425 research outputs found
Multicriteria evaluation of novel technologies for organic micropollutants removal in advanced water reclamation schemes for indirect potable reuse
Postprint (author's final draft
Propuesta de mejoras en los procesos de cosecha y postcosecha de arándano para reducir mermas en el reempaque para el mercado europeo de la empresa Camposol S.A
La presente tesis plantea una propuesta de estrategias a implementarse en
los procesos de cosecha y postcosecha del arándano fresco, para mejorar su
calidad al arribo y de esta forma, reducir los porcentajes de merma obtenidos
durante su reempaque en el mercado europeo en la campaña 2020/21 versus
los resultados de la campaña previa. La estructura presente en este trabajo
de investigación se ha enfocado en la metodología del Ciclo PHVA. Primero
se describe la situación actual de las mermas en el reempaque de Europa,
durante la campaña 2019/20 este proceso tuvo un 10% promedio de merma
con picos de hasta 25%, junto con los siguientes principales defectos de
calidad al arribo: bayas reventadas, incidencia de pudrición, fruta blanda e
incidencia de micelio. Posterior a esto se comienza la planificación de las
estrategias a implementar, seleccionando las etapas críticas en los procesos
de cosecha y postcosecha que estén comprometiendo la calidad del producto
al arribo (utilizando el método de análisis multicriterio) y gestionando la
implementación cada estrategia de las etapas críticas, junto con todas las
áreas involucradas en el proyecto, donde se detalla el paso a paso de cada
implementación. Obteniendo durante la campaña 2020/21 una reducción del
porcentaje promedio de merma de siete puntos porcentuales y una tendencia
semanal del porcentaje de merma por debajo del límite máximo permitido
(5%). A su vez se determinan los beneficios económicos obtenidos con la
reducción del porcentaje de merma en el mercado europeo. Por lo tanto, se
concluye que la implementación de las estrategias de mejora en los procesos
de cosecha y postcosecha, han logrado reducir el porcentaje de merma del
arándano fresco en los reempaques del mercado europeo, pasando de 10%
a 3% y con un beneficio económico de 500,360.04 during this 2020/21 season.Tesi
Anticipatory life cycle analysis framework for sustainable management of end-of-life crystalline silicon photovoltaic panels
In this research, a framework for performing Anticipatory Life Cycle Analysis (a-LCA) has been developed to identify the sustainable end of life (EoL) management option for crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) panels. a-LCA can be used to stimulate proactive and sustainable decision making for emerging technologies through stakeholder participation. In this research, stakeholders related to EoL management of PV panels participated through a survey to identify and prioritize economic, environmental, and social indicators for PV EoL management. Several EoL strategies like bulk material recycling (centralized and decentralized), high value material recycling, and landfilling were chosen and assessed for the prioritised sustainability indicators. The EoL strategies were then ranked through a multi-criteria decision analysis tool for their level of sustainability. High value material recycling (close to 100% material recovery) was identified as the most sustainable option followed by bulk recycling of PV panels that recover only the major constituents, such as aluminium, glass, and e-waste. Landfilling remained the least preferred option, although it currently has an economic advantage over other recycling options, highlighting the need to shift the user preferences. The developed a-LCA framework is iterative and can be applied by decision makers for different EoL management strategies in the future.This research was supported by the by R2MIT project (ref. CTM2017-85346-R) financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and the Catalan Government (ref. 2017-SGR-312) the Open Innovation - Research Translation and Applied Knowledge Exchange in Practice through University-In- dustry Cooperation (OpenInnoTrain), Grant agreement number (GAN): 823971, H2020-MSCA-RISE-2018-823971. The authors would also like to thank the various stakeholders who had partic- ipated in the survey to provide their valuable inputs. Special thanks Fig. 8. Sensitivity Analysis based on changes in Economic, Environmental, and Social impact criteria (Red vertical line indicating the overall weightage of the selected criteria). K. Ganesan and C. Valderrama Energy 245 (2022) 123207 12 to Sofies Sustainability Leaders Pvt Ltd and Poseidon Solar Pvt Ltd for supporting this work and for providing insights from their Solar Waste Action Plan project.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Towards a sustainability-based society: an analysis of fundamental values from the perspective of economics and philosophy
Sustainable development faces numerous challenges when applied in the real-world global economic model of capitalism. The prevailing trend of the economic pillar, in the implementation of sustainability planning based on the triple bottom line (TBL), compromises both the environment and society. This paper aims to address such challenges by proposing a new vision of strong sustainability that is characterised by: i) considering the global economic model in a real-world approach; and ii) having strong core values of sustainability. To evaluate the first characteristic, a review of the literature regarding capitalism and TBL-sustainability has been conducted. For the second characteristic, a historical-philosophical discussion around the role of society and the economy has been conducted. The results suggest that an actual sustainable society requires a fixed and sustained focus on environmental and social pillars together with a flexible organisation of society (including its economic model).Peer ReviewedObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::2 - Fam zeroObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::3 - Salut i BenestarObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::1 - Fi de la PobresaObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::4 - Educació de QualitatObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::15 - Vida d'Ecosistemes TerrestresObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::17 - Aliança per a Aconseguir els ObjetiusObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::16 - Pau, Justícia i Institucions SòlidesObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::5 - Igualtat de GènereObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::6 - Aigua Neta i SanejamentObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::7 - Energia Assequible i No ContaminantObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::9 - Indústria, Innovació i InfraestructuraObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::10 - Reducció de les DesigualtatsObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::11 - Ciutats i Comunitats SosteniblesObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::12 - Producció i Consum ResponsablesObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::13 - Acció per al ClimaObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::14 - Vida SubmarinaPostprint (published version
Nivel de atención de la sede de internado médico y percepción de competencias quirúrgicas adquiridas por los internos de medicina de las Facultades de Medicina de Trujillo durante la pandemia COVID 19
Introducción: Uno de los aspectos más urgentes de la pandemia del COVID 19
es que irrumpió en el escenario de la salud a nivel nacional y mundial copando
todos los niveles de atención y trayendo diversas consecuencias, una de ellas
fueron los cambios introducidos para la formación de estudiantes y profesionales
de la salud; debido a las diferentes barreras educativas encontradas una de las
poblaciones más afectadas con esta coyuntura fueron los internos de medicina
en su rotación de cirugía. Objetivo: Determinar si el nivel de atención de la sede
de internado médico está asociado a la mejor percepción de competencias
quirúrgicas adquiridas durante la pandemia COVID-19. Materiales y métodos:
Se realizó un estudio observacional, de tipo trasversal analítico. La población de
estudio estuvo conformada por 97 personas que realizaron su internado médico
y pasaron por la rotación de cirugía durante la pandemia COVID 19 en el 2020
de las 3 facultades de medicina de Trujillo: UPAO, UCV y UNT. Resultados:
Existe una mayor proporción de varones que estuvieron en un nivel de atención
de sede de internado Nivel III (57.8%) comparado con los varones que estuvieron
en un Nivel I de atención del internado (50%), con un valor de (p=0.444). El
puntaje de percepción de competencias quirúrgicas entre los internos del nivel
de sede de internado I y III son muy similares con medianas de 4.34 y 4.37
respectivamente y con un valor de (p=0.364). Conclusiones: En nuestro estudio
pudimos concluir que el nivel de atención de sede de internado médico no está
asociado a una mejor percepción de las competencias quirúrgicas adquiridas
durante la pandemia COVID 19Introduction: One of the most urgent aspects of the COVID 19 pandemic is
that it burst onto the health scene at a national and global level, taking over all
levels of healthcare and bringing various consequences, one of them being the
changes introduced for the training of students and healthcare professionals;
due to different educational barriers encountered one of the most affected
populations by this situation were medical interns in their surgery rotation.
Objective: To determine whether the level of care at the medical internship site
is associated with improved perception of surgical competencies acquired
during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods: An observational,
cross-sectional analytical study was carried out. The study population consisted
of 97 people who completed their medical internship and surgery rotation during
the COVID 19 pandemic in 2020 from the 3 faculties of medicine of Trujillo:
UPAO, UCV and UNT. Results: There is a higher proportion of males who were
in a Level III internship site level of care (57.8%) compared to males who were
in a Level I internship site level of care (50%), with a value of (p=0.444), with no
statistical significance of association. The score of perception of surgical
competencies among interns of medicine from medical internship hospital of
levels of care I and III are very similar with medians of 4.34 and 4.37 respectively
and a with a value of (p=0.364). Conclusions: In our study we conclude that
the level of care at the medical internship hospitals is not associated with a
better perception of the surgical skills acquired during the COVID 19 pandemicTesi
Selectrodialysis and bipolar membrane electrodialysis combination for industrial process brines treatment: Monovalent-divalent ions separation and acid and base production
Chemical industries generate large amounts of wastewater rich in different chemical constituents. Amongst these, salts at high concentrations are of major concern, making necessary the treatment of saline effluents before discharge. Because most of these rejected streams comprise a combination of more than one salt at high concentration, it is reasonable to try to separate and revalorize them to promote circular economy at industry site level. For this reason, ion-exchange membranes based technologies were integrated in this study: selectrodialysis (SED) and electrodialysis with bipolar membranes (EDBM). Different process brines composed by Na2SO4 and NaCl at different concentrations were treated first by SED to separate each salt, and then by EDBM to produce base (NaOH) and acids (HCl and H2SO4) from each salt. The optimum of both electrolyte nature and concentration of the SED stack streams was evaluated. Results indicated that it was possible to separate Cl- and SO42- depending on the anionic membrane, initial electrolytes and concentrations of each stream. Pure NaOH and a mixture of HCl and H2SO4 with different purities could be obtained. Energy consumption evolutions were plotted and an optimal zone work was found where the consumption values were acceptable.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
Integration of monopolar and bipolar electrodialysis for valorization of seawater reverse osmosis desalination brines: Production of strong acid and base
Water scarcity in the Mediterranean basin has been solved by using seawater desalination reverse osmosis technology (SWD-RO). This technology produces brine which is discharged back into the sea resulting in an environmental impact on marine ecosystems. Under the circular economy approach, the aim of this work is to recover resources from NaCl-rich brine (~60-70 g/L), e.g. in the form of NaOH and HCl, by integration of two ion exchange-based membrane technologies and quantify the electrical energy consumption. Electrodialysis (ED) incorporating monovalent selective cation exchange membranes as divalent ions purification and concentration of the NaCl present in the SWD-RO brine, was integrated with bipolar membrane ED (EDBM) to produce NaOH and HCl. Current densities of 0.30–0.40 kA/m2 at two temperature ranges simulating different seawater temperature regimes (15-18 ºC and 22-28ºC) were tested and a pure NaCl solution was used as starting concentrate stream. NaCl-rich brines with 100 or 200 gNaCl/L were obtained by ED and then introduced in the EDBM stack producing HCl and NaOH up to 2 M, depending on the initial concentrations. A minimum energy consumption of 1.7 kWh/kgNaOH was calculated when working by EDBM with initial concentrations of 104 g NaCl/L and 0.24 M HCl and NaOH.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
Sistema web para la mejora de la evaluación de los test de progreso en la I.E.P. Eiffel Schools
El objetivo principal de esta investigación fue mejorar la evaluación del test de
progreso que es realizado en la Institución Educativa Particular Eiffel Schools, para
ello se recopiló información procedente de tesis, artículos, libros y otras fuentes de
información, haciendo uso de la investigación aplicada y explicativa llevado a cabo
mediante un proceso de investigación pre experimental, en la que participaron 15
docentes, se utilizó una guía de observación para registrar el tiempo que es
empleado en la elaboración, corrección de fichas y publicación de resultados del
test de progreso, en los resultados se observó que se llevó a cabo una mejoría
significativa con respecto al tiempo empleado en la evaluación de los test de
progreso, al culminar esta investigación se concluyó que el sistema es funcional y
es posible la realización de mejorías para que llegue a ser más autónomo
Transcriptomics of ammonium nutrition in the conifer Pinus pinaster Aiton
Nitrogen is an important element for all living beings because it is part of macromolecules as significant
as nucleic acids or amino acids. For plants, it constitutes a limiting factor in their growth and development1
due to their low natural availability in soils thus limiting primary production in ecosystems2.
Conifers are a group of gymnosperm plants that form large forest extensions of vegetation, being the main
constituents of forests in boreal ecosystems3 where ammonium is the main source of inorganic nitrogen4.
Due to the characteristics of the soils in which conifers usually grow, these plants have developed a high
tolerance to the presence of ammonium, which may constitute their main source of inorganic nitrogen5.
The maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) is a conifer that has a wide distribution in the western
Mediterranean area and has been widely used in reforestation, soil stabilization tasks and industrially. In
recent years, maritime pine has been the subject of multiple omic studies that have resulted in the
acquisition of important tools and resources6,7.
The present work is focused on the analysis of the ammonium uptake and management efficiency, and its
relationship with the biomass accumulation in maritime pine. For this purpose, several experiments have
been developed in which pine seedlings have undergone different levels of ammonium nutrition, both in the
short and long term. As a result of short-term experiments, the characterization of transcriptomic response
to the process of ammonium nutrition (uptake and assimilation) is being studied at mRNA, lncRNA and
miRNA level in roots. In relation to long-term experiments, ten different provenances of maritime pine
seedlings were treated with different ammonium levels and the biomass changes were measured. The results
obtained suggest the existence a certain phenotypic plasticity grade for this conifer.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech.
This project was supported by a grant form the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
(MicroNUpE, BIO2015-73512-JIN; MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE). FO was supported by a grant from the
Universidad de Málaga (Programa Operativo de Empleo Juvenil vía SNJG, UMAJI11, FEDER, FSE, Junta
de Andalucía) and JMVM by a grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional
(FPU17/03517
Nutrients recovery from treated secondary mainstream in an urban wastewater treatment plant: a financial assessment case study
This study presents the financial assessment for implementing an ammonium and phosphate simultaneous recovery process based on the use of calcium activated synthetic zeolites in a large urban Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) located in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona.
A calcium activated synthetic zeolites was selected, after a benchmarking analysis, as it reported capability for simultaneously recover ammonium and phosphate by a combined mechanism of ion exchange for ammonium and formation of insoluble mineral phase for phosphate. The loaded sorbent, rich in ammonium and phosphate, can be used as slow-release fertilizer.
Financial indexes such as the net present value, the internal return rate, the return of investment and the payback period were calculated concluding that the integration of a zeolite-based sorption treatment stage in the main stream is economically feasible, with a reasonable payback period. The need, to achieve low-levels of P and N on the discharged waters and the need to develop more sustainable WWTP facilities indicate that the deployment of nutrient recovery solutions will be encouraged. The sensitivity analysis carried out to define the critical parameters of the economic performance of the technology allows concluding that the main variable in the viability of the nutrient recovery unit is related to the nutrients sorbent, both in the cost of purchase and in the market for the sorbent loaded with nutrients.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
- …