Advances in mechanical weed control technologies

Mechanical weed control can be grouped into three categories: full-width cultivators, inter-row cultivators and intra-row cultivators. This chapter will highlight the most recent and relevant advances within each category. The focus will be on novel inventions and developments of mechanical devices, designs, and the weed problems they are meant to solve. Moreover, automation technologies that assist weeding operations are becoming increasingly important and will be given special attention.

Contrast-enhanced microCT evaluation of degeneration following partial and full width injuries to mouse lumbar intervertebral disc

Study Design: Preclinical animal study. Objective: Evaluation of the degenerative progression resulting from either a partial- or full- width injury to the mouse lumbar intervertebral disc (IVD) using contrast-enhanced micro-computed tomography and histological analyses. We utilized a lateral-retroperitoneal surgical approach to access the lumbar IVD, and the injuries to the IVD were induced by either incising one side of the annulus fibrosus or puncturing both sides of the annulus fibrosus. The full-width injury caused dramatic reduction in nucleus pulposus hydration and significant degeneration. A partial-width injury produces localized deterioration around the annulus fibrosus site that resulted in local tissue remodeling without gross degeneration to the IVD. Methods: Female C57BL/6J mice of 3-4 months age were used in this study. They were divided into three groups to undergo a partial-width, full-width, or sham injuries. The L5/L6 and L6/S1 lumbar IVDs were surgically exposed using a lateral-retroperitoneal approach. The L6/S1 IVDs were injured using either a surgical scalpel (partial-width) or a 33G needle (full-width), with the L5/L6 serving as an internal control. These animals were allowed to recover and then sacrificed at 2-, 4-, or 8- weeks post-surgery. The IVDs were assessed for degeneration using contrast-enhanced microCT (CEμCT) and histological analysis. Results: The high-resolution 3D evaluation of the IVD confirmed that the respective injuries localized within one side of the annulus fibrosus or spanned the full width of the IVD. The full-width injury caused deteriorations in the nucleus pulposus after 2 weeks that culminated in significant degeneration at 8 weeks, while the partial width injury caused localized disruptions that remained limited to the annulus fibrosus. Conclusion: The use of CEμCT revealed distinct IVD degeneration profiles resulting from partial- and full- width injuries. The partial width injury may serve as a better model for IVD degeneration resulting from localized annulus fibrosus injuries in humans.

Enhanced Air Stability of Perovskite Quantum Dots by Manganese Passivation

Organic-inorganic perovskite quantum dots (PeQDs) have attracted attention due to their excellent optical properties, e.g., high photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs; >70%), a narrow full width at half maximum (FWHM; 25 nm or less), and color tunability adjusted by the halide components in an entire tunability (from 450 nm to 730 nm). On the other hand, PeQD stability against air, humidity, and thermal conditions has still not been enough, which disturbs their application. To overcome these issues, with just a focus on the air stability, Mn2+ ion passivated perovskite quantum dots (Mn/MAPbBr3 QDs) were prepared. Mn2+ could be expected to contract the passivating layer against the air condition because the Mn2+ ion was changed to the oxidized Mn on PeQDs under the air conditions. In this research, Mn/MAPbBr3 QDs were successfully prepared by ligand-assisted reprecipitation (LARP) methods. Surprisingly, Mn/MAPbBr3 QD films showed more than double PLQY stability over 4 months compared with pure MAPbBr3 ones against the air, which suggested that oxidized Mn worked as a passivating layer. Improving the PeQD stability is significantly critical for their application.

Indirect stress and air-cavity displacement measurement of MEMS tunable VCSELs via micro-Raman and micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy

We employ micro-Raman spectroscopy to optically infer the stress experienced by the legs of a bridge-type microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) used in high contrast gratings tunable vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs). We then employ micro-photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy to indirectly measure the air cavity displacement of the same MEMS structure. Results from micro-Raman show that electrostatically actuating the MEMS with a DC bias configuration yields increasing residual stress on the endpoints of the MEMS with values reaching up to 0.8 GPa. We simulated a finite element model via Comsol Multiphysics which agrees with the trend we observe based on our micro-Raman data. Our micro-photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy showed that change in the air cavity of the VCSEL structure results in a change in the full width of the PL peak emitted by the layer consisting of 4 pairs of Distributed Bragg Reflectors (DBRs). The change in the full width of the PL peak was due to the change in the optical cavity induced by displacing the MEMS via externally applied bias and agrees with our transfer matrix convolution simulation. These optical characterization tools can be used for failure analysis, MEMS design improvements, and monitoring of MEMS tunable VCSEL devices for mass production and manufacturing.

Silicon Ribbon-Based Dual-Beam Optical Phased Array with Low Crosstalk and Large FoV

In this paper, a silicon ribbon (SR)-based microstructure is developed and added to a 32-channel optical phased array (OPA) to reduce the crosstalk between the antennas of grating waveguides. The spacing between the chirped grating antennas can be as close as 600 nm to effectively improve the field of view (FoV) of the OPA in the horizontal direction to 95 degrees. This SR-based approach substantially reduces the side lobe by 10 dB, effectively suppressing the noise and increasing the main lobe by 6 dB and considerably expanding the grating length with linear energy decay. The full width at the half maximum of the light spot reaches about 0.24 degrees. The antenna sites can simultaneously be scanned vertically by bi-directional inputs, effectively increasing the FoV to 30 degrees in the vertical direction.

Dynamically tunable ultralong photonic nanojet by a curved surface truncated dielectric microcylinder

As for micro-particles (microspheres or microcylinders) that form Photonic nanojet (PNJ) in near fied,a curved truncated dielectric microcylinder structure (CSTDM) is investigated by finite element method(FEM) which can form ultralong PNJ with the longest effective length:209.49λ. We found that changing parameter h of structure can realize long dynamic range tuning of the effective length of PNJ. The effective length varies quasi-periodically with h; the law of the variation of main indicators of microcylinder are further discussed, such as the effective length,the working distance, peak electric field intensity and full width half height

MEASUREMENT OF PARAMETERS OF BROADBAND EMISSION USING MINI-SPECTROMETERS

On the basis of mini-spectrometers, a reference lamp of the SIRSH type with a known color temperature, and line spectrum sources, an inexpensive hardware complex has been created for measuring the emission parameters of heterodiodes and interference filters. Examples of recording the emission of heterodiodes (full width at half maximum is 17–30 nm) with a maximum of emission in the region of 659 and 764 nm and measurement of an interference filter (FWHM of the bandwidth is 12 nm) with a maximum transmission of 727 nm are given. The emission parameters of the SIRSH standard lamp are introduced into the program for measuring and processing data, due to which it is possible to significantly refine the value of the wavelength of the maximum emission and transmission.

Fabrication and electroluminescence properties of alloyed CdSxSe1-x quantum dots-based LEDs

We report the facile synthesis of alloyed CdSxSe1-x QDs via one-pot method using simultaneous injection of Se and S source into a solution of the Cd precursor dissolved in a coordinating mixture of hexadecylamine and trioctylphosphine, during which the formation of CdSxSe1-x nanocrystals was controlled by growth time at a certain temperature of 260 oC. In particular, emission peak and full width at half maximum of photoluminescence (PL) of alloyed CdSxSe1-x QDs were tunable in a range of 588 - 604 nm and 36 - 38 nm, respectively, with a PL quantum yield up to 55 % by a reaction time of 60 min. Importantly, the structural advantage of alloyed CdSxSe1-x QDs based LEDs have been fabricated and their electroluminescence properties were characterized. A good performance device with a maximum luminance and luminous efficiency of 761 cd/m2 and 0.82 cd/A was obtained, respectively.