Abstract: An in situ near infrared sensing unit includes a housing allowing the sensing unit to be inserted in a variety of media. A transparent window is formed in the sidewall of the housing. A sensing element is mounted inside the housing. The sensing element is configured to emit near infrared light provided from a light source external to the housing, and the sensing element is configured to collect near infrared light transmitted through the transparent window. A mirror is mounted in the housing at an angle with respect to the transparent window and opposite the sensing element. The angle allows the mirror to reflect the near infrared light, emitted by the sensing element, through the transparent window.

Abstract: An in situ near infrared sensing unit includes a housing allowing the sensing unit to be inserted in a variety of media. A transparent window is formed in the sidewall of the housing. A sensing element is mounted inside the housing. The sensing element is configured to emit near infrared light provided from a light source external to the housing, and the sensing element is configured to collect near infrared light transmitted through the transparent window. A mirror is mounted in the housing at an angle with respect to the transparent window and opposite the sensing element. The angle allows the mirror to reflect the near infrared light, emitted by the sensing element, through the transparent window.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for characterization of a physical site. One of the methods includes obtaining, for each of one or more physical locations corresponding to a respective coordinate at a surface of a growing medium at the locations, sensor data comprising a sensor profile generated from measurements taken by each of a plurality of sensors on a sensor unit passing through the respective coordinate at a plurality of different depth levels within the growing medium at the location; providing the sensor data as input to one or more probabilistic models configured to receive the sensor data comprising the respective sensor profiles to predict one or more characteristics of the growing medium at each of the physical locations; and obtaining, as output from the one or more probabilistic models, the one or more predicted characteristics for each physical location.

Abstract: Subsurface material property measurements, such as soil or chemical properties, are obtained in situ by a direct push method that includes rotating a ring bit at the end of a casing to drill through subsurface materials, lowering a measurement probe through the advanced casing, extending the lowered measurement probe through the ring bit, and advancing the extended probe through the soil at a controlled rate while gathering material property data from sensors attached to the probe. The probe may be withdrawn for drilling, and then replaced for further data gathering.

Abstract: An admixture dispensing method that dispenses a dispersant admixture raw material and other admixture raw materials to cementitious compositions based on performance characteristics such as compressive and flexural strength, slump, setting time, air content, finishability, and material or process variables such as temperature, cement type used, additives such as pozzolan, and water cement ratio desired. The method may use computer software algorithms or lookup tables to determine an adjustable ratio of admixture raw materials that when added to the cementitious composition produces the desired performance characteristics. The method may calculate non-linear dosage rates between polycarboxylate dispersant admixture raw materials used for water reduction and strength generation and defoamer admixture raw materials to determine the correct amount of each to generate the desired air content in a cementitious composition.

Abstract: An automatic workflow architecture provides a design and execution environment for computer-automating business processes, where a user knowledgeable only in the business process itself can create and run the automation of the process without assistance from programmers. An automated workflow method including loading a blank document, selecting activities from a menu to reflect a flow of a business process, inserting the selected activities into the document, assigning variables to the selected activities, and assigning the variables to fields within a desktop application.