NTIS

The National Technical Information Service serves as the largest central resource for government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business related information available today. For more than 60 years NTIS has assured businesses, universities, and the public timely access to approximately 3 million publications covering over 350 subject areas. Our mission supports the Department of Commerce mission to promote the nation's economic growth by providing access to information that stimulates innovation and discovery.

Future Climate Change, Sea-Level Rise, and Ocean Acidification: Implications for Hawaii and Western Pacific Fisheries Management

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images[1]The culture, subsistence, and welfare of tropical Pacific Island Nation people are all in some way tied to their proximate fishery resources. Many of these fisheries are already under considerable stress and duress due to human practices such as overfishing, pollution and runoff, habitat destruction and degradation, lack of proper management protocols, and coastal and global population pressures. Other human activities such as fossil fuel use, deforestation and changes in land use and consequent emissions of gases and particulates, such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, methane, etc., to the atmosphere are contributing to alteration of the global climate by a general overall warming of the planetary atmosphere. The warming of the overlying atmosphere in turn warms the underlying surface ocean. In addition to the surface ocean warming, there is also the problem of ocean acidification owing to absorption of anthropogenic carbon dioxide by the surface waters of the ocean. This input of atmospheric carbon dioxide into the surface ocean reduces the surface water pH, which is detrimental to calcifying organisms such as those that are integral to coral reefs or the planktonic calcareous coccolithophoridae and foraminifera. Climate change and ocean acidification both have the capacity to impact simultaneously all organism trophic levels and so the possible negative ramifications can and should not be underestimated.

For info please go to:  http://www.ntis.gov/search/product.aspx?ABBR=PB2014100366 or call 1-800-553-6847 Mon – Fri 8am – 5pm est.

 

Personal Author F. T. Mackenzie M. W. Guidry

Current State of Agricultural Health Research and Practice: Critical Review. Final Report

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For this study, emerging health issues in agricultural populations as described by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) Agricultural, Forestry, and Fishing Sector Council were examined to outline and summarize the present state of agricultural health research. Current and emerging issues related to agricultural safety and health are discussed by agricultural industry sub-sector. Prevention and treatment strategies initiated at the community, workplace, and clinical levels to serve agricultural workers are also outlined. For more info please go

to:  http://www.ntis.gov/search/product.aspx?ABBR=PB2014101051 or

call NTIS 1-800-553-6847 M – F 8am – 5pm est.

Personal Author L. Kurth M. Hendryx

From Phyto-Remediation to Phyto-Mining: Maximizing Value in Producing Bio-diesel from Pennycress.

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A series of pennycress seeds were germinated hydroponically in solutions spiked with varying amounts of lead (II) nitrate. Uptake of the lead into roots and stalks of the plants were examined via Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF). Results and findings show promise for larger scale use of this phyto-remediation technique and the use of EDXRF to quantify it. Additionally, a plant sample provided by The Power Alternative (TPA) was examined by EDXRF for the presence of lead in the stalk material.

For more info go to:  http://www.ntis.gov/search/product.aspx?ABBR=PB2012114335 or call NTIS 800-553-6847 M – F 8am – 5pm est.images[11]

 

Personal Author A. Rihana-Abdalla M. A. Benvenuto S. Baker

Observations of C-Band Brightness Temperatures and Ocean Surface Wind Speed and Rain Rate from the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) during GRIP and HS3

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HIRAD is a new technology developed by NASA/MSFC, in partnership with NOAA and the Universities of Central Florida, Michigan, and Alabama-Huntsville. HIRAD is designed to measure wind speed and rain rate over a wide swath in heavy-rain, strong-wind conditions. HIRAD is expected to eventually fly routinely on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) such as Global Hawk over hurricanes threatening the U.S. coast and other Atlantic basin areas, and possibly in the Western Pacific as well. HIRAD first flew on GRIP in 2010 and is part of the 2012-14 NASA Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) mission on the Global Hawk, a high-altitude UAV. The next-generation HIRAD will include wind direction observations, and the technology can eventually be used on a satellite platform to extend the dynamical range of Ocean Surface Wind (OSV) observations from space.

For more info go to:  http://www.ntis.gov/search/product.aspx?ABBR=N20130010242  or call NTIS 1-800-553-6847 M – F 8am – 5pm

Personal Author C. S. Ruf E. W. Uhlhorn J. Johnson J. B. Roberts M. W. James P. G. Black R. Atlas S. Biswas S. Farrar T. L. Miller W. L. Jones

Technological Challenges in Antibiotic Discovery and Development. A Workshop Summary. Held on September 23, 2013

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imagesOn September 23, 2013, the CSR held a one-day workshop on the technical challenges in antibiotic discovery and development that explored the current state of antibiotic discovery, examined the technology available to facilitate development, discussed the technical challenges present, identified novel approaches to antibiotic discovery, and discussed the incentives and disincentives industry faces in antibiotic development. The workshop featured both formal presentations and panel discussions among participants from academia, industry, and federal research agencies. The workshop program consisted of three themes: The challenges and approaches in overcoming antibiotic resistance; The challenges and approaches in screening for new chemical entities with antibiotic properties; and The challenges and approaches in delivering antibiotics to their intended site of action, particularly with regard to surmounting biophysical barriers.  For more info go to:  http://www.ntis.gov/search/product.aspx?ABBR=PB2014103865 or call NTIS 1-800-553-6847 Mon-Fri 8am-5pm

Personal Author N/A

Front-of-Package Nutrition Rating Systems and Symbols: Promoting Healthier Choices

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r_2014sustainablediets_b[1]There is a long and rich history of government public health efforts to educate and inform the public about nutrition and healthy eating. The first daily food guide, published in 1916, paved the way for a host of scientific documents, reports, brochures, symbols, and educational campaigns, including the Basic Seven Foods, the Food Guide Pyramid, and the Nutrition Facts panel. As a result of efforts such as these, Americans today have access to more information about nutrition than any previous generation. And yet the nation is facing a crisis of obesity and diet-related chronic diseases. Although there are many factors that influence what and how Americans eat, it is clear that there is a disconnect between dietary recommendations and actual consumption. Most of the front-of-package (FOP) systems that have been developed to date follow in the tradition of providing consumers with nutrition information. The use of such systems implicitly assumes that consumers are receiving appropriate nutrition information, whose impact can be enhanced by making it more prominent (i.e., putting it on the front of packages) and by delivering it more concisely. After reviewing evidence and perspectives from a wide range of disciplines, the committee came to a different conclusion.

For more info please go to:  http://www.ntis.gov/search/product.aspx?ABBR=PB2012104389 or call NTIS 1-800-553-6847 Mon – Fri 8am – 5pm

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Personal Author A. Yaktine A. H. Lichtenstein E. A. Wartella R. Nathan

Compact, Pi-Mode Extraction Scheme for the Axial B-Field Recirculating Planar Magnetron

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images[8]A recirculating planar magnetron (RPM), operating in the pi-mode and utilizing a compact, waveguide-based extraction scheme was simulated using ICEPIC. At an applied voltage of 300 kV and B-field of 0.140T, output power of the six-module RPM was 565 MW with 33% efficiency. The oscillator was found to operate at frequency of 2.245 GHz. Increasing the number of extracted modules in the RPM was found to result a linear increase in power at the rate of 120 MW per module.

For more info please go to:  http://www.ntis.gov/search/product.aspx?ABBR=ADA565729 or call NTIS 1-800-553-6847 Mon – Fri 8am – 5pm

Personal Author B. W. Hoff D. M. French G. Greening M. Franzi R. M. Gilgenbach

Recycling Best Practices: A Guidebook for Advancing Recycling from Aircraft Cabins

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ACRP Report 100: Recycling Best PracticesA Guidebook for Advancing Recycling from Aircraft Cabins is a simple-to-use guidebook of recycling strategies, including a set of recycling best practices summary sheets targeted to specific airport-industry recycling practitioners (summary sheets are available in Appendix B or can be downloaded from www.trb.org/ Main/Blurbs/169528.aspx). The guidebook targets airport operators, airlines, flight kitchens, and others that may have an interest in recycling. The report describes procedures for recycling airport, airline, and flight kitchen waste and recommends action plans to improve recycling and reduce waste disposal costs for airports of varying sizes and characteristics.

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Personal Author N/A

Surface Transportation Weather Applications.

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images[3]Weather threatens surface transportation nationwide and impacts roadway mobility, safety, and productivity. There is a perception that traffic managers can do little about weather. However, three types of mitigation measures control, treatment, and advisory strategies may be employed in response to weather threats. Road weather data sharing, analysis, and integration are critical to the development of better road weather management strategies. Environmental information serves as decision support to traffic, maintenance, and emergency managers; and allows motorists to cope with weather effects through trip deferrals, route detours, or driving behavior. The Road Weather Management Program of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) promotes and facilitates deployment of integrated road weather systems, decision support applications, and effective management practices.

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or contact NTIS at 1-800-553-6847 8am – 5pm Mon – Fri

 

Personal Author L. C. Goodwin P. Pisano

Lipid Bilayer-Integrated Optoelectronic Tweezers for Nanoparticle Manipulations.

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images[1]Remotely manipulating a large number of microscopic objects is important to soft-condensed matter physics, biophysics, and nanotechnology. Optical tweezers and optoelectronic tweezers have been widely used for this purpose but face critical challenges when applied to nanoscale objects, including severe photoinduced damages, undesired ionic convections, or irreversible particle immobilization on surfaces. We report here the first demonstration of a lipid bilayer-integrated optoelectronic tweezers system for simultaneous manipulation of hundreds of 60 nm gold nanoparticles in an arbitrary pattern. We use a fluid lipid bilayer membrane with a 5 nm thickness supported by a photoconductive electrode to confine the diffusion of chemically tethered nanoparticles in a two-dimensional space. Application of an external a.c. voltage together with patterned light selectively activates the photoconducting electrode that creates strong electric field localized near the surface. The field strength changes most significantly at the activated electrode surface where the particles tethered to the membrane thus experience the strongest dielectrophoretic forces. This design allows us to efficiently achieve dynamic, reversible, and parallel manipulation of many nanoparticles. Our approach to integrate biomolecular structures with optoelectronic devices offers a new platform enabling the study of thermodynamics in many particle systems and the selective transport of nanoscale objects for broad applications in biosensing and cellular mechanotransductions.

For more info please go to: http://www.ntis.gov/search/product.aspx?ABBR=ADA582076 or call NTIS 1-800-553-6847 Mon – Fri 8am – 5pm est.

Personal Author S. Ota S. Wang X. Yin X. Zhang Y. Wang