Award Data

Aquaculture is the fastest growing segment in U.S. food production, and in 2011 NOAA estimated that the U.S. aquaculture industry was worth $1.2 billion. The FAO estimates that aquaculture will soon overtake captured fisheries as a source of food fish. The rapid global expansion of aquaculture has led to a corresponding increase in demand for fish meal protein, the primary ingredient in aquacultur ...

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: There is no inexpensive End-Grain Sandwich Core Material for Composites today. Balsa, as an end-grain cellulosic core, has had no competition since 1945. Balsa core is grown in Ecuador and needs to be imported to the U.S.A as well as all other countries. The introduction of an inexpensive end-grained core would open up new possibilities in the composites market. The purpose ...

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Due to healthcare reforms, nursing shortages and various other factors, hospitals and healthcare facilities are using more unlicensed assistive personnel to provide direct and indirect patient care. With proper training, unlicensed personnel can be very competent caregivers. Yet access to high quality training in rural communities is limited and costly. The Phase II research ...

The objectives of this phase II SBIR project are to investigate state of art communication systems for broad band data transmission over power lines, to develop a comprehensive wide are network comprised of these components, and to bring low-cost broad-band internet to the last mile for rural economic stimulation.

The health risks of exposure to a wide variety of hazardous gases to animals and swine productionworkers in the confinement unit has emerged as a major concern for the future of the U.S. hogindustry. The major gases and several of the more significant environmental parameters necessary forhuman and swine health include: air temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide,hydrogen ...

Environmental regulations on the handling and containment of toxic substances are constantly being made more rigorous. For example, pesticide applicators must have a handling and rinse containment pad installed. As cement cracks, the pad then becomes a hazardous generator and it is not impervious. To address many of the problems, the proposed Phase I research intends to investigate the technica ...

Counties and other local governmental entities constantly have more documentation and reporting requirements placed on them by state and federal government regulations. This, along with other factors, has put many local governments in a difficult financial situation. Business and larger governmental entitles have begun to use document image processing technology to more effectively reduce costs ...

RURAL COUNTY GOVERNMENTS ARE CONFRONTED WITH DETERIORATING ROAD NETWORKS, INTENSE DEMAND ON REVENUES, GREATER DEMANDS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY, AND THE NECESSITY FOR MORE EFFICIENT MANAGEMENT. NEW TOOLS ARE NEEDED TO TRANSFER ACCURATE INFORMATION ON RURAL ROADS TO LOCAL DECISION-MAKERS AND SUBSEQUENT LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES INCLUDE EVALUATION OF MERGING A RATIONAL TECHNICAL SYSTEM INTO ...