Mental Health Advocacy: Building an Interdisciplinary Program for Agriculture Professionals

The suicide rate among agriculturalists is 3.5 times higher than the general population. A number of external factors related to the farming and veterinary work put individuals in agricultural populations at risk for poor mental health outcomes, including economic variables (e.g. tariffs, market prices), environmental factors affecting yield (e.g. drought, pests), and exposure to difficult or traumatic life events (e.g., mistreatment of animals, loss of crop). Rural values including self-reliance, work orientation, and individualism combined with logistical and systemic barriers to competent behavioral health care further increase risk. Project GROW (Generating Resilience in Our Workforce) is a multifaceted full semester program designed to train agriculture students in how to be mental health advocates in order to address the mental health and suicide crisis among farmers in the state of Texas

Tunable volatility of Ge2Sb2Te5 in integrated photonics

This is the final version. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.The operation of a single class of optical materials in both a volatile and nonvolatile manner is becoming increasingly important in many applications. This is particularly true in the newly emerging field of photonic neuromorphic computing, where it is desirable to have both volatile (short-term transient) and nonvolatile (long-term static) memory operation, for instance, to mimic the behavior of biological neurons and synapses. The search for such materials thus far have focused on phase change materials where typically two different types are required for the two different operational regimes. In this paper, a tunable volatile/nonvolatile response is demonstrated in a photonic phase-change memory cell based on the commonly employed nonvolatile material Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST). A time-dependent, multiphysics simulation framework is developed to corroborate the experimental results, allowing us to spatially resolve the recrystallization dynamics within the memory cell. It is then demonstrated that this unique approach to photonic memory enables both data storage with tunable volatility and detection of coincident events between two pulse trains on an integrated chip. Finally, improved efficiency and all-optical routing with controlled volatility are demonstrated in a ring resonator. These crucial results show that volatility is intrinsically tunable in normally nonvolatile GST which can be used in both regimes interchangeably.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)European CommissionEuropean Research Council (ERC)Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaf

Results of the round robin calibration of reference solar cells within the PhotoClass project

An intercomparison of terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) calibrations was performed among a number of European calibration and testing laboratories that participated in the European Metrology Research Program (EMRP) project “PhotoClass”. The purpose of this intercomparison was to evaluate the comparability of calibration and testing services within the stated uncertainties of the individual laboratories. The calibration objects were two world photovoltaic scale (WPVS)-type reference solar cells, one made from crystalline silicon and one made from GaAs. The calibration value (CV) was the short-circuit current under standard test conditions (ISTC). In conclusion, it was found that the CVs are all consistent within the stated uncertainties. This result strengthens the reliance in the calibration chain and in the PV calibration infrastructure in Europe

Results of the round robin calibration of reference solar cells within the PhotoClass project

An intercomparison of terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) calibrations was performed among a number of European calibration and testing laboratories that participated in the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP) project “Photoclass”. The purpose of this intercomparison was to evaluate the comparability of calibration and testing services within the stated uncertainties of the individual laboratories. The calibrations objects were two world photovoltaic scale (WPVS)-type reference solar cells, one made from crystalline silicon and one made from GaAs. The calibration value (CV) was the short circuit current under standard test conditions (ISTC). In conclusion, it was found that the CVs are all consistent within the stated uncertainties. This result strengthens the reliance in the calibration chain and in the PV calibration infrastructure in Europe.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable