Evaluation of Non-Chemical Re-Grassing Methods to Transition Lawns to Low Maintenance Turfgrass Species and Reduce Weed Populations

Lawns comprise the greatest single land use other than forests in New York State.  While lawns are clearly valued for their visual appeal as well as their function in urban areas, many now desire a lawn that takes less time and money, and uses less fertilizer and pesticides.  The most effective means of achieving this shift to lower maintenance strategies is to re-grass a lawn with lower input turf species.  This project compared chemical and non-chemical methods of doing so with equipment and materials that are reasonable, affordable, and readily available in the consumer market.  In this study, the most effective method of re-grassing was to seed in early September, following treatment with Round-Up to kill existing vegetation.  Establishment was equally effective whether seed was introduced by slit seeding or broadcasting, which suggests specialized equipment is not necessary for successful establishment.  Scalping did not provide adequate weed control, most likely because it was not severe enough.  The clove oil product was not effective against perennial weeds present in the study area, and weeds returned before grass could establish.  Multiple applications may be necessary for adequate control

Late Season Fertility to Reduce Incidence and Severity of Snow Mold and Improve Spring Turfgrass Performance

This two-year study has confirmed some initial observations associated with increased potassium fertilization from previous potassium research at Cornell University

Using Evidence to Address Psychosocial Impairments Post-Stroke: A Guide for Occupational Therapy

Introduction: Following a stroke, individuals experience a wide variety of physical and psychosocial impairments. While physical impairments are commonly given attention by medical practitioners, psychosocial impairments are often overlooked or undiagnosed. (Hildebrand, 2015). Unfortunately, the same is true in occupational therapy, where physical and psychosocial issues have not been receiving the same amount of attention, physical issues being addressed far more than psychosocial issues (Gillen, 2014). The purpose of this scholarly project is to provide occupational therapists a guide to use of current evidence-based assessments and interventions to address psychosocial impairments following stroke. The guide focuses on evidence-based assessments, and interventions appropriate to a wide variety of occupational therapy settings. Methodology: The review of the literature supported the need for a therapy guide translating current research literature for occupational therapists to address interventions and assessments specific to psychosocial impairments post-stroke. The Model of Human Occupation’s six steps of therapeutic reasoning were selected to structure the guide and emphasize the need to consider the individual as a collaborator in the intervention process. Results: The product includes assessments and evidence based interventions that therapists can use throughout the therapeutic reasoning process. The guide focuses on evidence based assessments that can be used by occupational therapists to assess common psychosocial issues that occur after a patient experiences a stroke. The interventions included in this guide have been published in the Occupational Therapy Practice Guidelines for Adults with Stroke (Wolf & Nilsen, 2015). These interventions came from the work of Mary Hildebrand’s (2014), Effectiveness of Interventions for Adults With Psychosocial or Emotional Impairment After Stroke: An Evidence-Based Review. This guide, including assessment and interventions, is guided by the Model of Human Occupation (MOHO), specifically, MOHO’s 6 steps of therapeutic reasoning. Conclusions & Significance: A product has been created to guide occupational therapists through the therapeutic process in order to encourage treatment of not only physical but also psychosocial impairments that accompany a stroke. A potential limitation for this product is that the interventions included are evidence based and have been tested by researchers in the past outside of the profession of occupational therapy. The product does not offer interventions that may be effective but just have not yet been tested in research. Future improvements to this product could include testing the specific evidence-based interventions in the profession of occupational therapy. Further, other intervention options that are not yet considered evidence-based can be tested and added to the product in order to increase options for clients and therapists

Statistical mechanical description of liquid systems in electric field

We formulate the statistical mechanical description of liquid systems for both polarizable and polar systems in an electric field in the $\mathbf{E}$-ensemble, which is the pendant to the thermodynamic description in terms of the free energy at constant potential. The contribution of the electric field to the configurational integral $\tilde{Q}_{N}(\mathbf{E})$ in the $\mathbf{E}$-ensemble is given in an exact form as a factor in the integrand of $\tilde{Q}_{N}(\mathbf{E})$. We calculate the contribution of the electric field to the Ornstein-Zernike formula for the scattering function in the $\mathbf{E}$-ensemble. As an application we determine the field induced shift of the critical temperature for polarizable and polar liquids, and show that the shift is upward for polarizable liquids and downward for polar liquids.Comment: 6 page

Fluctuation effects in the theory of microphase separation of diblock copolymers in the presence of an electric field

We generalize the Fredrickson-Helfand theory of the microphase separation in symmetric diblock copolymer melts by taking into account the influence of a time-independent homogeneous electric field on the composition fluctuations within the self-consistent Hartree approximation. We predict that electric fields suppress composition fluctuations, and consequently weaken the first-order transition. In the presence of an electric field the critical temperature of the order-disorder transition is shifted towards its mean-field value. The collective structure factor in the disordered phase becomes anisotropic in the presence of the electric field. Fluctuational modulations of the order parameter along the field direction are strongest suppressed. The latter is in accordance with the parallel orientation of the lamellae in the ordered state.Comment: 16 page

Free-space quantum links under diverse weather conditions

Free-space optical communication links are promising channels for establishing secure quantum communication. Here we study the transmission of nonclassical light through a turbulent atmospheric link under diverse weather conditions, including rain or haze. To include these effects, the theory of light transmission through atmospheric links in the elliptic-beam approximation presented by Vasylyev et al. [D. Vasylyev et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 090501 (2016); arXiv:1604.01373] is further generalized.It is demonstrated, with good agreement between theory and experiment, that low-intensity rain merely contributes additional deterministic losses, whereas haze also introduces additional beam deformations of the transmitted light. Based on these results, we study theoretically the transmission of quadrature squeezing and Gaussian entanglement under these weather conditions.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure