Award Data

Current research shows that failures in the standardization process are often the result of a failure of the participants to communicate or organize. To this effect, NIST has developed a tool, NIST Ontological Visualization Interface for Standards (NOVIS), with an environment for visualizing, browsing, and querying standards. Aztera will create a Computer Aided Standards Development (CASD) framewo ...

The use of unattended floats, platforms, and drones addresses the immense challenge of cost-effectively characterizing the chemistry of the oceans. The proposed program strengthens this capability by demonstrating the feasibility of Laser Fluorescence Enhanced Flame Spectrophotometry (LFEFS) for the simultaneous and high precision measurement of calcium and strontium. These are key elements of the ...

The past decade has seen remarkable progress in the development of biobased fuel and chemical production. Biobased fuels and chemicals could create substantial economic benefits for farmers and rural communities, since biomass feedstock production and conversion to biobased products are predominantly rural activities. However, substantial challenges exist and achieving economic viability of large- ...

Soybean meal has long been a critical input for animal feed in monogastric animals (such as chickens and pigs) as it provides an ideal protein profile to promote healthy, rapid animal growth at a competitive price. More recently, aquaculture, the fastest growing commercial animal protein segment, has sought to take advantage of the protein and cost advantages of soybean meal as an affordable prote ...

The fundamental goal in agriculture is higher yields per acre, in conjunction with requiring thesame or lower inputs. To achieve these higher yields, more energy and water efficient plants arerequired. One of the fundamental biological processes involved in producing these phenotypes isheterosis, i.e., increased yields from hybrid progeny of parent plants with heterotic combiningability, with hybr ...

Fertilizer is required for increasing crop productivity and gives farmers economic viability. However, the use of nitrogen-based fertilizers results in excess nitrate runoff in the ground water, and has the potential to cause significant health problems if consumed in large quantities. There is an increasing body of evidence that nitrate pollution of ground water is a large and growing problem aro ...

Current Problem & Importance of Solution Vegetable field growers are constantly faced with soil borne disease pressure that significantly reduces crop yields and profitability, limits the amount of quality vegetables in the stores, and increases the price of fresh produce. To solve the problem large vegetable growers treated their fields with an ozone depleting fumigant, methylbromide, which contr ...

The inside of a grain bin is a dangerous place. In 2014, there were no fewer than 70 reported cases of injury or death in confined agricultural spaces. Fifty-four percent were related to entrapments, but there are other incidents including asphyxiations, entanglements, falls, and fires. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulates the workplace safety procedures surrounding c ...

Beef tenderness is the most important trait influencing consumer satisfaction. Currently there is no method for real-time classification of beef by tenderness. The overall objective of this project is to determine the feasibility of a multispectral image acquisition system for real-time forecasting of beef tenderness (forecast 14-day tenderness from 2-day images). We have demonstrated that hypersp ...

The Haber-Bosch process, one of the most impactful developments in human history, has provided enough fertilizer to the world that it is estimated nearly half of the nitrogen found in our bodies originated in a Haber-Bosch chemical plant. However, this technological marvel comes at a price. On U.S. farms, 29% of energy consumed (directly and indirectly) is in the form of fertilizers, and these sam ...