Award Data

Hyperspectral imagery produces images that include colors both within and beyond the range of colors that can be seen by the human eye. Hyperspectral Imagery allows for the classification, identification, and detection of vegetation phenomena that relate to the agricultural industry, including: plant species identification, insect and disease detection and monitoring, stress detection, soil qualit ...

Cooling and drying of feed pellets are the most important operations in the feed manufacturing industry. These operations are carried out simultaneously, in a single machine, by passing ambient air through a moving bed of pellets. However, simultaneous control of both these processes is very difficult. Overdrying of pellets is a common problem that costs several million dollars to feed processi ...

Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of western wildfires.The threat to peopleand infrastructure is growing with more population living in the wildland-urban interface.Advances in technology provide the opportunity to improve wildfire mapping accuracy timelinessand dissemination. An un-stabilized airborne fire mapping sensor is proposed utilizing an array ofminiature thermal inf ...

Food safety is a global problem, which costs the world billions of dollars and over a million lives annually. This project seeks to develop a complete system for easy pathogenic bacteria detection for the food supply chain. The proposed kit will deliver exceptional ease-of-use as well as performance metrics (time, cost, labor). By delivering a complete pathogen detection solution, the kit will ena ...

The respiration of fresh fruits and vegetables (FF & amp;V) converts oxygen from the surrounding air into carbon dioxide, moisture and ethylene. While ethylene is used under controlled conditions as a ripening agent, the presence of even small amounts of ethylene gas in shipping and storage containers causes most fresh produce to deteriorate much faster, potentially spoiling it before it reaches t ...

Animal waste is a substantial source of ammonia. By monitoring and regulating ammonia levels, protection of human and animal health, and increased animal productivity should be realized. Distributed ammonia sensor networks will aid in assessing ammonia emissions from agricultural systems.

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 ...

Despite its clean and green nature when utilized in fuel cells and other devices, most hydrogen is currently produced primarily from non-renewable sources, such as natural gas, oil, and coal. Anaerobic digestion provides a potentially improved alternative to manufacturing hydrogen from petroleum and natural gas. Anaerobic digesters can produce hydrogen from inexpensive and renewable energy sources ...

THE PRESENCE OF PENICILLIN RESIDUES IN MILK HAS POSED A LONG-STANDING HEALTH PROBLEM FOR CONSUMERS AND AN ECONOMIC PROBLEM FOR DAIRY PRODUCERS AND MILK PROCESSORS. CURRENT METHODOLOGIES USED TO DETECT THESE RESIDUES DO NOT POSSESS THE ATTRIBUTES CONSISTENT FOR TESTING OF MILK AT ALL STAGES OF PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING. THE APPLICABILITY OF DDX'S OPTEST TECHNOLOGY FOR THE DETECTION OF PENICILLIN RE ...

The objectives of the Phase II program are to optimize the nitrate extraction/recovery process and to develop a bench-scale redox-recyclable nitrate removal system to be evaluated in water treatment, residential, and industrial settings. All of the basic concepts were proven in the Phase I program, and feasibility was demonstrated. It was shown that a redox-active extractant can be dissolved in a ...