Award Data

Ready-to-eat meat or poultry products that undergo further handling after cooking (e.g. peeling or slicing) show the highest prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes (one to ten percent). Though rare, listeriosis is responsible for 20 to 30 percent of foodborne disease-related deaths. Therefore, the industry has adopted, among other methods, post-packaging pasteurization to control Listeria monocytoge ...

DNA microarray technology, in combination with statistical and predictive modeling tools, could be used to evaluate thousands of genes against distinct gene expression patterns induced by chemical/biological agents to provide early identification and speed therapeutic intervention. The overall objective of this Phase II effort is to leverage existing public domain resources and commercial tools t ...

By continuing teaming up with one of the most reputable university teams in THz science and technology, ArkLight proposes to carry out the tasks set for a Phase-II program following our success in Phase I. We are aimed at the further development of novel spectrometers to analyze chemicals in the vapor phase based on accurate measurements of the emission and absorption spectra due to the molecular ...

Lameness is the third most costly problem to the US dairy industry with annual losses of at least $500 million, affecting over 15% of US dairy cattle. In addition, lameness is a critical animal well-being issue. The inability to routinely and objectively diagnose lameness, results in ineffective interventions and has become a compelling reason for developing a novel device that automatically detec ...

THE U.S. POULTRY INDUSTRY ADMINISTERS ABOUT 21 BILLION DOSE UNITS OF VACCINES YEARLY. THESE VACCINATIONS ARE GIVEN TO TO DAY-OLD BIRDS FOR SEVERAL VIRAL AND BACTERIAL DISEASES, AND SUBSEQUENT VACCINATIONS TO GROWING AND ADULT CHICKENS ANAND TURKEYS. ADDITIONALLY, 170 MILLION TURKEY EMBRYOS R RECEIVE ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENT. THE WORLDWIDE POULTRY DRUG VACCINE MARKET REPRESENTS OVER $500 MILLION PR YEA ...

Approximately 5% of hatchlings do not survive the critical post-hatch period because of limited body reserves. Many survivors exhibit stunted growth, leg problems, inefficient feed utilization, reduced disease resistance, or poor meat yield. This poult quality problem has been calculated to be worth approximately $71 million and $142 million annually to the US and global turkey industry respective ...

Cultivation of Echinacea has gained worldwide interest in recent years due to its non-specific immunomodulatory activity in humans. However, Echinacea species have not been genetically improved for medicinal use. This project is to develop genetically improved Echinacea cultivars for medicinal use. The new cultivars will produce higher yield of biomass and bioactive phytochemicals than the types c ...

Many rural areas and related small communities are on the lower side of a digital divide that separates areas with and without the telecommunications infrastructure necessary to compete in today's global economy. This project will deploy a partial broadband wireless network in Rusk County, Wisconsin to demonstrate the efficacy of such a system in a low density, low income county in Northern Wiscon ...

In Phase I, Nomadics demonstrated that a novel chemical weapon indicating chromophore (CWIC) developed by Professor Tim Swager at MIT will allow equipment to be quickly and easily examined to show any areas of contamination, making targeted decontamination manageable. When exposed to CW agent simulants, CWICs react to become fluorescent under UV stimulation. In the first phase, we implemented a s ...

The current methodology for testing the penetration resistance of textile materials to various chemical agents has a number of drawbacks, including significant uncertainties in the resulting data, inefficiency and expense, risk to test personnel, and limited range of test conditions. The objective of the proposed work is to apply unique computer models for textiles with accompanying experimental ...