeze concentration. The use of a thermal process results in substantial product losses through the degradation of flavors, aromas, and color. Steps may be taken to strip and recover volatile essences and oils but can ...

Strawberries are a very valuable fruit crop in the United States, ranking fourth in production. The state of California leads this charge at 1.4 billion pounds of strawberries, 83% of the nation's total, worth some $800 million (2001). Production costs are estimated $25,000 per acre, of which harvesting is near 63%. Harvest labor costs are more than 40% of total costs Strawberry plants continuousl ...

This proposal seeks to demonstrate the feasibility of using impulse radar techniques to detect and identify explosive detonators. It relies on the fact that a radar impulse will excite natural electromagnetic resonances which characterize the size, shape, and material composition of an object. These resonances are present in the scattered transient return from the object and can be extracted by ...

THE APPLICANT FIRM PROPOSES UNDER PHASE I TO PROVE FEASIBLE A PROPOSED UNIQUE AIRBORNE RETARDANT DELIVERY SYSTEM. THE DESIGN OF THE SYSTEM WILL LIMIT THE EFFECT OF AIRCRAFT AND ATMOSPHERIC DISTUBANCES (EG. AIRCRAFT FORWARD VELOCITY, TURBULENCE, CROSS-WINDS, HUMIDITY, ETC.) TO THE AERIAL DELIVERY OF RETARDANT. FURTHER PROPOSED IS TO ALLOW FOR FLEXIBILITY AND DELIVERY RATES TO BETTER MEET CURRENT MA ...

Codling moth, Cydia pomonella, is a major exotic pest of walnuts, apples and pears in California. Current control practices, using the application of conventional pesticides, are costly, toxic and declining in effectivenss. Of additional concern in California is that many walnut orchards are planted along major river systems in former riparian zones where growers are or will be required to use e ...