Mathematical Modelling of Hydrophilic Ionic Fertiliser Diffusion in Plant Cuticles: Lipophilic Surfactant Effects

The agricultural industry requires improved efficacy of sprays being applied to crops and weeds to reduce their environmental impact and increase financial returns. One way to improve efficacy is by enhancing foliar penetration. The plant leaf cuticle is the most significant barrier to agrochemical diffusion within the leaf. It has been noted that a comprehensive set of mechanisms for ionic active ingredient penetration through plant leaves with surfactants is not well defined and oils that enhance penetration have been given little attention. The importance of a mechanistic mathematical model has been noted previously in the literature. Two mechanistic mathematical models have been previously developed by the authors, focusing on plant cuticle penetration of calcium chloride through tomato fruit cuticles. The models included ion binding and evaporation with hygroscopic water absorption, along with the ability to vary the active ingredient concentration and type, relative humidity and plant species. Here we further develop these models to include lipophilic adjuvant effects, as well as the adsorption and desorption of compounds on the cuticle surface with a novel Adaptive Competitive Langmuir model. These modifications to a penetration model provide a novel addition to the literature. We validate our theoretical model results against appropriate experimental data, discuss key sensitivities and relate theoretical predictions to physical mechanisms. The results indicate the addition of the desorption mechanism may be one way to predict increased penetration at late times and the sensitivity of model parameters compares wells to those present in the literature

AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF INTERNATIONAL FEED AND MALTING BARLEY MARKETS: AN ECONOMETRIC SPATIAL OLIGOPOLISTIC APPROACH

A "hybrid" spatial price equilibrium model is developed to evaluate changes in production, consumption, and trade of feed and malting barley under alternative domestic and agricultural trade policy regimes. The analysis includes the economic welfare impacts of changes in various farm subsidy programs on the United States, Canada, Australia, and European Union (EU-15) which are the four major barley exporting countries in the world. The actions of competitive U.S. grain traders under the Export Enhancement Program cause feed barley exports to be segmented into two distinct markets. A spatial equilibrium is established in which the Canadian Wheat Board and Australian marketing boards behave as oligopolists in export markets under arbitrage conditions induced by U.S. and EU-15 grain traders.Malting, Feed, Farm Subsidy, Trade Policy, Export Market, Welfare, International Relations/Trade,

Inverse Compton scattering on solar photons, heliospheric modulation, and neutrino astrophysics

We study the inverse Compton scattering of solar photons by Galactic cosmic-ray electrons. We show that the gamma-ray emission from this process is substantial with the maximum flux in the direction of the Sun; the angular distribution of the emission is broad. This previously-neglected foreground should be taken into account in studies of the diffuse Galactic and extragalactic gamma-ray emission. Furthermore, observations by GLAST can be used to monitor the heliosphere and determine the electron spectrum as a function of position from distances as large as Saturn's orbit to close proximity of the Sun, thus enabling unique studies of solar modulation. This paves the way for the determination of other Galactic cosmic-ray species, primarily protons, near the solar surface which will lead to accurate predictions of gamma rays from pp-interactions in the solar atmosphere. These albedo gamma rays will be observable by GLAST, allowing the study of deep atmospheric layers, magnetic field(s), and cosmic-ray cascade development. The latter is necessary to calculate the neutrino flux from pp-interactions at higher energies (>1 TeV). Although this flux is small, it is a "guaranteed flux" in contrast to other astrophysical sources of neutrinos, and may be detectable by km^3 neutrino telescopes of the near future, such as IceCube. Since the solar core is opaque for very high-energy neutrinos, directly studying the mass distribution of the solar core may thus be possible.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, emulateapj.cls, final version; published in ApJ Letters, added an erratum; conclusions unchange

UR-191 - Automated Image Colorization Through EfficientNet

Automatic Image Colorization is the procedure of transforming a gray-scale image into a colored image without any human intervention. This field is highly researched and strongly applicable to the real world due to: historic importance, data generation/augmentation, and human satisfaction. The main objective of this research is to develop an artificial intelligence feature extraction method that implements color into a gray-scale image. To solve this problem, I relied on transfer learning through the EfficientNet model. The problem was treated in multiple parts, those being: the processing of images into features, feature extraction using the model, and then colorization via the luminosity channel. My model outperformed the base model marginally but saved vastly on the time constraint even within my limited resources. As stated in the baseline paper, the implementation of EfficientNet generates colored images without fail. However, a more complex model, as well as an even more complex cost function, is required to truly evaluate automated image colorization

Natal Stream Characteristics Associated with Migratory Westslope Cutthroat Trout

Natal Stream Characteristics Associated with Migratory Westslope Cutthroat Trout Westslope Cutthroat Trout, hereafter cutthroat, are a native trout species of conservation concern in Montana that have historically exhibited a diversity of life histories within a population. This includes migratory individuals that move from larger rivers to their natal streams to spawn, as well as resident individuals that remain in natal streams for their lifetime. Due to habitat degradation and interbreeding (or hybridizing) with nonnative Rainbow Trout, cutthroats are becoming rare in large river systems and increasingly occur as isolated resident populations in headwater systems. This loss of migratory individuals can lead to extirpation of theses isolated, local populations. Rock Creek in Western Montana is a population of conservation and of ecological interest because it has retained a population of migratory non-hybridized cutthroat. Understanding characteristics of streams that promote migratory individuals and the persistence of the migratory life history within a population would be useful to help prioritize conservation of habitat that maintains life history diversity. Based on ecological theory we hypothesized that factors such as stream habitat quality (temperature, flow, pool depth) and competition (fish density) would be associated with migratory behavior. From 2018 to 2020, we implanted 73 radio telemetry tags and tracked cutthroat movements over this time period to determine their migratory life history and where they spawned. We collected habitat and fish population data on 37 tributary streams within the Rock Creek drainage. We used a generalized linear model to evaluate the relationship between the number of migratory individuals and certain tributary characteristics. Our results show that natal stream size is related to the abundance of migratory individuals. This study is unique in that we were able to capture and track a large number of individuals over a large landscape, which is uncommon for these types of studies. By understanding the drivers behind migratory cutthroat populations, this study will directly help managers make crucial conservation decisions about protection of watersheds and guide decisions about reconnecting habitats to provide migratory pathways

Citizens\u27 understandings of the Vocational Agriculture Department in the Church Hill High School

The purpose of this study was to find out what citizens know about the vocational agriculture department in the Church Hill High School. The specific areas included are the administrative policies, teacher, finance, course of study, facilities, Future Farmers of America, and out of School classes