Award Data

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 ...

Ethylene is a growth hormone for fruits and vegetables that is generated by the plants themselves; that is, it acts as a self-ripening agent. Hence, the removal of ethylene gas can play a central role in maintaining the freshness of these products. Whereas the temperature and the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide gases are also important system variables that demand a significant economic invest ...

A. Water must be removed from biodegradable hydraulic fluids as they react with water and degrade insitu. B. Biodegradable hydraulic fluids for farm equipment provide a significant improvement over traditional petroleum based fluids due to decreased pollution. Increase the use and value of biodegradable hydraulic fluids by development of a membrane-based dewatering system.

The use of biodiesel offers significant advantages with regards to the reduction of total harmful engine emissions with the exception of NOx. Biodiesel is a renewable resource and soybean oil is known to be economically viable as a biodiesel fuel. Recent studies from the Environmental Protection Agency have shown that soybean oil alone or blended with #2 diesel fuel results in a significant decrea ...

Farm equipment and other industries use biodegradable hydraulic fluids (BHF), esters based on agricultural raw materials, that provide rapid decomposition and reduced environmental problems associated with spills. Hydrolytic stability is major problem, since BHFs react with dissolved water creating alcohols and acids accelerating degradation. This program introduces a membrane system to remove wat ...

The development of new technology that can facilitate natural food and flavor biochemistry reactions has potential to have fundamental and tremendous impact on food science and nutrition and other high value products. Reactor time and temperature are an extraordinarily expensive aspect of food and flavor development. Enabling technology that can improve product yield, improve separation, decrease ...

"Development of an advanced, innovative system in support of timely assessments of emerging market opportunities for U.S. commodity crops is proposed. GDA will prototype a set of automated, decision support algorithms for near-real time, analytical assessment of large volumes of satellite derived time-series data on crop conditions. For development, the project will collaborate with the Production ...

Improvements in configuration of potential thermobaric warheads are presented. Such improvements in configuration will allow faster mixing rates, resulting in a reduction in total reaction time. Higher reaction rates, and lower reaction times lead to more complete reaction of thermobaric fuels, which will cause thermobaric weapons to better engage enclosed targets and cause more extensive damage ...

The use of the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) has become a favorite weapon of choice against the U.S. and Iraqi military and civilian population during the current conflict in Iraq. The potential use of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) as IEDs to increase the area of effect and intensity of the attacks is growing as is the possibility of spreading IED use around the globe. The wide spread av ...