Award Data

"Honey bee pollination is estimated to contribute over $14 billion annually to agricultural production. Honey bee pollination services in the larger ecosystem are also of vital importance. However, apiculture in the United States is threatened, especially by infestations of exotic parasitic mites. Varroa destructor, in particular, is lethal to many colonies, decimating both feral and managed honey ...

"This proposal, lead by Frontline BioEnergy, teams with the Iowa State University (ISU), Center for Sustainable Energy Technologies (CSET) to develop high quality, time-stable and storable fast pyrolysis oils in phase-I that are useful for production of fungible liquid fuels such as diesel, gasoline and jet fuel. Our approach uses novel filtration techniques to reduce total alkali contamination in ...

"Milk supply by the small dairy farms to the local markets not only reduces transportation costs but also provides cultural and economic benefits to the communities. However, the majority of the milk processing operations are carried out in large plants at the wholesale level. Such capacities and the large capital requirement act as a barrier to entry for small farmers and prohibit them to get a b ...

There is a clear and immediate need for improved PRRSV vaccines. PRRS is estimated to cost pork producers in the U.S. nearly $600 million annually and with a national eradication effort being proposed, the need for a second generation vaccine tool that is effective and safe is crucial. The use of a vector such as replicon particles (RP) merges subunit and modified live technologies to safely induc ...

"In 2005 8.8 billion broiler chickens were produced in the United States. Improvements in vaccination uniformity and reductions in labor necessary for vaccination would greatly benefit the broiler industry. Current methods of field vaccination of broiler chickens in the field include administration via drinking water and spray application. The effectiveness of both methods is limited by non-unifor ...

"The goal of this project is to implement the industrial use of layer-by-layer polyelectrolyte nanocoated pulp fibers, thereby to bring new technology to paper making. The proposed work is based on our pioneering in the layer-by-layer nanoassembly techniques and on our results on modification of lignocellulose fibers, which made stronger paper and improved paper recycling. Layer-by-layer (LbL) ass ...

This project will develop and evaluate a new process for converting glycerol (the by-product of biodiesel production) into a higher value product, polyglycerols. Polyglycerols are non-toxic and can be used as environmentally friendly plasticizers in biodegradable plastics, and also in lubricants or as additives in food and cosmetics. Biodiesel production processes generate about 9% glycerol by vol ...

Mastitis results in approximately a $200 per cow economic loss in the United State dairy industry. Mastitis is almost always caused by bacteria entering the mammary gland via the teat canal. Contagious pathogens are transmitted from cow to cow during milking. Environmental pathogens, as the name indicates, are present in the environment and usually enter the udder through the teat canal through th ...

The ubiquitous rat (Rattus sp.) is considered to be the most destructive mammalian species in the world. The economic impact directly associated with rats includes damage to agricultural crops and stored grains estimated at 20 billion annually in the United States alone (Danoff-Burg 2002). Rats also carry a variety of serious diseases that cause health problems for the entire community, especiall ...

Tripletail Ventures, Inc. aims to facilitate the creation, adoption, organization, update, transmission, portability, and sharing of rural patient health records, specifically for a Medicare certified dialysis unit. Many rural dialysis units in Iowa do not have access to their patients complete records, spend considerable time and expense tracking vital information from other providers, and do not ...