The vertical farm: controlled environment agriculture carried out in tall buildings would create greater food safety and security for large urban populations

Over the next 50 years, rapid climate change issues will play a major role in agriculture. It is estimated for every 1° of increase in atmospheric temperature, 10 % of the land where we now grow food crops will be lost. The ability of governments to provide essential services for its citizens, and in particular to maintain systems that provide a reliable and safe food and water supply becomes more and more problematic. In less developed countries, other problems also exist that will become magnified because of global warming. For example, diseases transmitted by fecal contamination, such as cholera, typhoid fever and a plethora of parasitic infections, are commonplace where human excrement is used as fertilizer (an estimated 50 % of all farming on the planet). These infections are in large part responsible for widespread poverty and illiteracy. Geo-helminths, alone, cripple enormous numbers of children and adults alike. Heavy infections with ascaris, hookworm and whipworm can permanently reduce a child’s capacity for learning, and the diarrheal diseases they cause routinely keep them out of school. Illiteracy, malnutrition, and poverty are the result. Today, even in more developed countries where many of these kinds of infectious diseases have been either eradicated or are under control, food safety and security issues dominate the headlines. Over the last 5 years, in the United States alone, food recalls due to bacterial infectious diseases have resulted in billions of dollars of lost income. In traditional farming, a plethora of plant pathogens (e.g., rice blast, wheat rust) and insect pests (e.g., locusts) account for staggering losses of crops worldwide, further pushing the yields of most grain and vegetable crops towards lower and lower limits. Soil erosion due to floods and droughts completes the picture of climate change issues that have already significantly reduced where we can grow our food. The majority of environmental experts agree that farming as we know it will become marginalized over the next 50 years, as climate changes accelerate even more due to deforestation. This is because forests are being sacrificed for farmland. The consequence of this activity is that the carbon cycle is out of balance and will only get worse if nothing is done on a global scale. Controlled environment agriculture is one answer to reversing this situation. Greenhouse technologies are well-established and guarantee a safer, more reliable food supply that can be produced year round, and they can be located close to urban centers. By “stacking” these buildings on top of each other in an integrated well-engineered fashion, we can greatly reduce our agricultural footprint, and the vertical farm concept can then be applied to every urban center, regardless of location.     

The vertical farm: controlled environment agriculture carried out in tall buildings would create greater food safety and security for large urban populations

Over the next 50?years, rapid climate change issues will play a major role in agriculture. It is estimated for every 1° of increase in atmospheric temperature, 10?% of the land where we now grow food crops will be lost. The ability of governments to provide essential services for its citizens, and in particular to maintain systems that provide a reliable and safe food and water supply becomes more and more problematic. In less developed countries, other problems also exist that will become magnified because of global warming. For example, diseases transmitted by fecal contamination, such as cholera, typhoid fever and a plethora of parasitic infections, are commonplace where human excrement is used as fertilizer (an estimated 50?% of all farming on the planet). These infections are in large part responsible for widespread poverty and illiteracy. Geo-helminths, alone, cripple enormous numbers of children and adults alike. Heavy infections with ascaris, hookworm and whipworm can permanently reduce a child??s capacity for learning, and the diarrheal diseases they cause routinely keep them out of school. Illiteracy, malnutrition, and poverty are the result. Today, even in more developed countries where many of these kinds of infectious diseases have been either eradicated or are under control, food safety and security issues dominate the headlines. Over the last 5?years, in the United States alone, food recalls due to bacterial infectious diseases have resulted in billions of dollars of lost income. In traditional farming, a plethora of plant pathogens (e.g., rice blast, wheat rust) and insect pests (e.g., locusts) account for staggering losses of crops worldwide, further pushing the yields of most grain and vegetable crops towards lower and lower limits. Soil erosion due to floods and droughts completes the picture of climate change issues that have already significantly reduced where we can grow our food. The majority of environmental experts agree that farming as we know it will become marginalized over the next 50?years, as climate changes accelerate even more due to deforestation. This is because forests are being sacrificed for farmland. The consequence of this activity is that the carbon cycle is out of balance and will only get worse if nothing is done on a global scale. Controlled environment agriculture is one answer to reversing this situation. Greenhouse technologies are well-established and guarantee a safer, more reliable food supply that can be produced year round, and they can be located close to urban centers. By ??stacking?? these buildings on top of each other in an integrated well-engineered fashion, we can greatly reduce our agricultural footprint, and the vertical farm concept can then be applied to every urban center, regardless of location.     

西班牙卡蒙纳的巴特勒酒窟——一个与乡土相关的生物气候学建筑

自20世纪90年代始,欧洲大陆的葡萄种植进入了结构调整期。卡蒙纳,一个西班牙的家庭式酒酿造企业,在这个倾向下迁离市中心的陈旧结构,修建了一座新的建筑体。在2001年第一期工程期间,建筑师达到了能量消耗减低和工作空间最优化的指标。在2008年的第二期工程规划期间,景观设计师苏阿茜·丹尔娞(SoazigDarnay)对游人接待的逻辑和整座酒窟建筑及其生产活动与周边环境之融为一体进行了思考。项目建立在酒窟、田野和临近的山川和谐的概念上。     

Innovative collagen nano-hydroxyapatite scaffolds offer a highly efficient non-viral gene delivery platform for stem cell-mediated bone formation

The ability of nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA) particles developed in-house to act as non-viral delivery vectors is assessed. These nHA particles are combined with collagen to yield bioactive, biodegradable collagen nano-hydroxyapatite (coll-nHA) scaffolds. Their ability to act as gene-activated matrices for BMP2 delivery is demonstrated with successful transfection of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) resulting in high calcium production.     

边坡失稳引致隧道衬砌异状之探讨

隧道系狭长之地下结构物,空间局限且力学上具高度静不定特性,长期稳定影响因素众多,及早掌握异状出现与否以及其变异之状况,分析引致异状的成因,并厘清相关的影响因素,为隧道维护管理作业极为重要的一环.依据台湾安全检测经验显示,边坡稳定性问题乃隧道长期稳定至为关键的影响因素之一.探讨边坡失稳引致的隧道衬砌异状,首先针对隧道与失稳边坡的相对空间关系,探讨异状的种类与形态;继而依据不同边坡失稳案例相关的隧道衬砌异状的变化,探讨失稳过程异状的进展;并据以建议安全检测与监测项目,以及有关的安全评估的看法.     

Dissolved phosphorus retention of light-weight expanded shale and masonry sand used in subsurface flow treatment wetlands

Using surface flow constructed wetlands for long-term phosphorus (P) retention presents a challenge due to the fact that P is stored primarily in the sediments. Subsurface flow wetlands have the potential to greatly increase P retention; however, the substrate needs to have both high hydraulic conductivity and high P sorption capacity. The objective of our study was to assess the P retention capacity of two substrates, masonry sand and lightweight expanded shale. We used sorption/desorption isotherms, flow-through column experiments, and pilot-scale wetlands to quantify P retained from treated municipal wastewater. Langmuir sorption isotherms predicted that the expanded shale has a maximum sorption capacity of 971 mg/kg and the masonry sand 58.8 mg/kg. In column desorption and column flow-through experiments, the masonry sand desorbed P when exposed to dilute P solutions. The expanded shale, however, had very little desorption and phosphorus did not break through the columns during our experiment. In pilot cells, masonry sand retained (mean +/- standard deviation) 45 +/- 62 g P/m2/yr and expanded shale retained 164 +/- 110 g P/m2/yr. We conclude that only the expanded shale would be a suitable substrate for retaining P in a subsurface flow wetland.     

Exposure of hospitality workers to environmental tobacco smoke

OBJECTIVE: To determine quantitatively the extent of exposure of hospitality workers to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure during the course of a work shift, and to relate these results to the customer smoking policy of the workplace. SUBJECTS: Three categories of non-smoking workers were recruited: (1) staff from hospitality premises (bars and restaurants) that permitted smoking by customers; (2) staff from smokefree hospitality premises; and (3) government employees in smokefree workplaces. All participants met with a member of the study team before they began work, and again at the end of their shift or work day. At each meeting, participants answered questions from a standardised questionnaire and supplied a saliva sample. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Saliva samples were analysed for cotinine. The difference between the first and second saliva sample cotinine concentrations indicated the degree of exposure to ETS over the course of the work shift. RESULTS: Hospitality workers in premises allowing smoking by customers had significantly greater increases in cotinine than workers in smokefree premises. Workers in hospitality premises with no restrictions on customer smoking were more highly exposed to ETS than workers in premises permitting smoking only in designated areas. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, there was a clear association between within-shift cotinine concentration change and smoking policy. Workers in premises permitting customer smoking reported a higher prevalence of respiratory and irritation symptoms than workers in smokefree workplaces. Concentrations of salivary cotinine found in exposed workers in this study have been associated with substantial involuntary risks for cancer and heart disease.     

ANTIHYPERTENSIVE CAPACITY OF DEFATTED SOFT-SHELLED TURTLE POWDER AFTER HYDROLYSIS BY GASTROINTESTINAL ENZYMES

Soft‐shelled turtle (SST) is a high‐value animal cultivated in Asia, possessing many mystical folk curative properties in traditional Chinese medicine. This study investigated the effects of enzymatic hydrolysate derived from defatted SST powder on inhibition of angiotensin I‐converting enzyme (ACE) activity and on antihypertensive effect of spontaneously hypertension rats (SHR). The SST powder showed limited inhibition of ACE (IC₅₀ = 16.7 mg/mL), while its enzymatic hydrolysate exhibited a fivefold increase in inhibition of ACE (IC₅₀ = 3.2 mg/mL). The fraction of molecular weight (Mr) less than 1000 Da obtained through ultrafiltration exhibited the best inhibition of ACE (IC₅₀ = 2.8 mg/mL). The fraction of Mr less than 1000 was then separated into six fractions by gel filtration, eluted with deionized water, and the ACE inhibitory activity from three fractions was analyzed. Fractions 4 and 5 with Mr at 560–600 Da and 440–480 Da had the strongest inhibition on ACE. Single oral administration of 500 mg/kg BW dose from enzymatic hydrolysates to SHR showed a noticeable decrease of systolic blood pressure (SBP) at the sixth and eighth hour after the administration when compared to 0 h (P < 0.05). The fractions with Mr over 5000 Da from enzymatic hydrolysate significantly lowered SBP after a single oral administration at a dose of 500 mg/kg BW in SHR. On the other hand, Mr less than 5000 and 1000 Da significantly lowered SBP after a single oral administration at a dose of 150 and 50 mg/kg BW. The results suggested that hydrolysates of defatted SST powder, produced with a gastrointestinal enzyme, showed inhibition of ACE activity and antihypertensive effect in SHR.     

Storage and packaging effects on sensory and color characteristics of ground beef

Effects of irradiation (2 kGy) of ground beef patties from trimmings stored aerobically for 0 or 6 days on lean color, odor, and sensory attributes were investigated. Beef trimings were coarse ground and split into 2 groups. Group one was fine ground, pattied, and packaged immediately; group-two was stored 6 days then fine ground, pattied, and packaged. Irradiated beef patties had greater (P<0.05) off-odors, and off-flavors, lower (P<0.05) CIE L^*, a^* and b^* and saturation indexes values (P<0.05) after four days of storage at 0±1 °C. Irradiation of patties produced from trimmings aged an extra 6 days resulted in increased (P<0.05) saturation indexes and b^* values, but not off-odors when compared to non-aged and irradiated patties. Thus, the production of irradiated beef patties should utilize beef trimmings with the shortest postmortem aging time and a dose of less than 2 kGy to minimize discoloration and off-odors.