Relay-Intercropping Muskmelons with Scotch Pine Christmas Trees Using Plastic Mulch and Drip Irrigation

Two systems of relay-intercropping muskmelons (Cucumis melo L.) with Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) Christmas trees using black plastic mulch and drip irrigation were evaluated for their potential to improve cash return. Returns ranged from a high of $26,200/ha for plastic mulch-drip irrigation and a selling price of$1.00/melon to a low of $6900/ha for bare ground-drip irrigation and a selling price of$0.40/melon. The benefitcost index ranged from 24 to 3.4, depending on the system evaluated. Pine growth apparently was impeded by plastic mulch; however, increased yields of melons grown under plastic mulch may offset the slight decrease in pine growth

Bulk Metallic Glass Multiscale Tooling for Molding of Polymers with Micro to Nano Features : A Review

There is a growing demand for single-use disposable polymer devices with features at submicron scales. This requires resilient tooling which can be patterned to scales of the order of hundreds of nanometers. The requisite topology can be imparted to silicon, but it is too brittle to be of use in a die to mold thousands of plastic parts. The polycrystalline nature of tool steel means that it cannot be patterned with submicron detail. Some bulk amorphous alloys have the requisite mechanical properties to be viable as materials for such dies, and can be patterned—e.g., via embossing as a supercooled liquid into MEMS silicon or using focused ion beam (FIB)—with submicron features which may persevere over many thousands of molding cycles. The composition of the amorphous alloy must be carefully selected to suit the particular molding application (polymer/process). The state-of-the-art methodology is presented, along with results of our recent experimental investigations.Deposited by bulk import5/11/2013. SB