Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 43 / Wednesday, March 5, 2014 / Notices 12463 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Research Service 

Notice of Intent To Grant Exclusive 

License 

AGENCY: Agricultural Research Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Agricultural Research Service, intends 

to grant to Arkion Life Sciences LLC of 

New Castle, Delaware, an exclusive 

license to U.S. Patent Application Serial 

No. 13/755,671, ‘‘ULTRAVIOLET 

STRATEGY FOR AVIAN 

REPELLENCY’’, filed on January 31, 

2013. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before April 4, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments to: USDA, 

ARS, Office of Technology Transfer, 

5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Rm. 4–1174, 

Beltsville, Maryland 20705–5131. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: June 

Blalock of the Office of Technology 

Transfer at the Beltsville address given 

above; telephone: 301–504–5989. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Federal Government’s patent rights in 

this invention are assigned to the United 

States of America, as represented by the 

Secretary of Agriculture. It is in the 

public interest to so license this 

invention as Arkion Life Sciences LLC 

of New Castle, Delaware has submitted 

a complete and sufficient application for 

a license. The prospective exclusive 

license will be royalty-bearing and will 

comply with the terms and conditions 

of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7. The 

prospective exclusive license may be 

granted unless, within thirty (30) days 

from the date of this published Notice, 

the Agricultural Research Service 

receives written evidence and argument 

which establishes that the grant of the 

license would not be consistent with the 

requirements of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 

CFR 404.7. 

Mojdeh Bahar, 

Assistant Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2014–04881 Filed 3–4–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–03–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Economic Research Service 

Notice of Request for Approval of a 

New Information Collection 

AGENCY: Economic Research Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 

U.S.C. Chapter 35), this notice 

announces the Economic Research 

Service’s intention to request approval 

for a new information collection for the 

study of ‘‘Census of Users of the 

National Plant Germplasm System.’’ 

This is a new collection to provide 

information on usage and expectations 

of future use among requestors of 

genetic resources from USDA’s National 

Plant Germplasm System. 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received by May 5, 2014 to be assured 

of consideration. 

Additional Information or Comments: 

Address all comments concerning this 

notice to Kelly Day Rubenstein, 

Resource and Rural Economics Division, 

Economic Research Service, U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Mail Stop 

1800, 1400 Independence Ave. SW., 

Washington, DC 20250. Comments may 

also be submitted via fax to the attention 

of Kelly Day Rubenstein at 202–694– 

4847 or via email to kday@ers.usda.gov. 

For further information contact Kelly 

Day Rubenstein at the address above, or 

telephone 202–694–5515. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: Census of Users of the National 

Plant Germplasm System. 

OMB Number: 0536–XXXX. 

Expiration Date of Approval: Three 

years from approval date. 

Type of Request: New information 

collection. 

Abstract: The Census of Users of the 

National Plant Germplasm System will 

solicit data from the 7,207 institutional 

representatives who requested 

germplasm (i.e., living tissue from 

which plants can be grown) for any of 

ten crops including beans, barley, 

cotton, maize, sorghum, squash, 

soybeans, potato, rice, and wheat from 

the National Plant Germplasm System 

over a five year period. Each respondent 

will be asked to provide information via 

a web-based questionnaire. Legislative 

authority for the planned data collection 

is 7 U.S.C. 2204(a) and 7 U.S.C. 2661. 

The information to be collected by the 

‘‘Census of Users of the National Plant 

Germplasm System’’ is necessary to 

assess and understand the types and 

varieties of germplasm needed by 

breeders and other scientists in both the 

public and private sectors. This study 

will provide data not currently available 

to program officials and researchers, 

thereby broadening the scope of 

economic analyses of genetic 

enhancement, and in turn, enhancing 

R&D and productivity research at the 

Economic Research Service (ERS), the 

National Plant Germplasm System, and 

the National Germplasm Resource 

Laboratory. The database would contain 

a wealth of empirical information on 

germplasm use in breeding and 

research. This includes information by 

specific crops (e.g., the use of landraces 

in corn breeding, the search for biotic 

tolerance in wheat); the quantity of 

germplasm by type and purpose; 

institutional needs for germplasm (both 

public and private); and requestors’ 

anticipated future use. This information 

will also assess biological traits that are 

needed for adaptation to climate change. 

Agriculture is highly geographyspecific, given that growing regions vary 

by rainfall and temperature conditions, 

pest and disease pressures, and soil 

types. Accordingly, plant breeders work 

to develop unique varieties for different 

geographic locations. As a result, each 

requestor of NPGS germplasm is likely 

to have one characteristic—geographic 

location—which is unique and 

important to that institution’s use of this 

germplasm, particularly in the context 

of global climate change. Moreover, it 

would be difficult to get adequate 

representation of the matrix of crops, 

germplasm types, and locations for 

some smaller crops (e.g., squash) 

without conducting a census of all 

germplasm requestors to the NPGS for 

any of the ten crops. 

A web-based instrument will be used 

for information collection. It will be 

kept as simple and respondent-friendly 

as possible. Responses are voluntary. 

The study instrument is based on a 

mailed paper-based instrument used in 

the 2000 study, ‘‘Demand for Genetic 

Resources from the National Plant 

Germplasm System.’’ It was jointly 

developed by International Food Policy 

Research Institute (IFPRI), Auburn 

University’s Department of Agricultural 

Economics and Rural Sociology, the 

National Germplasm Resources Lab of 

the National Plant Germplasm System, 

and the Economic Research Service. The 

instrument used in the 2000 study was 

administered by IFPRI and Auburn 

University and had a response rate of 

35%. Study design for currently 

proposed study is consistent with that 

of the 2000 study in order to make 

comparisons across time. The frame for 

this census comprises all germplasm 

requestors to the NPGS for any of the 

ten crops in the last five years. Although 

the NPGS provided germplasm to any 

requestor free of cost, it also informed 

potential requestors and received their 

consent, at the time of a request was 

made, that their information could be 

used for activities relating to the service 

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12464 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 43 / Wednesday, March 5, 2014 / Notices 

that they had requested. Several 

measures will be taken to support the 

response rate for the proposed 

information collection: 

• Information will be collected via 

the internet rather than by mail. This 

data collection mode is more convenient 

for intended respondents and will allow 

for rapid follow up with nonrespondents. 

• This information collection will be 

cosponsored by the National Germplasm 

Resources Laboratory of USDA, which is 

familiar to the recipients as it is the 

agency that provided the requested 

germplasm. 

• A well planned recruitment 

protocol will include sending the 

instrument with a cover letter from a 

senior staff member of the National 

Germplasm Resources Laboratory, who 

will be an individual familiar to many 

of the recipients. It also includes up to 

three reminder emails to nonrespondents. 

Should the response rate fall below 

80%, a non-response bias study will be 

conducted. The web-based instrument 

was pretested for ease of use by fewer 

than 9 germplasm requestors from 

USDA Agricultural Research Service 

(ARS) and the average time spent 

completing the forms was 11 minutes. 

Information from the Census of Users 

of the National Plant Germplasm System 

will be used for statistical purposes only 

and reported only in aggregate or 

statistical form. A public use data file 

will be created from this information 

collection. ERS does not intend to 

invoke CIPSEA or any other data 

protection statute for this collection, 

because it will not collect any sensitive 

or personal identifiable information. 

Estimate of Burden: In order to 

answer our research question about the 

use of germplasm for adaptation to 

climate change, a census is needed to 

pinpoint geo-spatial demand for 

germplasm. Thus, all 7,207 requestors of 

germplasm will be asked to fill out a 

web instrument once during a one 

month data collection period; nonrespondents will receive three reminder 

emails. 80% of requestors are assumed 

to provide a response to one of the four 

emailed instruments. The estimated 

time of response is to average 0.197 

hour. This average includes time spent 

to complete questionnaire and reading 

reminder emails. 20% will be nonrespondents and will incur less than 1 

minute of time to read the material. 

Thus, response times are estimated 

adding an additional minute for each 

reminder sent, for a total of four minutes 

for requestors who never respond. These 

estimates of respondent burden are 

based on pretesting by ARS scientists, 

conducted by the National Germplasm 

Resources Laboratory of the National 

Plant Germplasm System. 

Type of Respondents: Respondents 

includes all individuals or institutions 

who requested germplasm for any of the 

aforesaid ten crops from the National 

Plant Germplasm System over the five 

year period as defined by this 

information collection. 

Estimated Total Number of 

Respondents: 7,207. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden on 

Respondents: 1,231.2 hours. 

Comments: All written comments 

received will be available for public 

inspection in the Resource Center of the 

Economic Research Service during 

regular business hours (8:30 a.m. to 5:00 

p.m., Monday through Friday) at 355 E 

St. SW., Room 04P33, Washington, DC 

20024–4221. All responses to this notice 

will be summarized and included in the 

request for OMB approval. All 

comments will become a matter of 

public record. Comments are invited on: 

(1) Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

agency, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(2) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate 

of the burden of the proposed collection 

of information including the validity of 

the methodology and assumptions used; 

(3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, 

and clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (4) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on those who are to respond, including 

the use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

Date: February 19, 2014. 

Mary Bohman, 

Administrator, Economic Research Service. 

[FR Doc. 2014–04850 Filed 3–4–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–18–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Food and Nutrition Service 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Proposed collection; 

Comment Request—Supplemental 

Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), 

Store Applications, Forms FNS–252, 

FNS–252–E, FNS–252–FE, FNS–252–R, 

FNS–252–2 and FNS–252–C 

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service 

(FNS), USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 

notice invites the general public and 

other public agencies to comment on the 

proposed collection. This is a revision 

of a currently approved collection in the 

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 

Program and concerns Retail Store 

Applications (Forms FNS–252; FNS– 

252–E; FNS–252–R; FNS–252–2; and 

FNS–252–C). 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received on or before May 5, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: Comments are invited on: 

(a) Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

agency, including whether the 

information shall have practical utility; 

(b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate 

of the burden of the proposed collection 

of information, including the validity of 

the methodology and assumptions used; 

(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility 

and clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (d) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on those who are to respond, including 

through the use of appropriate 

automated, electronic, mechanical or 

other technological collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

technology. 

Comments may be sent to: Shelly 

Pierce, Chief, Retailer Administration 

Branch, Supplemental Nutrition 

Assistance Program, Retailer Policy and 

Management Division, Food and 

Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, 3101 Park Center Drive, 

Room 438, Alexandria, VA 22302. 

Comments may be faxed to the attention 

of Ms. Pierce at (703) 305–1863 or via 

email to: RPMDHQ-WEB@fns.usda.gov. 

Comments will also be accepted through 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov, and follow 

the online instructions for submitting 

comments electronically. 

All written comments will be open for 

public inspection at the FNS office 

located at 3101 Park Center Drive, Room 

438, Alexandria, Virginia 22302, during 

regular business hours (8:30 a.m. to 5 

p.m. Monday through Friday). 

All responses to this notice will be 

summarized and included in the request 

for Office of Management and Budget 

approval. All comments will be a matter 

of public record. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

copies of this information collection 

should be directed to Shelly Pierce at 

RPMDHQ-WEB@fns.usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: Supplemental Nutrition 

Assistance Program (SNAP)—Store 

Applications. 

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