At a glance, one can tell that there are more individual fruits in a pile of 100 apples than in a pile of 20 watermelons, even though the watermelons take up more space. People's ability to distinguish between such nonsymbolic numerical magnitudes without counting is derived from the approximate number system (ANS). Individual differences in this ability (ANS acuity) are emerging as an importan...

We study the extreme statistics of N nonintersecting Brownian motions (vicious walkers) over a unit time interval in one dimension. Using path-integral techniques we compute exactly the joint distribution of the maximum M and of the time τ(M) at which this maximum is reached. We focus in particular on nonintersecting Brownian bridges ("watermelons without wall") and nonintersecting Brownian exc...

Watermelons are primarily produced by eight states on over 100,000 acres each year (USDA-NASS, 2022). Most of the fruit (almost 80%) cultivated in California, Florida, Georgia, and Texas with Florida leading domestic production (USDA-ERS, 2020a). In 2019, Florida’s watermelon output accounted for 25.2% total U.S. production, 24.7% national acreage, 29.6% overall crop value U.S 2021). The Florid...

The nutritional quality of many fruits and vegetables is regulated by pre-harvest management factors that can be manipulated to attain desired standards. In this study, the impact seed nanopriming on phytochemical composition watermelon was studied. Seeds two varieties namely: River Side (diploid) Maxima (triploid) treated with nanomaterials (silver nanoparticle turmeric nanoemulsion) along unt...

Carotenoids, which impart yellow, orange, and/or red colors to many fruits, have antioxidant health properties. A series of experiments were undertaken to establish horticultural relationships to carotenoids in watermelon and mango in cooperation with U.S. commodity boards. Watermelon was assayed to determine effects of germplasm, storage temperature, and fresh cut on lycopene and beta carotene...