High-Tech Urban Agriculture in Amsterdam : An Actor Network Analysis

The agriculture and horticulture sector in the Netherlands is one of the most productive in the world. Although the sector is one of the most advanced and intense agricultural production systems worldwide, it faces challenges, such as climate change and environmental and social unsustainability of industrial production. To overcome these challenges, alternative food production initiatives have emerged, especially in large cities such as Amsterdam. Some initiatives involve producing food in the urban environment, supported by new technologies and practices, so-called high-tech urban agriculture (HTUA). These initiatives make cultivation of plants inside and on top of buildings possible and increase green spaces in urban areas. The emerging agricultural technologies are creating new business environments that are shape d by technology developers (e.g., suppliers of horticultural light emitting diodes (LED) and control environment systems) and developers of alternative food production practices (e.g., HTUA start-ups). However, research shows that the uptake of these technological innovations in urban planning processes is problematic. Therefore, this research analyzes the barriers that local government planners and HTUA developers are facing in the embedding of HTUA in urban planning processes, using the city of Amsterdam as a case study. This study draws on actor-network theory (ANT) to analyze the interactions between planners, technologies, technology developers and developers of alternative food production practices. Several concepts of ANT are integrated into a multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions (MLP) to create a new theoretical framework that can explain how interactions between technologies and planning actors transform the incumbent social\u2013technical regime. The configuration of interactions between social and material entities in technology development and adoption processes in Amsterdam is analyzed through the lens of this theoretical framework. The data in this study were gathered by tracing actors and their connections by using ethnographic research methods. In the course of the integration of new technologies into urban planning practices, gaps between technologies, technology developers, and planning actors have been identified. The results of this study show a lacking connection between planning actors and technology developers, although planning actors do interact with developers of alternative food production practices. These interactions are influenced by agency of artefacts such as visualizations of the future projects. The paper concludes that for the utilization of emerging technologies for sustainability transition of cities, the existing gap between technology developers and planning actors needs to be bridged through the integration of technology development visions in urban agendas and planning processe

Prevention of acute ammonia toxicity in beluga, Huso huso, using natural zeolite

This study was accomplished to examine the efficiency of natural zeolite in preventing acute toxicity of total ammonia to Huso huso. The study was performed using Water Static Method in 96 hours. Fish averaged 46 ± 5 g in weight and 22 ± 4 cm in total length were exposed to four different concentrations (15, 30, 50, 75 mgL-1) of ammonia and a group was considered as control. Under stable condition, the lethal concentration of ionized ammonia was 75 mgL-1 in 96 hours. In the lethal concentration of total ammonia, different amounts of 5, 10, 15 g.L-1 granulated clinoptilolite zeolite were used. Results indicated significant differences between treatments and control (p<0.05). By increasing Clinoptilolite zeolite in each treatment, the survival rate of fish also increased significantly (p<0.05). In lethal concentration of ammonia, the use of 15 g.L-1 zeolite could prevent the mortality rate. Histopathological findings showed that major lesions in gill filaments included hemorrhage, hyperemia, hyperplasia, epithelial cells necrosis. There were hemorrhage, hyperemia, degenerated tubules of kidney, expansion of Bowman's capsule in kidney and hepatocytes necrosis in liver

Multiobjective System of Systems Architecting with Performance Improvement Funds

A System of Systems architecting problem aims to determine a selection of systems, which are capable of providing a set of desired capabilities. A SoS architect usually has multiple objectives in generating efficient architectures such as minimization of the total cost and maximization the overall performance of the SoS. This study formulates a biobjective SoS architecting problem with these two objectives. Here, we consider that, by allocating funds to the systems, the SoS architect can improve the performance of the capabilities the systems can provide. The resulting architecting problem is a biobjective mixed-integer linear programming model. Specifically, the system selection decisions are binary while the fund allocation decisions are continuous. We first discuss the application of the adaptive epsilon-constraint method as an exact method for solving this model. Then, we propose an evolutionary method and compare its performance with the exact method. Finally, a numerical study demonstrates the benefits of fund allocation in the SoS architecting process

Combining Max-Min and Max-Max Approaches for Robust SoS Architecting

A System of Systems (SoS) architecting problem requires creating a selection of systems in order to provide a set of capabilities. SoS architecting finds many applications in military/defense projects. In this paper, we study a multi-objective SoS architecting problem, where the cost of the architecture is minimized while its performance is maximized. The cost of the architecture is the summation of the costs of the systems to be included in the SoS. Similarly, the performance of the architecture is defined as the sum of the performance of the capabilities, where the performance of a capability is the sum of the selected systems\u27 contributions towards its performance. Here, nevertheless, the performance of a system in providing a capability is not known with certainty. To model this uncertainty, we assume that the performance of a system for providing a capability has lower and upper bounds and subject to complete uncertainty, i.e., no information is available about the probability distribution of the performance values. To solve the resulting multi-objective SoS architecting problem with uncertainty, we propose and compare three robust approaches: max-min, max-max, and max-mid. We apply these methods on a military example and numerically compare the results of the different approaches

Effect of copper sulphate on behavioral and histopathological changes in roach, Rutilus rutilus caspicus

The research was accomplished in order to study behavioral and histopathological effects of Copper on Rutilus rutilus caspicus under experimental condition. The study was performed using Water Static Method during 96 hours. 15 fish with averaged weight 2±0.5 g in weight were encountered to different concentrations (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 mg/l) of Copper. A group of fish was considered as control. Under stable condition and aeration, the lethal concentration was 0.4 mg/l. Results indicated that there was significant differences between treatments when copper concentration increased (p<0.05). It was found that in the high concentration of Copper nominal signs of toxicity such as convulsion, air gulping and flared operculum were observed. Histopathological sings were hyperplasia, edema, hyperemia, hemorrhage, expansion of Bowman’s capsule and hepatocytes necrosis. In control group no lesion was observed

The Effect of Social Responsibility and Corporate image on Enhancing the Brand Equity

Customers are one of the pillars of success in organizations and have been studied from different aspects. The aim of this study is scrutinizing the factors influencing brand equity in the tobacco industry in Tehran. Therefore, by referring to previous studies, dimensions and components of associated with variables have been identified and a standard questionnaire based on these variables has been used. The validity of the questionnaire has been approved by the elites of management and the reliability of them has been calculated through the software. The statistical population of research consisted of all customers of the tobacco industry in Tehran. In order to determining the sample size the Cochran formula, to the extent of 384 individuals, has been used. In order to test the research hypotheses Structural equation modeling through Lisrel software has been used. The results showed that different variables have significant impact on brand equity and customer loyalty is an important mediating factor in influencing on brand equity

Improvement in the Production of L-Lysine by Overexpression of Aspartokinase (ASK) in C. glutamicum ATCC 21799

Purpose: To clone Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC21799 aspartokinase gene (EC 2.7.2.4) using shuttle expression vector pEKEx2 in order to increase lysine production.Methods: C. glutamicum DNA was extracted and used for amplification of aspartokinase gene (ask) by cloning into an E. coli/C. glutamicum shuttle expression vector, pEKEx2. Initially, the recombinant vector transformed into E. coli DH5á and then into C. glutamicum.Results: Electrophoresis of recombinant protein by SDS-PAGE showed that the molecular weight of the recombinant protein was 42 KD. The induction of recombinant vector by IPTG had an inhibitory effect on cell growth due to over-expression of the cloned gene. The results of lysine assay by Chinard method showed that lysine production increased about two-fold, compared with the parent strain, as a result of increased copy numbers of lysC gene in recombinant strain.Conclusion: A two-fold increase in lysine production was observed by cloning of the ASK gene in C. glutamicum rather than in E. coli, due to the presence of lysine exporter channel which facilitates lysine extraction.Keywords: LysC gene, Corynebacterium glutamicum, L- lysine, Cloning, Aspartokinase, E. col

Relapse, mortality, and the associated factors in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia; a competing risks analysis

Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most frequent form of malignant neoplasia diagnosed in ages 0 to 14 years old. Efforts have not yet converted into a better prospect. Bone marrow relapse is still the leading cause of person-year of life lost in this malignancy. Objectives: This study aimed at identifying the associated risk factors for relapse and mortality for pediatric patients with ALL in standard and high-risk groups. Methods: This study included a cohort of pediatric (0-16 years old) patients with ALL referred to Sheikh Hospital, Mashhad, Iran from 2007 to 2016. The demographic, clinical, and laboratory information were considered. Hazard ration (HR) with 95 highest posterior density region was obtained, using a Bayesian competing risks model. Results: Of 424 patients with a mean age of 5.56 ± 3.75 years, 172 (40) were female. Median follow-up time was 43.29 months, 10.6 had a relapse, and 17.2 had mortality related to ALL. Relapse-free survival rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were 97, 91, and 88, respectively. Overall survival rates were 86, 83, and 82, respectively. In the standard-risk group, tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) significantly increased either the relapse risk HR: 13.47 (2.05-67.54) or mortality risk HR: 19.57 (2.24-32.18). In the high-risk group, the higher level of hemoglobin, platelet, and lactic acid dehydrogenase was significantly associated with higher relapse risk. TLS was associated with a higher risk of mortality in high-risk groups. Conclusions: It was suggested that TLS was a predictor for the disease relapse as well as mortality in pediatric patients with ALL. However, further evaluation on the larger population of patients is demanded to ascertain the precision of such parameters in leukemic management strategies. © 2021, Author(s)

Joint Computing and Electric Systems Optimization for Green Datacenters

This chapter presents an optimization framework to manage green datacenters using multilevel energy reduction techniques in a joint approach. A green datacenter exploits renewable energy sources and active Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) units to reduce the energy intake from the grid while improving its Quality of Service (QoS). At server level, the state-of-the-art correlation-aware Virtual Machines (VMs) consolidation technique allows to maximize server’s energy efficiency. At system level, heterogeneous Energy Storage Systems (ESS) replace standard UPSs, while a dedicated optimization strategy aims at maximizing the lifetime of the battery banks and to reduce the energy bill, considering the load of the servers. Results demonstrate, under different number of VMs in the system, up to 11.6% energy savings, 10.4% improvement of QoS compared to existing correlation-aware VM allocation schemes for datacenters and up to 96% electricity bill savings

Reactive Security for Smart Grids Using [email protected] Simulation and Reasoning

Smart grids leverage modern information and communication technology to offer new perspectives to electricity consumers, producers, and distributors. However, these new possibilities also increase the complexity of the grid and make it more prone to failures. Moreover, new advanced features like remotely disconnecting meters create new vulnerabilities and make smart grids an attractive target for cyber attackers. We claim that, due to the nature of smart grids, unforeseen attacks and failures cannot be effectively countered relying solely on proactive security techniques. We believe that a reactive and corrective approach can offer a long-term solution and is able to both minimize the impact of attacks and to deal with unforeseen failures. In this paper we present a novel approach combining a [email protected] simulation and reasoning engine with reactive security techniques to intelligently monitor and continuously adapt the smart grid to varying conditions in near real-time