A pull cord mechanism for a self-opening umbrella mainly comprises a core tube rest to support the first and second sheaves on one side. Some embodiments operate to allow a user to influence the scope of an optimized test plan while also reducing a number of tests and test execution effort involved. The first transfer gate is controllable to transfer charge from the photodiode to under the storage gate. Still further provided by the invention are methods for producing soybean plants by crossing the soybean variety D4311702 with itself or another soybean variety and plants produced by such methods. The measurement shaped laser beam is reflected from the surface, being modified by the aspect of interest of the surface, and to a sensor array wherein the sensors measure the reflected laser beam to determine the aspect of interest of the surface. The flash heating may be preceded by one or more adsorptiondesorption cycles with water or steam.