What contributes to wellbeing gains – proficiency or duration of meditation related practices?

Several studies have shown physical and mental health benefits associated with different schools of meditation. However, reviews have recommended interpretation of study outcomes in the context of school specific traditional practices. In the literature, practice proficiency is often conflated with hours or years of meditation practice and it is difficult to attribute wellbeing gains directly to the proficiency of practice. We carried out two studies to examine wellbeing, practice proficiency, and duration of practice amongst Brahma Kumaris Rajayoga (BKRY) practitioners from India. In Study 1, we surveyed participants (n = 1009) to record the socio-demographics, spiritual lifestyle components, and wellbeing enhancement attributed to their spiritual practice. We developed new measures for evaluating proficiency of BKRY practice and for assessment of progress in wellbeing attributed to BKRY practice. Both measures had high internal consistency scores (alphas 0.95, 0.93). Block-wise hierarchical linear regression analysis showed that after accounting for demographic variables, BKRY practice proficiency strongly predicted progress in wellbeing, explaining over 51.6% of the total variance. In Study 2, we took three well-matched groups (n = 86) that were distinct on the basis of duration of practice (long term, short term and zero term). We examined wellbeing differences in these three groups and the extent of correlation of wellbeing with practice proficiency, progress in wellbeing and duration of practice. We conclude that meditation practice does improve wellbeing and that proficiency of practice is better correlated with most aspects of wellbeing than duration of practice but there are a few aspects of wellbeing that increase with sustained practice over a long time. We recommend that studies involving other schools of spiritual/religious practice incorporate tradition-specific proficiency assessment (instead of using years of practice as a proxy) and also use the Progress in Wellbeing scale for assessing practice-aided improvements in wellbeing

Vortex matching effect in engineered thin films of NbN

We report robust vortex matching effects in antidot arrays fabricated on thin films of NbN. The near absence of hysteresis between field sweep directions indicates a negligible residual pinning in the host thin film. Owing to the very small coherence length of NbN thin films ($\xi < 5 nm$), the observations suggests the possibility of probing physics of vortices at true nanometer length scales in suitably fabricated structures.Comment: Submitted to Appl. Phys. Let

Generating ‘As-Applied’ Pesticide Distribution Maps from a Self-Propelled Agricultural Sprayer Based on Nozzle Pressure Data

The application of pre-emergence, post-emergence, and burn-down herbicides (i.e., glyphosate) continues to increase as producers attempt to reduce both negative environmental impacts from tillage and input costs from labor, machinery and materials. The use of precision agriculture technologies such as automatic boom section control allows producers to reduce off-target application when applying herbicides. While automatic boom section control provides benefits, pressure differences across the spray boom resulting from boom section actuation can lead to off-rate application errors. Off-rate errors may also result from spray rate controller compensation for ground speed changes and velocity variation across the spray boom during turning movements. This project focuses on quantifying accumulated pesticide application for three fields located in Central Kentucky. GPS coordinates were collected along with nozzle pressure data (at 13 nozzle locations) at one second intervals as the sprayer traversed the study fields. The method previously developed by Luck et al. (2009) was used to calculate coverage areas for the control sections along the spray boom in MS Excel. Nozzle discharge flow rates were estimated from the nozzle pressure data (based on manufacturer calibration information) which was then incorporated into MS Excel to determine the rate of pesticide applied to the fields. Results indicate the majority of each field received application rates at or below the target rate. Only 34.2%, 33.9%, and 22.9% of Fields 1, 2, and 4, respectively, received application rates at the target rate +/- 10% during these postemergence treatments. The goal of this project was develop distribution maps to better understand the effects of boom section control and turning movements on herbicide accumulation

Generating ‘As-Applied’ Pesticide Distribution Maps from a Self-Propelled Agricultural Sprayer Based on Nozzle Pressure Data

The application of pre-emergence, post-emergence, and burn-down herbicides (i.e., glyphosate) continues to increase as producers attempt to reduce both negative environmental impacts from tillage and input costs from labor, machinery and materials. The use of precision agriculture technologies such as automatic boom section control allows producers to reduce offtarget application when applying herbicides. While automatic boom section control provides benefits, pressure differences across the spray boom resulting from boom section actuation can lead to offrate application errors. Off-rate errors may also result from spray rate controller compensation for ground speed changes and velocity variation across the spray boom during turning movements. This project focuses on quantifying accumulated pesticide application for three fields located in Central Kentucky. GPS coordinates were collected along with nozzle pressure data (at 13 nozzle locations) at one second intervals as the sprayer traversed the study fields. The method previously developed by Luck et al. (2009) was used to calculate coverage areas for the control sections along the spray boom in MS Excel. Nozzle discharge flow rates were estimated from the nozzle pressure data (based on manufacturer calibration information) which was then incorporated into MS Excel to determine the rate of pesticide applied to the fields. Results indicate the majority of each field received application rates at or below the target rate. Only 34.2%, 33.9%, and 22.9% of Fields 1, 2, and 4, respectively, received application rates at the target rate +/- 10% during these postemergence treatments. The goal of this project was develop distribution maps to better understand the effects of boom section control and turning movements on herbicide accumulation

Comparison of 2-way versus metered 3-way boom shut-off valves for automatic section control on agricultural sprayers

Modern spray rate controllers along with technologies such as automatic section control (ASC) provide benefits such as overlap reduction on agricultural sprayers. However, product (liquid) dynamics within the boom plumbing affect off-rate errors and application uniformity during rate changes and ASC actuation. Therefore, this study was conducted to compare nozzle flow stability and uniformity across the boom when using two different boom shut-off valves (2-way and metered 3-way) on an 18.3-m sprayer boom. Pressure transducers were mounted at 1) the boom manifold, 2) randomly at 12 nozzle bodies across the spray boom, and 3) upstream and downstream of the flow regulating valve. Effective system flow rate was measured using two flow meter(s), one located upstream of the boom control valves (2-way or metered 3-way) and another mounted to measure the tank return flow for the metered 3-way boom valve. Measured nozzle pressure was converted to nozzle flow using the manufacturer’s pressure-flow data. Results indicated that the 2-way boom versus metered 3-way valve response was significantly different. Significant differences in damping ratios were found when exiting (under-damped) and reentering (over-damped) of spray zones. For the metered 3-way boom valve configuration, nozzle flow settled faster (0.1 to 4.2 s) virtually eliminating off-rate errors whereas the 2-way boom valve configuration took up to 34.3 s to settle with off-rate errors ranging from 3.3% to 11.5%. The delayed nozzle flow settling times were associated with pressure settling (0.7 to 31.4 s) downstream of the regulating valve for the 2-way configuration. Ground speed and point row angle impacted nozzle flow settling times and off-rate errors. The increase in ground speed and point row angle increased nozzle flow settling time for the 2-way valve setup, except that acceleration decreased settling times when exiting spray zones. The delayed response contributed to off-rate time which decreased as the sprayer accelerated and point row angle decreased for both the 2-way (1.7 to 19.3 s) and metered 3-way (2.1 to 4.4 s) boom shut-off valve setups

Method of electroplating a substrate, and products made thereby

Disclosed is an electroplating method and products made therefrom, which in one embodiment includes using a current density to form a conductive metal layer having a surface roughness no greater than the surface roughness of the underlying member. In another embodiment of electroplating a substrate surface having peaks and valleys, the method includes electroplating a conductive metal onto the peaks to cover the peaks with the conductive metal, and into the valleys to substantially fill the valleys with the conductive metal

Effect of Palmitic Acid on B2 Receptor Expression In Airway Smooth Muscle Cells

Introduction: People with asthma and obesity struggle to control asthma flares. B2 agonists are often the acute treatment of choice during these flares, so the decreased asthma control in this population may be due to a decrease in B2 receptor activity. We tested the hypothesis that B2 receptor expression will decrease in airway smooth muscle cells exposed to Palmitic Acid, a saturated fatty acid, compared to Oleic Acid and untreated cells. Methods: Airway smooth muscle cells were plated and treated with Palmitic Acid and Oleic Acid at 100uM and 200uM concentrations while other untreated cells served as controls. Cells were lysed at 24 and 48 hours and their RNA was harvested for expansion using PCR with B2 and GAPDH primers. RT-PCR was used to quantify RNA expression. GAPDH was used as an expression control to normalize B2 values for each condition and the resulting dCq values for each condition were compared. Results: The Palmitic Acid group did not show significant decrease in B2 expression compared to the control or Oleic Acid groups. This was consistent across all concentrations and time points. There was no significant change in receptor expression for any condition. Discussion: These results did not support our hypothesis that B2 expression would decrease in cells treated with Palmitic Acid. The expression of this receptor and its activity is not regulated as we hypothesized illustrating need to explore other factors that may contribute to the difference of the B2 receptor agonist response in obese people with asthma

Cellular Agriculture: An Outlook on Smart and Resilient Food Agriculture Manufacturing

Over the centuries, the application of grassland and cutting of livestock are the primary foundations for the production of food agriculture manufacturing. Growing human population, accelerated human activities globally, staggering food inequity, changing climate, precise nutrition for extended life expectancy, and more demand for protein food call for a new outlook to smartness in food agriculture manufacturing for delivering nutritious food. Cellular agriculture, 3D printing of food, vertical urban farming, and digital agriculture alongside traditional means are envisioned to transform food agriculture and manufacturing systems for acceptability, availability, accessibility, affordability, and resiliency for meeting demands of food in this century for communities across the US and the world. This technical note illustrates the thought leadership for cellular agriculture as a part of the new food agriculture manufacturing revolution

Obesity and Obstructive Airways Disease: Clinical Correlates and Therapeutic Considerations

Obese patients are more likely to suffer from severe asthma symptoms and less likely to be able to control them. In obese patients, there is evidence that shows decreased efficacy of inhaled corticosteroids and beta-2 adrenergic agonists, the core treatment options for achieving and maintaining asthma control. This may be due to mechanical reasons like decreased ventilation and medication delivery, but there are many more pathologies of obesity that interact with pathways of both asthma pathology and asthma control. This review explores the epidemiological significance of obesity, many physiological changes in patients with obesity, the physiological interactions of asthma and obesity in patients with both issues, and the therapeutic impacts of these interactions with asthma to find appropriate areas where new research is needed. More research to understand the mechanism of decreased inhaled corticosteroid and beta-2 adrenergic agonist efficacy is necessary to improve treatment efficacy and decrease morbidity and mortality in this population of patients with asthma