Orchard Machine

A general purpose, self-propelled, orchard machine has a rectangular vertical frame mounted on driven and steerable wheels with the machine straddling fruit trees and supporting an operator who, through a single hydraulic system, controls the movements of the machine and the operation of the arrangements carried thereby. The frame has collapsible front and rear sections whereby the width thereof is reduced for travel on public roadways and also has opposing side sections that support laterally inwardly and outwardly movable fruit catching sections disposed adjacent the bottom of the machine which carries an overlying tree shaker. Such catching sections have caster wheels and are moved apart as the machine straddles a tree and brought together to encircle the tree and catch the falling fruit which is transported rearwardly and then laterally of the machine by conveyors associated with the catching sections. In spraying, trimming or otherwise treating fruit trees, the catching sections are removed and the frame sections carry appropriate spraying, cutting and other arrangements

Crop uprooting and soil cultivating apparatus and method for use of same

Crop uprooting and cultivating apparatus which includes at least one bar having at least one angled edge thereon that extends from a support at least partially across a row to be cultivated or from which crops and/or foliage are to be uprooted. The bar is rotatably supported by a support structure in cantilever fashion, leaving an outer end of the bar free. The bar may extend across a crop row in a direction generally transverse to the direction of movement of the apparatus along the row, or may be angled rearwardly with respect thereto to provide a self-cleaning action. The bar rotates beneath the surface of the soil and uproots crops and foliage as it moves along, the direction of rotation being in a direction opposite the direction of travel of the apparatus. A pair of bars may be provided, one being located on each side of a row being cultivated or where crops are to be uprooted with at least one of the bars extending a distance of more than 50 percent of the width of the row. The outer free ends of the pair of bars may overlap. A hydraulic cylinder or the like may be associated with one or all bars to move same horizontally away from the center of the crop row and return same to its normal uprooting, cultivation location. With this arrangement, the apparatus may be utilized in a method for cultivation, the bar or bars being moved away from crop plants along the row upon sight or automatic sensing of the presence of the plant and thus uprooting foliage and working the soil only between the crop plants

Crop uprooting and soil working apparatus

An elongated bar soil working apparatus constructed so that a plurality of bars are supported in a parallel relationship for rotation in one or more horizontal planes and positioned closely adjacent each other whereby the corners of one bar will cooperate with the corners of an adjacent bar to effect a severing action on vines or other foliage moving therebetween whereby the bars are self-cleaning. Power drives are operatively associated with the bars for syncronous rotation of the bars whereby the corners of the bars will be simultaneously advanced through a common plane in closely positioned relationship to effect the severing action on the vines and other foliage located therebetween and prevent vine and foliage build up on the bars. The present apparatus includes a frame which will allow the apparatus to be removably supported by conventional tractor operable tool bar whereby the bars can be advanced through the soil to perform plant uprooting or other soil working operations

Characterization of high finesse mirrors: loss, phase shifts and mode structure in an optical cavity

An extensive characterization of high finesse optical cavities used in cavity QED experiments is described. Different techniques in the measurement of the loss and phase shifts associated with the mirror coatings are discussed and their agreement shown. Issues of cavity field mode structure supported by the dielectric coatings are related to our effort to achieve the strongest possible coupling between an atom and the cavity.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Effects of field-aligned currents in the ionosphere-thermosphere system

Space weather is one of the most significant natural hazards to modern day civilisation, posing a risk to both space and ground infrastructure. It describes the near-Earth and terrestrial environment as affected by the Sun, namely as a result of radiation, interactions with the interplanetary magnetic field and plasma outflow, the latter termed the solar wind. Field-aligned currents (FACs), that is, solar wind-driven currents aligned with the Earth’s geomagnetic field and closed in its ionosphere, play an essential role in the transfer of energy and circulation between the solar wind and the ionosphere-thermosphere system. We study two main consequences of FACs in this system: the induced ground geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs), which arise as FACs close in the ionosphere, and the resultant Joule heating and perturbed thermospheric neutral winds as the energy transferred by FACs dissipates via their closure currents. We find, within data restrictions, no strong linear correlation between FAC and GMD magnitudes, instead suggesting solar wind parameters as a better indication of the location and strength of harmful ground GMDs. We probe the effect a neutral wind disparity between ground-based instrument and satellite measurements will have on the distribution and magnitude of wind-derived Joule heating, after using a model to show the winds should be equivalent. We suggest the cause of the disparity is due to uncertainties in the satellite wind derivation. Finally, we investigate small-scale FAC-driven Joule heating and electron precipitation as the causes of a satellite-measured cusp density enhancement and FPI-measured cusp and nightside auroral oval upwellings. We model an empirical heating source representative of soft and hard precipitation in these regions. Our simulations support a mechanism of soft precipitation and Joule heating in the cusp but are unable to reproduce the nightside upwelling. We suggest this is a storm-related anomaly, requiring an adjusted mechanism

Brown Dwarf Retrievals on FIRE!: Atmospheric Constraints and Lessons Learned from High Signal-to-Noise Medium Resolution Spectroscopy of a T9 Dwarf

Brown dwarf spectra offer vital testbeds for our understanding of the chemical and physical processes that sculpt substellar atmospheres. Recently, atmospheric retrieval approaches have been applied to a number of low-resolution (R~100) spectra of brown dwarfs, yielding constraints on the abundances of chemical species and temperature structures of these atmospheres. Medium-resolution (R~1e3) spectra of brown dwarfs offer significant additional insight, as molecular features are more easily disentangled from one another and the thermal structure of the upper atmosphere is more readily probed. We present results from a GPU-based retrieval analysis of a high signal-to-noise, medium-resolution (R~6000) FIRE spectrum from 0.85-2.5 microns of a T9 dwarf. At 60x higher spectral resolution than previous brown dwarf retrievals, a number of novel challenges arise. We examine the strong effect of different opacity sources on our retrieved constraints, in particular for CH4. Furthermore, we find that flaws in the data such as errors from order stitching can greatly bias our results. We compare these results to those obtained for a R~100 spectrum of the same object, revealing how constraints on atmospheric abundances and temperatures improve by an order of magnitude or more (depending on the species) with increased spectral resolution. In particular, we precisely constrain the abundance of H2S, which is undetectable at lower spectral resolution. While these medium-resolution retrievals offer the potential of precise, stellar-like constraints on atmospheric abundances (~0.02 dex), our retrieved radius is unphysically small (R~0.50 R$_{Jup}$), indicating lingering shortcomings with our modeling framework. This work is an initial investigation into brown dwarf retrievals at medium spectral resolution, offering guidance for future ground-based studies and JWST observations of substellar objects.Comment: 28 pages, 28 figures, 4 tables. Accepted to Ap

Depressive symptoms and glycemic control in adolescents with type 1 diabetes

OBJECTIVE—To determine whether the association between depressive symptoms and glycemic control is mediated by blood glucose monitoring (BGM). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—A total of 276 adolescents with type 1 diabetes (mean age ± SD, 15.6 ± 1.4 years) completed a measure of depressive symptoms. Sociodemographic and family characteristics were obtained from caregivers. BGM frequency and glycemic control were obtained at a clinic visit. RESULTS—Separate regression analyses revealed that depressive symptoms were associated with lower BGM frequency (B = −0.03; P = 0.04) and higher A1C (B = 0.03; P = 0.05) and that lower BGM frequency was associated with higher A1C (B = −0.39; P < 0.001). With depressive symptoms and BGM frequency included together, only BGM frequency was associated with A1C and depressive symptoms became nonsignificant (B = 0.02; P = 0.19). The Sobel test was significant (Z = 1.96; P < 0.05) and showed that 38% of the depression-A1C link can be explained by BGM. CONCLUSIONS—BGM is a mediator between depressive symptoms and glycemic control in adolescents with type 1 diabetes

Perceptions of a self-management intervention for adolescents with sickle cell disease

Objective: Individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD) are at increased risk for complications from their disease during their adolescent and young adult (AYA) years. The risk of morbidity in AYAs with SCD can be decreased with improved self-management. Existing self-management interventions typically focus on one aspect of self-management (e.g., adherence) and do not address factors that activate patients (knowledge, motivation, self-efficacy, and social support) to self-manage. Sickle Cell Thrive (SCThrive) is a mixed in-person/online, technology-enhanced (use of a mobile app), group self-management intervention that targets patient activation. To determine the most clinically significant intervention components, a qualitative study was conducted. Method: Participants were 19 AYAs (Mage = 17.05) with SCD who participated in individual semistructured phone interviews after completing SCThrive. Interview content was coded using a grounded-theory approach to generate themes related to SCThrive’s feasibility, acceptability, and motivation for and impact on self-management. Results: SCThrive was reported to be highly feasible due to the mixed in-person/online format and acceptable because they learned skills to manage SCD in a group of AYAs with SCD. Action planning and pain/mood tracking appeared to be key factors in motivating AYAs for self-management. Participants reported continuing to use self-management skills post-SCThrive (self-efficacy) including applying them to other domains of their lives (e.g., educational/vocational). Conclusions: Study results provide data that can be leveraged to enhance the feasibility, acceptability, and impact of SCThrive and other self-management interventions. Findings can also inform clinical and mobile health interventions to increase self-management in this population

A model of mentorship for students from historically underrepresented groups in STEM

Mentorship is critical to student academic success and persistence, especially for students from historically underrepresented (HU) groups. In a program designed to support the academic success of HU undergraduates in STEM who wish to pursue a PhD in those fields, students experience comprehensive support including financial aid, highly-engaged mentoring, dual faculty mentorship, professional development workshops, and summer research experiences. Scholars in this program, the Cal-Bridge program, consistently report that faculty mentorship is the most impactful feature. While mentorship was rated highly, preliminary evaluation indicated an early deficit in a sense of community among scholars. In response, faculty professional development and support for peer networking were implemented to expand and enhance the relationships that support scholar success. Here we present a promising multifaceted model of mentorship that can support the academic success of HU undergraduates.Comment: Submitted to Understanding Interventions. 23 pages. 4 figures. Comments welcome

3D MHD Flux Emergence Experiments: Idealized models and coronal interactions

This paper reviews some of the many 3D numerical experiments of the emergence of magnetic fields from the solar interior and the subsequent interaction with the pre-existing coronal magnetic field. The models described here are idealized, in the sense that the internal energy equation only involves the adiabatic, Ohmic and viscous shock heating terms. However, provided the main aim is to investigate the dynamical evolution, this is adequate. Many interesting observational phenomena are explained by these models in a self-consistent manner.Comment: Review article, accepted for publication in Solar Physic