Award Data

Semi-automated analysis of citrus grove data from remotely-sensed devices can reduce groundsurveying for appraisal, crop recording, yield analysis, and grove management. Although theygenerally start with the same aerial infrared imagery for their data collection, grove managers andindependent appraisers each have their own independent requirements for data analysis. By making theanalysis of this ...

The proposed project seeks to identify superior strains and families of white bass for aquacultureby evaluating the progeny of three wild strains collected from a broad geographic range. Thecollections will be designed to evaluate the performance of genetically distinct strains. In orderto control for the effect of family differences, five families will be collected from each of thestrains and t ...

A water-borne net coating is described that will prevent biofouling of netting materials used inaquacultural applications. The novel composition functions through the use of trace quantities ofnaturally occurring antifouling compounds. In addition, it contains no volatile organiccompounds (VOC). The proposed technology is especially attractive since it involves onlyenvironmentally benign compon ...

Water quality and soil erosion are high priority issues for U.S. agriculture. In more humid areas of theU.S., vegetation filter strips have proven to be an effective method of reducing erosion and improvingwater quality. Filter strips are less effective in the West due to sparser vegetation and more variablerainfall. In addition, establishment of vegetation is more difficult in many western wat ...

Simulation models that replicate the dynamics of rural growth and decline would provide aninvaluable analytical tool for rural leaders, program administrators, educators and communityprofessionals. A Rural Community Modeler (RCM) was developed in a previous Phase I effortusing the system dynamics methodology to interrelate social, educational, economic,demographic, environmental and agricultural ...

Insect pests are annually responsible for multi-million dollar grain losses. A promising detectionsystem is the ARS-developed Acoustic Location Fingerprinting Insect Detector (ALFID) which countsinsects in a grain sample by pinpointing sounds from individual adult and larval (potentially the mostdestructive in wheat) stages. The low-cost piezo-electric microphones currently used are sufficiently ...

Cytokines play a key role in the immunobiology of swine, and have the potential to improve themanagement of these animals. The pattern and tissue distribution of inflammatory cytokine expressionmay be indicative of the health or infectious status of the animal. Thus, the development of rapidcytokine tests is necessary to exploit this useful diagnostic information.Cytokines may also play another ...

Phase I research proved the feasibility of EnerTech's Slurry Carbonization technology for economically producing clean and marketable fuels from high-moisture agricultural residues and wastes, especially animal manures. The Slury Carbonization technology effectively transformed low-grade animal residues, through a moderate temperature and pressure carbonization process, into a uniform and especial ...

A major problem in the hardwood lumber industry is the loss of production as the result of theformation of splits, checks, or ring failure during kiln drying. A primary cause of these drying defectsis the degradation of the green lumber as a result of bacterial infection. The optimum drying scheduleis dependent on the initial quality of the green lumber. Unfortunately, it is currently not possi ...

Jewelweed has a long history of medicinal use in treatment of poison ivy and other itchingconditions. There is evidence that jewelweed is as effective as currently available systemicsteroids, and that it causes fewer side effects.Commercial development of jewelweed-based skin care products, however, is limited byjewelweed's inconsistent results when applied to affected skin. The inconsistency ap ...