Harvest pruning of Sultana vines

Preliminary investigations are described which promise to ultimately lead to mechanical harvesting of dried sultana fruit. In the experiments the canes which bear most of the fruiting shoots were severed from the vine when the fruit was mature. Subsequently the fruit was treated in four different ways: (1) Picked after wilting, dipped and dried on drying racks;(2) sha'ken off the vines a'fter wilting and dried on ground sheets;(3) shaken a,s dried fruit off the vines;(4) sprayed with dipping emulsion on the vine and shaken off as dried fruit.Treatments 2 and 3 produced dark-coloured fruit and treatments 1 and 4 goliden-coloured fruit. Treating vines once in this manner did in no way affect next season's yield. Possible means to mechanize the harvest are discussed

Advancing the time of ripeness of grapes by the application of methyl 2-(ureidooxy) propionate (a growth retardant)

Methyl 2-(ureidooxy) propionate (MUP), a plant growth retardant, hastened the ripening of grape berries of Vitis vinifera L. cultivars Mataro and Sultana by about 2 weeks and 1 week, respectively. The vines were sprayed with 0.1 % solution of MUP about halfway :through the first rapid growth phase of the fruit and again 2 weeks later. Terminal and lateral shoot growth was inhibited. Ripening of berries was advanced as measured by development of colour, and changes in titratable acid and reducing sugar content. The earlier ripening of the berries may have been due to hormonal changes but the advancement was much greater than that found previously with abscisic acid or ethylene applied during the slow growth stage of berry development.Die Beschleunigung des Reifezeitpunktes von Trauben durch die Anwendung vonMethyl-2-(ureidooxy)-Propionat, einen WachstumsdämpferMethyl-2-(ureidooxy)-Propionat (MUP), welches das Pflanzenwachstum verlangsamt, beschleunigte bei den Vitis-vinifera-Sorten Mataro und Sultana die Beerenreife um etwa 2 Wochen bzw. 1 Woche. Die Reben wurden etwa in der Mitte der ersten raschen Wachstumsphase der Beeren und ein weiteres Mal 2 Wochen später mit einer 0,1%igen MUP-Lösung besprüht. Das terminale und laterale Triebwachstum war gehemmt. Die Beerenreife war beschleunigt, wie die Entwicklung der Beerenfarbe und die Veränderungen im Gehalt an titrierbarer Säure und reduzierenden Zuckern zeigten. Die frühzeitigere Beerenreife könnte auf hormonale Veränderungen zurückgehen; allerdings war die Reife viel stärker beschleunigt als im Fall früherer Versuche, in denen während der langen Wachstumsphase der Beerenentwicklung Abscisinsäure oder Äthylen angewandt worden waren

Breeding grapevines for tropical environments

Grapevines are increasingly grown in the latitudes between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. In many cases environments modified by elevation are utilized to create temperate growing conditions. The majority of tropical grapes are consumed fresh but some are dried (India) and others are made into wine (Brazil, Venezuela). Currently most plantings are of pure Vitis vinifera varieties. Early ripening, low acid cultivars such as Cardinal, Perlette, Ribier and Thompson Seedless which have a relatively short cycle between budburst and harvest are commonly used, and pruning is timed to ensure maturation before the onset of heavy tropical rains. Other V. vinifera varieties used in the tropics such as Muscat Hamburg, Teneron, Anab-e-Shahi, and Italia have bunch and skin characteristics that give them some resistance to rain damage. There are a number of grapevine varieties that are hybrids between V. vinifera and other Vitis species which are currently grown in the tropics. These have some degree of resistance to fungal diseases and include Isabella, Kyoho, Delaware, Himrod, Campbell Early (V. labrusca hybrids), the Criolla hybrids (V. caribaea hybrids and Villard blanc (a complex French hybrid based on American species). There is considerable scope to increase the resistance of grapes to the main fungal diseases encountered in the tropics such as downy and powdery mildew, anthracnose and bunch rots by using a range of Vitis species as parents. These hybrids should be based on species that do not give strong 'foxy' flavours and could involve complex French hybrids, V. rotundifolia and also Asian species such as V. amurensis and V. armata. CSIRO Merbein has a small hybridisation program aimed at developing new varieties for tropical environments

Experimental study of pedestrian flow through a bottleneck

In this work the results of a bottleneck experiment with pedestrians are presented in the form of total times, fluxes, specific fluxes, and time gaps. A main aim was to find the dependence of these values from the bottleneck width. The results show a linear decline of the specific flux with increasing width as long as only one person at a time can pass, and a constant value for larger bottleneck widths. Differences between small (one person at a time) and wide bottlenecks (two persons at a time) were also found in the distribution of time gaps.Comment: accepted for publication in J. Stat. Mec

Why Do Some Molecules Form Hydrates or Solvates?

The discovery of solvates (crystal structures where the solvent is incorporated into the lattice) dates back to the dawn of chemistry. The phenomenon is ubiquitous, with important applications ranging from the development of pharmaceuticals to the potential capture of CO2 from the atmosphere. Despite this interest, we still do not fully understand why some molecules form solvates. We have employed molecular simulations using simple models of solute and solvent molecules whose interaction parameters could be modulated at will to access a universe of molecules that do and do not form solvates. We investigated the phase behavior of these model solute–solvent systems as a function of solute–solvent affinity, molecule size ratio, and solute concentration. The simulations demonstrate that the primary criterion for solvate formation is that the solute–solvent affinity must be sufficient to overwhelm the solute–solute and solvent–solvent affinities. Strong solute–solvent affinity in itself is not a sufficient condition for solvate formation: in the absence of such strong affinity, a solvate may still form provided that the self-affinities of the solute and the solvent are weaker in relative terms. We show that even solvent-phobic molecules can be induced to form solvates by virtue of a pΔV potential arising either from a more efficient packing or because of high pressure overcoming the energy penalty

Stepping across the line: Information sharing, truth-telling and the role of the personal carer in the Australian Nursing Home

The author draws on an Australian study using multiple qualitative methods to investigate truth telling in aged care. Thematic analysis of data from five nursing homes involving 23 personal care assistants revealed participants’ role understanding as influencing their perceptions about truth telling in practice. Five themes emerged: role as the happy comfort carer, division of labor, division of disclosure, role tension and frustration, and managing the division of disclosure. Role emphasis on comfort and happiness and a dominant perception that telling the truth can cause harm mean that disclosure will be withheld, edited, or partial. Participants’ role understanding divides labor and disclosure responsibility between the personal carer and registered nurse. Personal carers’ strategies for managing the division of disclosure include game playing, obfuscation, lying (denial), and the use of nonverbals. These perceptions about personal carer role, information sharing, and truth telling are paramount for understanding and improving nursing home eldercare