Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Smart Cities Expanded

Smart Cities Expanded


There is no doubt that Smart Cities hold a lot of promise to help make our communities safer, better places to live. But, as with every new technical development, there are risks. What are the components of a Smart City? What are the problems? More importantly, can governments keep up with technology?

People, when they hear the term "Smart City" for the first time, tend to think of energy, specifically, the arguments surrounding the move toward sustainable and ecologically-friendly energy. But energy generation is just one part of the Smart City concept. "I don't like talking only about energy when talking about Smart Cities," said Mr. Yasuhiro Kawai, a researcher over at Nikkei Business Publications, the organizer of SCW 2014. "Smart Cities are much more than that. A Smart City is, at its heart, a concept which introduces technology to create positive changes and make people's lives better."

There is no one template for making a city smart, and the first step each Smart City program has to take is a local approach to solve local problems. Those approaches can then be expanded to include a larger area, but it is important to start small. The opportunities to apply technology in a community are numerous.

One major example in Japan right now is how many commuter rail companies in the country have integrated their monthly train passes with an RFID chip, which provides consumers with an electronic wallet of sorts. Each major railway company had their own system about seven to ten years ago, and each system was fundamentally incompatible with others. The Suica network of JR East, for instance, could not work on the Icoca terminals operated by JR West. Pasmo, operated by Tokyu, worked only on Tokyu-operated lines. A casual observer might be forgiven for thinking that this attempt at deploying smart city technology wasn't very smart.

However, since 2009, most systems created reciprocal agreements and now riders can transfer across railway lines using only one card. Point-of-purchase has been integrated as well. Mr. Kawai raised this as a point of starting small. "It looked really disorganized at the beginning. You had all these systems and they didn't work well together. Now, as the technology and the operations supporting the technology improved, they are almost seamless," he said.

Connecting Towns and Lives

Further, Mr. Kawai points to the pilot program in the city of Katsuragi in Japan's Nara prefecture, east of Osaka, where a group of seniors have signed up for medical monitoring wristbands. As Mr. Kawai explained it, the population of the village has thinned out over recent decades, as most young people have fled for the larger cities of Osaka and Tokyo to make a living. That has left behind a sparse population of older folks who are not as connected to the community as in previous generations. The medical bracelets monitor a person's vital signs and will notify a nearby hospital over the Internet if a problem is detected. It is just a pilot program, but it is also a very real example of how even a small, rural town can gain from Smart City technology.

Perhaps the most inviting target for Smart City upgrades involves the infrastructure of a community and the cars which drive its roads. There have been several remarkable advances in infrastructure science recently, the most notable of which is perhaps the concept of a solar roadway.

A couple of entrepreneurs in Sandpoint, Idaho (USA) have developed a 1.5 meter hexagonal solar panel encased in heavy-duty tempered glass which can withstand the elements and the constant pounding of cars and trucks on the road. Thousands of these panels, interlocked and connected by software, can provide a smart driving surface which can do everything from illuminate driving lanes at night to outline pedestrians crossing a street, all while providing electricity to the community and, of course, to the electric cars which will drive on those roads.

Cars, as well, are getting a makeover, and human drivers may soon be obsolete. Autonomous cars, as they are called, are cars with sophisticated navigation software onboard which can choose the most efficient or safest routes to take their passengers. Although Google has stolen most of the limelight in this area, Audi, Volvo and even MIT are researching self-driving cars. Many of the cars themselves have just made it out of the lab and are on limited street trials. However, it doesn't take much to put these two developments together to imagine a city where electric, self-driving cars are navigating on illuminated roads which generate power for the community.

Challenges and Opportunities

For all its advantages, though, Smart Cities do have several obstacles to overcome. Perhaps foremost among those is the acceptance of some people in the community. What could be the issue? The problem, it turns out, is two-fold. First, people usually want to see a tangible economic benefit from an investment in the community. "For instance," explained Mr. Kawai, "if you invest community resources to place sensors on a bridge to notify maintenance of needed repair ahead of time, that's great. It actually saves money. But, the people don't usually see the benefit. Sure, the bridge gets repaired before small problems become large problems, but it doesn't mean that people recognize that as a tangible improvement."

While getting people to see that matters like civic maintenance are taken care of before they become big problems is one roadblock to Smart City rollouts, another, larger concern is about what the technology represents. The ubiquitous placement of technology in everything someone does, from point-of-sale smart cards to mass transit to street cameras, in addition to the geolocation functionality present in today's smartphones, has raised fears of creating a "Big Brother" state where the notion of privacy becomes a forgotten relic of the past.

Implementing a Smart City program is a delicate operation. Mr. Toshiya Mochida, also of Nikkei BP, suggests starting small. "Start with a small area of your town, with a technology for a very specific purpose. Trial it for a while, then invite feedback. Most importantly, governments and organizations should be transparent about their goals. What information will they collecting, and why?" Information collection by governments and organizations is a prime concern, notes Mr. Kawai. "A vast majority of the information will just be archives, shut away somewhere, never to be seen or heard from again. But still, it's out there. Will it be managed? Will it be destroyed? These are things to consider, too," he said.

Governments, too, pose a potential problem to Smart City development. Laws often do not keep pace with change. Technology usually advances faster than governments can react, leaving many technological advances in a legal gray area. The greatest example cited is copyright law when faced with the rise of the Internet in the late 1990s. Copyright laws created in the mid 20th century did not foresee the complexities discovered when the record companies fought Napster and other download services, and legal frameworks are still being developed to insure artists are fairly compensated for work.

Self-driving cars look to be the next chapter where technology is advancing quicker than the government's ability to regulate it. A California Highway Patrol officer interviewed for this article said, "This opens up a whole new area of road rules. We need to review licensing, insurance, safety standards, all these areas. Until we get that worked out, I can't see this going mainstream." At present, even with a smart car, a qualified, licensed driver has to be in control of the vehicle.

The jackpot question, of course, is, "Where will Smart City technology be in 5 or 10 years?" Although tempting to do so, you can't really use technological achievements over the past decade as a roadmap for the future. If you were in 2004, then tried to map out what things would be like in 2014, could you really see how a simple cell phone, which had basic calling and, perhaps, mail/text functions back then, become the "computer in your pocket" that smartphones are now? Groundbreaking technologies now being researched - and those not even conceived of yet - will doubtless change the world and the way we live by 2024. Technological developments are at once iterative and explosive. Even a certain technology can branch out into multiple applications. Wearables, for example, look to be fading in the exercise and fitness circuit, but they are proving value among elderly and people who require constant monitoring.



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Saturday, April 4, 2020

25 Surprising Benefits Of CBD Gummies

25 Surprising Benefits Of CBD Gummies

How about a bit of history before we begin? No, no, no, don’t go away! It’s relevant. We promise. So let’s talk gummies.

The first gummy candy (shaped like bears) was invented in Germany almost 100 years ago. Seventy years later, in the late 1990s, two natural-foods advocates mixed up a batch of gummy vitamins in order to get their kids to take a daily multi.

Now it seems like gummies are everywhere. We’ve got gummy this and gummy that. So it’s really no surprise that sometime in the last five years, some canna-genius was inspired — probably in a haze of joint smoke — to combine CBD and gummy candy into the ultimate medicinal confection: CBD gummies.

At this point, you’re probably asking, “But why do we need another method of consuming cannabis?” Our answer? Because each method offers a number of different benefits.

1) Easy To Take
Do you have trouble swallowing pills? Do you feel like the pills will get caught in your throat? Do you think you’re going to choke? If that’s you to a T, CBD gummies will feel like a gift from the canna-gods.

That’s because CBD gummies are super easy to take. All you have to do is chew and swallow. There’s no long and involved prep work required, no waiting a half-hour before swimming. Just chew and go.

Unless you’re one of those unfortunate individuals who can’t walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. If that’s you to a T, you may want to finish chewing first and then go.

2) Non-Psychotropic

CBD gummies are non-psychotropic. That means they won’t get you high. It doesn’t matter how many you eat, you’ll never get your world to go psychedelic. You have to take THC for that.

In fact, no CBD products will get you high because of the way that the cannabinoid interacts with your brain. So whether you choose CBD gummies, or CBD oil, or CBD cream, you should never feel like you’re falling off the floor. If that happens, there was more in whatever you took than just CBD.

3) More Effective With Less Product
To help explain this benefit, we’re going to reduce two natural processes to their most basic explanations:

Your stomach lets things through
Your lungs keep things out
Both organs are remarkably good at their job. That means that if you choose to get CBD through your lungs (via smoke or vapor), you’ll need to take in a lot to get a little through to your brain.

But if you choose to get CBD through your stomach (pills, CBD gummies, edibles), you won’t need nearly as much to feel the effects.

Basically, you get more medicinal bang for your buck. So instead of smoking 0.7 grams of CBD ganja four times in sixteen hours, you’d only need to pop two CBD gummies during that same time period.

4) Long-Lasting
Your digestion and circulatory system operate at a relatively slow pace. If they didn’t, your body would be flooded with nutrients and then have nothing. Instead, your stomach delivers its contents slowly over time so the food you eat lasts longer than just an hour or two.

The same concept applies to the CBD gummies you chew. The CBD in the gummy is released slowly over a period of hours, providing long-lasting relief for your pain or anxiety.

That’s in sharp contrast to the effects you get from smoking your CBD strain in a joint, blunt, or bong. Those effects reach their peak in an hour or less and then taper off to nothing.

5) Gentle On Your Lungs And Throat



The harsh smoke of a heavy bong hit can make even the most experienced pot smoker hack up a lung. CBD gummies, on the other hand, won’t irritate your lungs and throat like marijuana smoke will.

That may not seem like a benefit for you hard-core, give-me-a-joint-or-give-me-death cannabis purists. But for those who just need CBD for medicinal purposes, it’s one of the biggest benefits of all.

Even though weed smoke isn’t packed full of chemicals like cigarette smoke, it can still irritate your lungs and throat and lead to inflammation. CBD gummies produce no smoke, no smell, no respiratory irritation.

6) Available Online
CBD products are often produced from hemp, which is a legal plant in all 50 states. That means hemp isn’t subject to the same laws that are causing so many problems and so much confusion these days.

By extension, then, CBD gummies are pretty much legal everywhere and can be shipped by commercial carriers across state lines. And because they are so easy to ship, one of the best places to find CBD gummies is online.

If your local dispensary doesn’t stock CBD gummies, you’ll be able to find a wide variety at your favorite internet shop. You may have to pay a bit more for shipping, but they’ll arrive on your doorstep ready for use.

7) Easy To Dose



Whatever brand of CBD gummies you choose to buy, always follow the instructions when first starting. After that, you can increase or decrease the dosage according to your needs. There’s very little risk of getting too much CBD, so don’t be afraid of an overdose or negative side effects.

For example, if the instructions tell you to take two CBD gummies with every meal but you need extra relief, you could double the dosage and take four CBD gummies with every meal instead. Your stash wouldn’t last as long, but you’d get the relief you need.

On the other hand, if the instructions tell you to take two CBD gummies with every meal, you could try taking just one with every meal. That would essentially double your stash and stretch your CBD gummies supply.

8) Can Be Used Discreetly
One of the nicest benefits of CBD gummies is that you can use them very discreetly. They look exactly like gummy vitamins and gummy candy, so you don’t have to worry about keeping them hidden.

And taking them doesn’t require anything more than popping one in your mouth. No eye dropper bottles or drops under your tongue like with CBD oil. No dermal patches on your arm. Just an easy, discreet way to get the CBD you need.

9) Cause Minimal Side Effects



CBD gummies produce only two side effects:

Dry mouth
Decreased ability to metabolize medication
Dry mouth happens a lot with cannabis, regardless of the strain you choose or the way you consume it. And many people who take CBD gummies for medicinal reasons would gladly take a slight case of dry mouth over their pain, anxiety, nausea, or seizures.

However, the cannabidiol (CBD) in CBD gummies can decrease your liver’s ability to process pharmaceutical medications. That can have very serious consequences if the CBD gummies you take don’t treat the other ailments the pharmaceutical medications do.

Be sure to talk to your doctor before adding CBD gummies to your daily routine.

At this point, you might be wondering if the lack of side effects in your CBD gummies makes it easier to overdose. In truth, it’s nearly impossible to ingest too much CBD.

Even if you had 100-percent pure CBD, you’d need 33 tablespoons to feel any adverse effects. You’re not going to get that in your CBD gummies.

10) Taste Delicious
We’re not one to complain about the taste of marijuana products. But we have to admit that they aren’t the tastiest treats out there.

Ask anyone what their favorite flavor is and you’ll get answers like chocolate, strawberry, cherry, and watermelon. We’d pretty much bet the farm that you won’t hear anyone say, “Sour Diesel is my favorite flavor!”

Marijuana, in its most basic form, has a very earthy flavor and odor. And that’s great when you’re smoking a doobie, but not so great when you’re eating ice cream…or taking your daily vitamin.

CBD gummies, on the other hand, come in a variety of delicious, fruity flavors. They don’t taste like dirt. And they don’t taste like grass. That’s a major benefit in our book.

11) Temper The Negative Effects Of THC
We’re all familiar with the reality-altering effects of THC. Heck, that’s why we take it — to get a break from the mundanity of everyday life.

But sometimes, we get a bit carried away and go a few steps over the line of what’s a good high and what’s a bad high. Even if we’re expert at achieving that good high, we still have to contend with paranoia, memory loss, and drowsiness.

But did you know that CBD counteracts all these negative effects? It’s true. CBD is like a chaperone at the high school dance — it keeps THC from running amok and causing all sorts of debauchery.

So if you want to cut short a bad trip, temper the paranoia of your regular trip, or just come down faster, pop a CBD gummy or two and you’ll be on your way.

12) Contain Antioxidant Properties
The CBD in CBD gummies is also an antioxidant. Antioxidants protect both your body and brain by removing harmful molecules called free radicals.

When free radicals build up in your body, they can lead to all kinds of health problems. One particularly egregious problem caused by free radicals are neurodegenerative disorders, like Alzheimer’s disease.

By destroying the free radicals that cause neurodegenerative disorders, the CBD in CBD gummies works as a sort of shield against debilitating brain disorders.

13) Prevent Development Of Cancer Cells In Mice



No, scientists aren’t feeding CBD gummies to mice and rats, but they are testing the effects of CBD on those mice and rats (lucky them, right?).

And the results from those studies are very promising. It seems that CBD acts as an antitumoral in those furry lab subjects. CBD does this by:

Inhibiting functions in the body associated with cancer
Preventing tumor cells from spreading
Interfering with cancer cell growth
Inducing tumor cell death
Let’s make it clear that absolutely no studies show that CBD prevents cancer in humans. But a major reason for that lack of data is that few to no tests have been performed on humans (yet).

As the legality of marijuana continues to spread, we’re sure humans will be the next test subjects. We’ll certainly volunteer!

14) Act As A Digestive Aid
When you introduce high amounts of CBD into your brain, it acts like a digestive aid by stimulating your appetite and reducing nausea.

This is good news for patients with cancer (or those being treated for cancer). Many types of cancer, and even the treatments used to prevent them, will decrease a person’s appetite directly.

Other types of cancer (and treatments) increase nausea, which has a negative effect on appetite (who wants to eat when you feel sick to your stomach?).

That increase in nausea and reduction in appetite prevent the cancer patient’s body from finding the energy it needs to heal itself. But with CBD, the nausea disappears, the appetite returns, and cancer patients can focus on getting better.

Even if you don’t suffer from cancer, severe nausea, or loss of appetite, the CBD in CBD gummies can help stabilize your cravings for food.

15) Possibly Suppress Seizure Activity
Seizures — violent shaking and loss of control — originate in the brain as interruptions in electrical activity. That makes them difficult to treat with conventional methods.

But cannabinoids like CBD show promise as an effective treatment for this debilitating disease. Patients like Charlotte Figi, who suffers from Dravet syndrome, take high amounts of CBD and report a significant reduction in seizure activity.

You probably won’t feel the effects unless you take a whole bottle of CBD gummies (don’t do that!), but even the small amount of CBD in one gummy can reinforce your brain’s regular electrical activity.

If you suffer from seizures, talk to your doctor about taking CBD gummies throughout the day as a supplement for your regular treatment.

16) Relieve Pain And Swelling



CBD interacts with the vanilloid receptors in your brain to relieve pain and swelling in other parts of your body.

This is good news for those who suffer from chronic pain and disorders such as fibromyalgia.

Again, you might not feel total relief if you just take a CBD gummy, but the more CBD in your system the better. And that CBD gummy may act like a preventative measure to keep your body running smoothly and you feeling healthy all the time.

17) Reduce Anxiety And Depression
High amounts of CBD can reduce anxiety and depression. It does this by interacting with two specific parts of your brain:

Adenosine receptors
Serotonin receptors
The adenosine receptors play a large role in governing how you experience anxiety, while the serotonin receptors are involved with depression.

If your adenosine receptors are active, your anxiety level will be low. But if those receptors aren’t working correctly — as in many anxiety disorders — your anxiety level will be high.

Similarly, if your serotonin receptors are active, you’ll feel good. But if those receptors aren’t working correctly, your mood will fall and you’ll feel depressed.

There is, of course, a lot more science involved, but CBD helps keep both your adenosine receptors and serotonin receptors running at 100-percent all the time.

As with all the other health benefits on this list, you may not feel relief from just one or two CBD gummies, but they can’t hurt. Talk to your doctor about increasing your intake of CBD to combat anxiety and depression.

18) Promote Relaxation


With so much going on in your busy life, you might find it hard to relax at the end of the day. When you’re on edge like this all the time, you’ll start to feel worn out even after a good night’s sleep.

The CBD in CBD gummies interacts with your brain and body in a way that results in feelings of calmness and relaxation even during times of high stress.

19) Improve Focus
Another unique benefit of CBD is that it increases focus and helps you ignore distractions.

CBD doesn’t make distractions disappear altogether. What it does do is make it easier for your brain not to fixate on the distractions and pull you away from the task at hand.

This is great for office workers and students who find themselves trying to focus on complex tasks while surrounded by noise and activity.

20) Normalize Blood Sugar Levels
Diabetes is a growing epidemic in the United States and affects the lives of millions of people. Treatment for this disease relies on a combination of diet and insulin injections to keep blood sugar levels in a normal range.

CBD, though, can help stabilize blood sugar levels so that the peaks and valleys aren’t so pronounced.

21) Facilitate Sleep


Sleep deprivation takes many forms — from not being able to fall asleep to waking up too often during the night.

Taken at the right time, CBD can help overcome these difficulties. CBD allows you to “turn off” your brain, relax, fall asleep faster, and stay that way throughout the night.

22) Reduce Risk Of High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure is one of the symptoms of heart disease that can lead to heart attack and stroke.

CBD may contribute to lower blood pressure levels both in stressful and non-stressful situations. As mentioned in an earlier section, CBD also exhibits natural antioxidant properties.

Antioxidants help remove plaque and other substances that can group together, form a clog, and cut off blood flow to your brain or other parts of your body. Without those obstructions, your blood flows smoother and your blood pressure goes down.

Research is still on-going, but results from human and animal tests show that CBD can help decrease heart rate and blood pressure levels in those with high numbers.

23) Kill Or Slow Bacterial Growth
Although no comprehensive study exists to support this property of CBD, scattered research (some dating back to the 1950s) suggests that CBD has antibacterial properties. CBD has even proven effective at fighting drug-resistant strains like MRSA.

Initial theories about why CBD is effective at slowing bacterial growth — or killing it outright — have to do with:

The structure of the CBD molecule itself
Its ability to control lipid (fat) affinity
The way the CBD molecule interferes with vital processes inside the bacteria
More tests are necessary in order to prove definitively that CBD is a potent antibacterial, but early results are promising.

24) Stimulate Bone Growth
CBD interacts with your body’s naturally occurring cannabinoid system to stimulate two types of cells involved with bond growth: osteoblasts and osteoclasts.

Osteoblasts create new bone. Osteoclasts resorb and remodel bone in response to external stress.

The effect CBD has on bone growth is especially beneficial for those with brittle bones due to age, degeneration, and other diseases.

25) Effective For A Wide Variety Of Ailments
One of the coolest things about CBD gummies is that they can be used to treat a wide variety of medical issues. Here are just some of the disorders that the CBD in CBD gummies can treat:

Schizophrenia
Psychosis
Lupus
Parkinson’s disease
Chronic and neuropathic pain
Because of this long list of benefits, CBD gummies are a versatile method of getting the medicine you need in a delicious, easy-to-take fruit chew.
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