Introduction: New Approaches to Sustainable Offshore Food Production and the Development of Offshore Platforms

How Will We Eat and Produce in the Cities of the Future? From Edible Insects to Vertical Farming—A Study on the Perception and Acceptability of New Approaches

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11164315 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (16) ◽

pp. 4315 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Kathrin Specht ◽

Felix Zoll ◽

Henrike Schümann ◽

Julia Bela ◽

Julia Kachel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Food Production ◽

Early Stage ◽

Qualitative Content Analysis ◽

Edible Insects ◽

New Approaches ◽

Stage Of Development ◽

High Investment ◽

Urban Food Production ◽

Negative Side Effects ◽

Legal Constraints

Global challenges such as climate change, increasing urbanization and a lack of transparency of food chains, have led to the development of innovative urban food production approaches, such as rooftop greenhouses, vertical farms, indoor farms, aquaponics as well as production sites for edible insects or micro-algae. Those approaches are still at an early stage of development and partly unknown among the public. The aim of our study was to identify the perception of sustainability, social acceptability and ethical aspects of these new approaches and products in urban food production. We conducted 19 qualitative expert interviews and applied qualitative content analysis. Our results revealed that major perceived benefits are educational effects, revaluation of city districts, efficient resource use, exploitation of new protein sources or strengthening of local economies. Major perceived conflicts concern negative side-effects, legal constraints or high investment costs. The extracted acceptance factors deal significantly with the “unknown”. A lack of understanding of the new approaches, uncertainty about their benefits, concerns about health risks, a lack of familiarity with the food products, and ethical doubts about animal welfare represent possible barriers. We conclude that adaptation of the unsuitable regulatory framework, which discourages investors, is an important first step to foster dissemination of the urban food production approaches.

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miRNA-based approaches for sustainable control of diseases.

CAB Reviews Perspectives in Agriculture Veterinary Science Nutrition and Natural Resources ◽

10.1079/pavsnnr202116035 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (035) ◽

Author(s):

Isabella Pentimone

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Food Production ◽

Plant Protection ◽

Crop Protection ◽

Transcriptional Level ◽

Molecular Tools ◽

New Approaches ◽

Environmental Friendly

Abstract MicroRNAs (miRNAs) were envisioned, in recent years, as alternative, environmental friendly molecular tools to confer crop protection. This view was based on their ability to move across Kingdoms and to modulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level, inhibiting pathogens or parasites' invasive processes or promoting plant favorable microorganisms. Strategies based on miRNAs, complementing the already existing technologies or creating new unexplored ones, are expected to provide valuable tools to reduce crop biotic damage, increasing food production and safety. This review provides a brief overview of miRNA-based technologies applied so far for plant protection and reports some new approaches suggested by recent acquisitions on miRNA.

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Beyond autism: Challenging unexamined assumptions about social motivation in typical development

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x18002273 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 42 ◽

Author(s):

Karen Bartsch ◽

David Estes

Keyword(s):

Social Interest ◽

Social Motivation ◽

Typical Development ◽

Typically Developing ◽

New Approaches

Abstract In challenging the assumption of autistic social uninterest, Jaswal & Akhtar have opened the door to scrutinizing similar unexamined assumptions embedded in other literatures, such as those on children's typically developing behaviors regarding others’ minds and morals. Extending skeptical analysis to other areas may reveal new approaches for evaluating competing claims regarding social interest in autistic individuals.

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