Exploring hybridity in food supply chains

In recent years, a number of dynamic aspects of food supply chains have attracted great interest among social scientists investigating rural restructuring and change. These include: the expansion of organic agriculture; the development of new value added enterprises at farm level and the revitalisation of traditional and new-old artisanal production practices; the expansion from a low base of the market share of alternative short supply chains, such as farmers markets; and the so-called quality turn, riding on the heels of another turn in rural social research - the consumption turn. All of these changes come together in a vision of alternative agro food networks (AAFNs) that has been built around empirical and theoretical work from a number of predominantly European social researchers, centred on Wageningen, but conducted in a number of countries in Europe. These and other associated changes in the composition of farm-based economic activity are seen to be constitutive of a new paradigm of rural development comprising an alternative network of producers, consumers and other actors in relation to the mainstream agro-food system (Van der Ploeg et al. 2000; Van der Ploeg and Renting 2004; Renting et al. 2003). The theorisation surrounding this work on AAFNs has been sharply criticised by Goodman (2004). He challenges the vision of certain European social scientists of an alternative food sector rising like a phoenix from the ashes of the commodity-based food system to constitute a new paradigm of rural development. He notes their view of AAFNs as: innovative precursors of paradigm change, of a more endogenous, territorialized and ecologically embedded successor to the allegedly crisis-ridden modernisation model of conventional industrialised agriculture. (Goodman 2004:6) In particular, he challenges the binary categorisation into alternative and mainstream and is deeply sceptical as to the existence of a new paradigm while, at the same time, highly cognisant of dynamic changes within the agro-food sector. This paper is motivated by a desire to explore the extent to which different theories can help interpret and explain some of the most dynamic areas of agro-food systems that belong neither in the mainstream food supply chains and networks, nor in the alternative food supply networks. We review two areas where we argue that hybridity is evident in food supply chains and networks, and draw conclusions as to the research needs in a field where too often dualistic interpretations have prevailed.Agribusiness,

State-of-the-art in aerodynamic shape optimisation methods

Aerodynamic optimisation has become an indispensable component for any aerodynamic design over the past 60 years, with applications to aircraft, cars, trains, bridges, wind turbines, internal pipe flows, and cavities, among others, and is thus relevant in many facets of technology. With advancements in computational power, automated design optimisation procedures have become more competent, however, there is an ambiguity and bias throughout the literature with regards to relative performance of optimisation architectures and employed algorithms. This paper provides a well-balanced critical review of the dominant optimisation approaches that have been integrated with aerodynamic theory for the purpose of shape optimisation. A total of 229 papers, published in more than 120 journals and conference proceedings, have been classified into 6 different optimisation algorithm approaches. The material cited includes some of the most well-established authors and publications in the field of aerodynamic optimisation. This paper aims to eliminate bias toward certain algorithms by analysing the limitations, drawbacks, and the benefits of the most utilised optimisation approaches. This review provides comprehensive but straightforward insight for non-specialists and reference detailing the current state for specialist practitioners

WindBots: A Concept for Persistent In-Situ Science Explorers for Gas Giants

This report summarizes the study of a mission concept to Jupiter with one or multiple Wind Robots able to operate in the Jovian atmosphere, above and below the clouds - down to 10 bar, for long durations and using energy obtained from local sources. This concept would be a step towards persistent exploration of gas giants by robots performing in-situ atmospheric science, powered by locally harvested energy. The Wind Robots, referred in this report as WindBots (WBs), would ride the planetary winds and transform aeolian energy into kinetic energy of flight, and electrical energy for on-board equipment. Small shape adjustments modify the aerodynamic characteristics of their surfaces, allowing for changes in direction and a high movement autonomy. Specifically, we sought solutions to increase survivability to strong/turbulent winds, and mobility and autonomy compared to passive balloons

KINE[SIS]TEM'17 From Nature to Architectural Matter

Kine[SiS]tem – From Kinesis + System. Kinesis is a non-linear movement or activity of an organism in response to a stimulus. A system is a set of interacting and interdependent agents forming a complex whole, delineated by its spatial and temporal boundaries, influenced by its environment. How can architectural systems moderate the external environment to enhance comfort conditions in a simple, sustainable and smart way? This is the starting question for the Kine[SiS]tem’17 – From Nature to Architectural Matter International Conference. For decades, architectural design was developed despite (and not with) the climate, based on mechanical heating and cooling. Today, the argument for net zero energy buildings needs very effective strategies to reduce energy requirements. The challenge ahead requires design processes that are built upon consolidated knowledge, make use of advanced technologies and are inspired by nature. These design processes should lead to responsive smart systems that deliver the best performance in each specific design scenario. To control solar radiation is one key factor in low-energy thermal comfort. Computational-controlled sensor-based kinetic surfaces are one of the possible answers to control solar energy in an effective way, within the scope of contradictory objectives throughout the year.FC

Advancing computational methods for mass spectrometry-based proteomics, metabolomics, and analysis of multi-omics datasets

Undoubtedly, the current century is witness to an unprecedented speed in advancements within biological sciences, which are owed to the immense technological progress in the analytical tools and methods utilized, and to the dawn of the fast developing fields of omics and bioinformatics. Omics allows the collection of holistic data on several different biomolecule classes, and bioinformatics makes it possible to explore and understand the vast amounts of data produced. The most mature omics fields, in terms of both hardware and software, are genomics and transcriptomics, based on next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies. With the introduction of electrospray ionization and high-resolution mass spectrometry, liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), has made significant leaps for the fields of metabolomics and proteomics. One promising method for LC-MS/MS-based proteomics is data independent acquisition (DIA), which requires advanced data analysis algorithms. MaxDIA, within the MaxQuant software for the processing of LC-MS/MS-based proteomics data, is introduced here. It comes with an accurate false discovery rate estimation of the peptide and protein identification based on measured and predicted spectrum libraries. When compared to the state of the art, MaxDIA also delivers comprehensive proteome coverages and lower coefficients of variation in protein quantification. Bioinformatics tools for the analysis of metabolomics data generally follow the same principles and steps as proteomics software, but due the huge numbers of metabolites and immense complexity of metabolomics data, much work is still needed to bring metabolomics software to the level of maturity of their proteomics equivalents. MaxQuant is a time tested and widely accepted software for the processing of proteomics data, which was first recognized for its cutting-edge nonlinear recalibration for reaching superior precursor mass accuracy, which helps significantly improve peptide identifications. Here, following this direction, a new algorithm within MaxQuant for improving mass accuracy in metabolomics data is introduced, which utilizes a novel metabolite library-based mass recalibration algorithm. The many types of omics data available today present a great opportunity for developing approaches to combine such data in order to infer new knowledge, often termed multi-omics studies. A robust approach to this end is to utilize prior knowledge on the relationships of the various major biomolecules in question, which are often depicted in network structures where the nodes of the network depict biomolecules and the edges correspond to an interaction. To implement this approach, Metis is introduced, a new plugin for the Perseus software aimed at analyzing quantitative multi-omics data based on metabolic pathways. This thesis includes four publications, the first of which is a review article on computational metabolomics as a part of the introduction, listed below: 1. Hamzeiy, Hamid, and Jürgen Cox. 2017. “What Computational Non-Targeted Mass Spectrometry-Based Metabolomics Can Gain from Shotgun Proteomics.” Current Opinion in Biotechnology 43: 141–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2016.11.014. 2. Sinitcyn, Pavel, Shivani Tiwary, Jan Rudolph, Petra Gutenbrunner, Christoph Wichmann, Şule Yllmaz, Hamid Hamzeiy, Favio Salinas, and Jürgen Cox. 2018. “MaxQuant Goes Linux.” Nature Methods 15 (6): 401. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-018-0018-y. 3. Pavel Sinitcyn, Hamid Hamzeiy, Favio Salinas Soto, Daniel Itzhak, Frank McCarthy, Christoph Wichmann, Martin Steger, Uli Ohmayer, Ute Distler, Stephanie Kaspar-Schoenefeld, Nikita Prianichnikov, Şule Yılmaz, Jan Daniel Rudolph, Stefan Tenzer, Yasset Perez-Riverol, Nagarjuna Nagaraj, Sean J. Humphrey and Jürgen Cox. “MaxDIA enables highly sensitive and accurate library-based and library-free data-independent acquisition proteomics.” Submitted to Nature Biotechnology, 2020 4. Hamid Hamzeiy, Daniela Ferretti, Maria S. Robles, and Jürgen Cox. “Perseus plugin ‘Metis’ for metabolic pathway-centered quantitative multi-omics data analysis supporting static and time-series experimental designs.” Submitted to Cell Systems, 202

Spacesuit Hard Upper Torso Assembly: Development Of Fit Metrics And Customized Design Frameworks

The Hard Upper Torso (HUT) of the spacesuit pressure garment is a central component of a spacesuit, enclosing the upper body and connecting with the shoulder joints, bearings, helmet, hatch, and waist-brief-hip components. The shape and positioning of the HUT and its connected components are critical for ensuring comfort, range of motion, field of view, and minimizing astronaut injury risk.This dissertation aims to build upon previous work on spacesuit sizing and develop new spacesuit fit metrics. Motion-tracking technology has been utilized to define the reach envelope and range of motion for test subjects wearing a HUT. Subjective surveys have also been conducted to evaluate suit mobility, feature alignment, indexing, and discomfort. These tools can be adapted to investigate the effects of HUT sizing, leading to the proposal of new metrics ideal for the fit and mobility of HUT based on these technologies. Additive manufacturing can be employed to create custom spacesuit hardware with minimal additional manufacturing steps. This technique enables efficient testing and benchmarking of a wide variety of HUT prototypes. With the development of fit and performance metrics, it becomes logical to utilize these metrics to design optimally sized HUT geometry. The above goals were pursued through the following activities: 1. Define two separate HUT design frameworks: The first framework will result in an optimally distributed discreet HUT sizing system, while the second will establish a framework for the rapid prediction and design of customized HUTs. 2. Investigate the subjective effect of HUT customization on HUT fitment using a subjective fit survey, demonstrating the benefits of HUT customization. 3. Explore the effect of HUT customization using human in-the-loop testing, including range of motion and reach envelope analyses, highlighting the benefits of HUT customization on suited mobility. 4. Confirm the preliminary feasibility of 3D printed HUTs through stress analysis of virtual HUT prototypes using a range of pressures, shell thicknesses, and candidate materials

Pressure-Constrained, Reduced-DOF, Interconnected Parallel Manipulators with Applications to Space Suit Design

This dissertation presents the concept of a Morphing Upper Torso, an innovative pressure suit design that incorporates robotic elements to enable a resizable, highly mobile and easy to don/doff spacesuit. The torso is modeled as a system of interconnected, pressure-constrained, reduced-DOF, wire-actuated parallel manipulators, that enable the dimensions of the suit to be reconfigured to match the wearer. The kinematics, dynamics and control of wire-actuated manipulators are derived and simulated, along with the Jacobian transforms, which relate the total twist vector of the system to the vector of actuator velocities. Tools are developed that allow calculation of the workspace for both single and interconnected reduced-DOF robots of this type, using knowledge of the link lengths. The forward kinematics and statics equations are combined and solved to produce the pose of the platforms along with the link tensions. These tools allow analysis of the full Morphing Upper Torso design, in which the back hatch of a rear-entry torso is interconnected with the waist ring, helmet ring and two scye bearings. Half-scale and full-scale experimental models are used along with analytical models to examine the feasibility of this novel space suit concept. The analytical and experimental results demonstrate that the torso could be expanded to facilitate donning and doffing, and then contracted to match different wearer's body dimensions. Using the system of interconnected parallel manipulators, suit components can be accurately repositioned to different desired configurations. The demonstrated feasibility of the Morphing Upper Torso concept makes it an exciting candidate for inclusion in a future planetary suit architecture