Implications of new technologies for future food supply systems

The combination of advances in knowledge, technology, changes in consumer preference and low cost of manufacturing is accelerating the next technology revolution in crop, livestock and fish production systems. This will have major implications for how, where and by whom food will be produced in the future. This next technology revolution could benefit the producer through substantial improvements in resource use and profitability, but also the environment through reduced externalities. The consumer will ultimately benefit through more nutritious, safe and affordable food diversity, which in turn will also contribute to the acceleration of the next technology. It will create new opportunities in achieving progress towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals, but it will require early recognition of trends and impact, public research and policy guidance to avoid negative trade-offs. Unfortunately, the quantitative predictability of future impacts will remain low and uncertain, while new chocks with unexpected consequences will continue to interrupt current and future outcomes. However, there is a continuing need for improving the predictability of shocks to future food systems especially for ex-ante assessment for policy and planning

Self-adaptive approach for optimisation of passive control systems for seismic resistant buildings

The concept of passive control of the seismic response of structures was introduced to improve the performance of structures by increasing their energy dissipation and reduce or eliminate damage in the structural elements. The key task in the design of passive systems is to determine the forces in the control devices (yield/slip or post-tensioning) at each floor, that will result in best performance (e.g. minimum inter-storey drift). This can be achieved by large parametric studies in which both the maximum control force (e.g. at ground level) and the distribution of forces along the height of the structure are varied. Alternatively, optimum forces in the devices can be achieved by semi-active control, where the structure self-adapts to the earthquake. Both solutions are expensive: the first requires hundreds of non-linear response simulations in the design stage; the second needs a system of sensors, controllers and electromechanical devices. Presented here is a new Self Adaptive Optimisation Approach (SAOA) in which the self-optimisation of a semi-active system is used in the design stage and the resulting distribution of control forces is adopted as a passive system. The new approach was evaluated through comparing the simulated dynamic responses of two relatively simple benchmark structures (braced and post-tensioned) with three sets of control forces: (1) passive system with forces obtained in parametric study, (2) semi-active system with self-adapting control forces, and (3) passive system with SAOA-optimized forces. The results show good performance of the SAOA systems, indicating that SAOA offers a simple and effective solution that can replace the existing optimisation approaches for the design of passively controlled earthquake resistant structures. This study presents a novel idea of using the semi-active control as a tool for optimising a passive control system. The passive control systems can be further improved by a larger study in which the semi-active control algorithms are also optimised

Ethical framework of assistive devices: review and reflection

The population of ageing is growing significantly over the world, and there is an emerging demand for better healthcare services and more care centres. Innovations of Information and Communication Technology has resulted in development of various types of assistive robots to fulfil elderly’s needs and independency, whilst carrying out daily routine tasks. This makes it vital to have a clear understanding of elderly’s needs and expectations from assistive robots. This paper addresses current ethical issues to understand elderly’s prime needs. Also, we consider other general ethics with the purpose of applying these theories to form a proper ethics framework. In the ethics framework, the ethical concerns of senior citizens will be prioritized to satisfy elderly’s needs and also to diminish related expenses to healthcare services

Bank Financing of Dairy Farmers in Northern Vermont

Excerpts from the report Introduction: Dairy farmers in the Northeast need credit to buy their farms, to improve them, and to buy livestock and equipment. How well do the banks of the region - and particularly the smaller banks - meet the needs of their farmer-borrowers? To obtain data with which to answer this question, the lending operations of the smaller banks in a typical dairy area of the region - northern Vermont – were selected for study. Although the study was concerned primarily with the financing of farmers, it covered other aspects of the banks' business. Banks draw their deposits from many sources; they extend credit to business concerns, homeowners, and others, as well as to farmers. By studying all of the loans, the terms on which credit is extended to farmers can be compared with the terms made available to other borrowers