Award Data

This project addresses two problems of environmental and economic importance to New Mexico.The first problem is the value-added utilization of pecan shells, and agricultural waste from oneof New Mexico's most important crops. The second problem is the need to remove metal andorganic contaminants of environmental concern from wastewater produced by some of NewMexico's economically important indust ...

The proposed product to be developed will be an inexpensive system to monitor activities ofpersons who must, or who prefer to live alone, and to alert a responsible individual on a timelybasis of potential medical emergency situations which are indicated based on this activity or lackof activity. An expert system will monitor the activity levels as well as simple user inputs suchas codes for ever ...

Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is a retrovirus that causes a chronic infection in horses. In theabsence of a vaccine, the control of this disease depends on the diagnosis and elimination of infectedhorses. Currently approved diagnostic procedures utilize agar gel diffusion (AGID), or enzyme-linkedimmunosorbant (ELISA) methodologies to detect antibodies against the virus in horse sera as e ...

SWINE DYSENTERY (SD) HAS BEEN ESTIMATED TO COST SWINE PRODUCERS IN EXCESS OF 130 MILLION DOLLARS ANNUALLY, AND IS QUARANTINABLE IN MOST STATES. CONFIRMATION OF THE DISEASE IS BASED ON THE DETECTION OF THE BACTERIA, TREPONEMAHYODYSENTERIAE, FROM THE FECES OF INFECTED PIGS. THE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ASSAY IS TIME CONSUMING, LACKS SENSITIVITY, AND IN MANY CASES REQUIRES AN EXPERIENCED TECHNICIAN FOR AN ...

The incidence of food borne outbreaks associated with Salmonella has risen steadily since the mid1970's. The monetary cost of salmonellosis has been estimated at $4 billion annually. The primarycause of salmonellosis has been linked to the consumption of eggs or egg products containingSalmonella enteritidis and 80% of all eggs consumed in the United States are transported to thepurchaser in the ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project investigates the rapid detection ofstaphylococcal contaminated foods. Staphylococcal food poisoning continues to be a major publichealth concern being the second leading cause of bacterial food poisoning in the United States. Thebacteria secrete staphylococcal enterotoxins and as little as 0.1¿g of SEA can produce the clinicalfeature of st ...

THE FEASIBILITY OF LOW COST REAL TIME SENSORS CAPABLE OF DETECTING AGRICULTURAL SPRAY DRIFT (JORDEN, 1993) AND SOLID AIRBORNE PARTICLES (JORDEN 1992) HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED. WHILE THESE DEVICES ARE VERY EFFECTIVE IN THEIR PRESENT FORM, THEY CAN BECOME MORE ACCURATE AND VERSATILE IF THEY ARE ABLE TO SAMPLE LARGER VOLUMES OF AIR. THIS CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED BY ROTATING THE SENSORS THROUGH THE AIR AT A H ...

The ability to identify an individual carcass or primal cut, measure attributes of weight, quality, or yield for each, is lost the moment the animal is slaughtered and passed into the production line or when the eartag is removed. Current gambrel marking systems allow for acquisition of data and relate it to an individual carcass but cease to have benefit once carcass conversion commences. The p ...

In the U.S., there are more than 135,000 captive deer and elk on 2,000 ranches in 42 states. Someranchers have used deer to replace or supplement traditional livestock. Primary products of deer aremeat and velvet antler, and the industry is growing. We propose to assist the industry and regulatoryagencies using molecular genetics. Ranchers want genetic tests to help establish breeding programs ...

XMCO HAS IDENTIFIED AN OPPORTUNITY TO CONDUCT RESEARCH TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING A COUNTY AGENT ADVISOR SYSTEM (CAAS). THIS INNOVATIVE CONCEPT WOULD INVESTIGATE THE APPLICATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGY, SPECIFICALLY HYPERMEDIA TECHNOLOGY WITH EMBEDDEDEXPERT SYSTEMS, TO THE ENVIRONMENT AND REQUIREMENTS OF COUNTY AGENTS. THIS MEETS A USDA NEED FOR INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY ...