Award Data

We have developed a novel siphon-infiltration trench system to mange water and sediment budgets in riparian systems. We have demonstrated in the laboratory and developed a numerical model showing the three hydrologically-distinct flow regimes in a infiltrating siphon system: 1) infiltrating flow at low-flow rates, 2) cycling outflow at intermediate-flow rates, and 3) constant outflow at high-flow ...

An external virtual fencing device worn as a neck-collar, or adaptable for miniaturization for attachment in or on the ear, uses a programmable repertoire of bilaterally applied cues for the autonomous control of free-ranging animals without the need for ground-based devices such as transceivers. The animal's location is continuously monitored using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. The ...

A demonstration cable of an automated grain instrumentation system (AGIS) will be fabricated, installed, and tested in a concrete silo at USDA-ARS-GMPRC. AGIS comprises cable-borne insect and moisture temperature sensor modules, signal processing and control electronics, and a wireless data link. Insect, moisture, and temperature data will be sent to a Stored Grain Advisor (SGA) computer at GMPRC. ...

There are many areas in the world where water and soil are available but where electric power is not available for irrigation. Solar powered pumps that use photovoltaic panels to provide electricity to drive pumps work well but are too expensive to produce sufficient water for irrigation use. Proposals have been made to use solar thermal energy, but these require relatively expensive collectors an ...

The greenbug is a severe insect pest of wheat. There is a need and market for new greenbug integrated pest management (IPM) decision-making tools. A critical component of an IPM program is a method to monitor fields to determine if there is a pest problem. Traditional field-based greenbug monitoring is not cost effective. We propose to develop an aircraft based multi-spectral imaging system to ide ...

The principal objective of this proposal is to transform the SST CRIS (Crop Reflectance Imaging System) from a prototype, whose feasibility has been demonstrated during the Phase I research, to a turnkey, user friendly unit that can be operated by only the pilot of a small aircraft, or by ground operator when carried by a UAV. The images produced by the system are True Reflectance, e.g. they conta ...

Bovine neosporosis is an economically important disease of cattle. The disease is caused by Neospora caninum, an intracellular protozoan parasite that is closely related to Toxoplasma gondii. There is no proven vaccine or drugs to prevent or treat N. caninum infections. Preventing and controlling neosporosis through an effective vaccination program would be a highly attractive and economically fea ...

The use of sub-therapeutic concentrations of anti-microbial agents in animal feed has contributed to theproductivity of the U.S. meat and dairy industries by preventing infectious diseases, by decreasing theamount of feed required and by increasing the rate of animal weight gain. However, failure to observerecommended practices of drug withdrawal can result in concentrations of antibiotic residue ...

The ready-to-assemble (RTA) construction system is a new method for assembling wood structuresbuilt from the following engineered wood products: parallel strand lumber (PSL), laminated strandlumber (LSL), and laminated veneer lumber (LVL). The RTA system is designed for rapid assemblyby small crews of unskilled labor using common hand tools. The design of the RTA systemincorporates engineered w ...

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 ...