Controlled Environment Agriculture: A Pilot Project

The controlled-environment agricultural (CEA) project discussed in this report was first conceived for the Wildwood Air Force Station in Kenai, Alaska, in 1972. The region contained high unemployment and a U.S. Air Force Station that had just closed. The Kenai Native Association, Inc. (KNA), was to take possession of the Air Force Station through land transfers associated with the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and this corporation was interested in expanding business and employment opportunities for local people. The University of Alaska Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) contacted KNA to determine if it had a facility which might be adaptable for use in a research and development program in controlled- 1 environment agriculture. It was determined that such a facility was available. Subsequently, AES and KNA contacted the General Electric Company (GE) in Syracuse, New York, to determine its interest in such a project. GE had extensive background in lighting technology and environmental control systems and the engineering capability to develop a total system for CEA production. It was agreed that GE would provide technological expertise and AES would provide horticultural and economic expertise for the growing and marketing of a variety of salad crops. KNA would manage the project, employ the nontechnical people, and provide the building. The Wildwood site was selected because it contained two buildings which were thought to be well suited for CEA production. One building would provide sufficient inside space for a 1/4-acre pilot production plant, nine small research modules , a laboratory , offices, a training area, and space for preparing the crop for shipping. A second building near the first contained three diesel generators which were to be converted to natural gas to provide power for the production facility.The Controlled Environment Agriculture Project at Wildwood Village, Kenai, Alaska, spanned a period of five years. During that time, three agencies: Kenai Native Association, Inc.; General Electric Company; and University of Alaska Agricultural Experiment Station , were responsible for the management, research, and production activities. Many persons from these agencies who participated in all phases of the project are acknowledged for their participation and support. This report summarizes work began in 1972 and concluded in 1977 on controlled-environment agriculture in facilities located at Wildwood Village, Kenai, Alaska, managed by the Kenai Native Association , Inc. The authors wish to express their appreciation to all those who have participated in the preparation of this bulletin. Particular acknowledgment is given to: Dr. Gerald Carlson, U.S .D.A., Beltsville, Maryland; Dr. Donald Dinkel, University of Alaska, Agricultural Experiment Station; Dr. Delbert Hemphill, Oregon State University ; John Monfor, Kenai Native Association, Inc.; Dr. Eion Scott, General Electric Company; and Dr. Norman Whittlesey, Washington State University, who thoroughly reviewed the contract document

Long-Time approximations of small-amplitude, long-wavelength FPUT solutions

It is well known that the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation and its generalizations serve as modulation equations for traveling wave solutions to generic Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou (FPUT) lattices. Explicit approximation estimates and other such results have been proved in this case. However, situations in which the defocusing modified KdV (mKdV) equation is expected to be the modulation equation have been much less studied. As seen in numerical experiments, the kink solution of the mKdV seems essential in understanding the $\beta$-FPUT recurrence. In this paper, we derive explicit approximation results for solutions of the FPUT using the mKdV as a modulation equation. In contrast to previous work, our estimates allow for solutions to be non-localized as to allow approximate kink solutions. These results allow us to conclude meta-stability results of kink-like solutions of the FPUT.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figur

On Norton’s “…Shook…” and Myrvold’s “Shakin’…”

Norton’s and Myrvold’s recent analyses of fluctuations and Landauer’s principle are compatible

Physical activity to improve cognition in older adults: can physical activity programs enriched with cognitive challenges enhance the effects? A systematic review and meta-analysis

: EPHPP quality rating scores (DOCX 38 kb

The effect of a sports chiropractic manual therapy intervention on the prevention of back pain, hamstring and lower limb injuries in semi-elite Australian Rules footballers: a randomized controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hamstring injuries are the most common injury in Australian Rules football. It was the aims to investigate whether a sports chiropractic manual therapy intervention protocol provided in addition to the current best practice management could prevent the occurrence of and weeks missed due to hamstring and other lower-limb injuries at the semi-elite level of Australian football.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Sixty male subjects were assessed for eligibility with 59 meeting entry requirements and randomly allocated to an intervention (n = 29) or control group (n = 30), being matched for age and hamstring injury history. Twenty-eight intervention and 29 control group participants completed the trial. Both groups received the current best practice medical and sports science management, which acted as the control. Additionally, the intervention group received a sports chiropractic intervention. Treatment for the intervention group was individually determined and could involve manipulation/mobilization and/or soft tissue therapies to the spine and extremity. Minimum scheduling was: 1 treatment per week for 6 weeks, 1 treatment per fortnight for 3 months, 1 treatment per month for the remainder of the season (3 months). The main outcome measure was an injury surveillance with a missed match injury definition.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After 24 matches there was no statistical significant difference between the groups for the incidence of hamstring injury (OR:0.116, 95% CI:0.013-1.019, p = 0.051) and primary non-contact knee injury (OR:0.116, 95% CI:0.013-1.019, p = 0.051). The difference for primary lower-limb muscle strains was significant (OR:0.097, 95%CI:0.011-0.839, p = 0.025). There was no significant difference for weeks missed due to hamstring injury (4 v14, χ2:1.12, p = 0.29) and lower-limb muscle strains (4 v 21, χ2:2.66, p = 0.10). A significant difference in weeks missed due to non-contact knee injury was noted (1 v 24, χ2:6.70, p = 0.01).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study demonstrated a trend towards lower limb injury prevention with a significant reduction in primary lower limb muscle strains and weeks missed due to non-contact knee injuries through the addition of a sports chiropractic intervention to the current best practice management.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>The study was registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12608000533392).</p

Late style and speaking out: J A Symonds's In the Key of Blue

This article examines In the Key of Blue (1893)—an essay collection by John Addington Symonds—as a case study in queer public utterance during the early 1890s. Viewed through the critical lens of late style, as theorised by Edward Said, the evolution of this project, from compilation through to reader reception, reveals Symonds's determination to “speak out” on the subject of homosexuality. Paradoxically, In the Key of Blue was thus a timely and untimely work: it belonged to a brief period of increased visibility and expressiveness when dealing with male same-sex desire, spearheaded by a younger generation of Decadent writers, but it also cut against the grain of nineteenth-century social taboo and legal repression. Symonds's essay collection brought together new and previously unpublished work with examples of his writing for the periodical press. These new combinations, appearing together for the first time, served to facilitate new readings and new inferences, bringing homosexual themes to the fore. This article traces the dialogic structure of In the Key of Blue , its strategies for articulating homosexual desire, and examines the response of reviewers, from the hostile to celebratory

The Novel Mouse Mutation Oblivion Inactivates the PMCA2 Pump and Causes Progressive Hearing Loss

Progressive hearing loss is common in the human population, but we have few clues to the molecular basis. Mouse mutants with progressive hearing loss offer valuable insights, and ENU (N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea) mutagenesis is a useful way of generating models. We have characterised a new ENU-induced mouse mutant, Oblivion (allele symbol Obl), showing semi-dominant inheritance of hearing impairment. Obl/+ mutants showed increasing hearing impairment from post-natal day (P)20 to P90, and loss of auditory function was followed by a corresponding base to apex progression of hair cell degeneration. Obl/Obl mutants were small, showed severe vestibular dysfunction by 2 weeks of age, and were completely deaf from birth; sensory hair cells were completely degenerate in the basal turn of the cochlea, although hair cells appeared normal in the apex. We mapped the mutation to Chromosome 6. Mutation analysis of Atp2b2 showed a missense mutation (2630C→T) in exon 15, causing a serine to phenylalanine substitution (S877F) in transmembrane domain 6 of the PMCA2 pump, the resident Ca2+ pump of hair cell stereocilia. Transmembrane domain mutations in these pumps generally are believed to be incompatible with normal targeting of the protein to the plasma membrane. However, analyses of hair cells in cultured utricular maculae of Obl/Obl mice and of the mutant Obl pump in model cells showed that the protein was correctly targeted to the plasma membrane. Biochemical and biophysical characterisation showed that the pump had lost a significant portion of its non-stimulated Ca2+ exporting ability. These findings can explain the progressive loss of auditory function, and indicate the limits in our ability to predict mechanism from sequence alone