Validación comparativa de un método para la corrección de distorsión en secuencias de video endoscópicas

El análisis de las secuencias de video del endoscopio cobra gran interés para el desarrollo de aplicaciones de formación y navegación quirúrgica en Cirugía de Mínima Invasión (CMI) Requiere una corrección previa de las distorsiones que introduce la cámara, en especial de la distorsión radial. El objetivo de este trabajo es validar un método de corrección de distorsión en video laparoscópico de forma comparativa con el método de Bouguet, uno de los métodos más valorados y usados por la comunidad científica. Los resultados muestran que el método propuesto es comparable al método de referencia empleado, y que la corrección realizada cubre las necesidades del procesado de vídeo endoscópic

Optimización de un método de detección y seguimiento de instrumental quirúrgico en video laparoscópico

La localización del instrumental quirúrgico es de gran interés en Cirugía Mínimamente Invasiva (CMI). Determinar su posición con precisión es fundamental para el desarrollo de futuras aplicaciones tanto en la formación y evaluación de cirujanos como en el desarrollo de nuevos sistemas de navegación que asistan al cirujano durante la propia intervención quirúrgica. En la literatura existen técnicas de estimación basadas en el análisis de imágenes, siendo la principal limitación común la gran variabilidad de las imágenes de este tipo de cirugía, que dificultan el diseño de un método genérico capaz de obtener buenas precisiones para todas ellas. En este trabajo de investigación se propone una optimización de un método de detección y seguimiento automático de instrumental quirúrgico basado en el análisis de video endoscópico, incorporando filtros homomórficos, un nuevo algoritmo de segmentación y un seguimiento mediante enventanado. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que el método propuesto consigue una detección precisa y robusta para imágenes con diferentes características sin necesidad de ninguna adaptación previa

Connecting wastes to resources for clean technologies in the chlor-alkali industry: a life cycle approach

Our current economic model is experiencing increasing demand and increasing pressure on resource utilisation, as valuable materials are lost as waste. Moving towards a circular economy and supporting efficient resource utilisation is essential for protecting the environment. The chlor-alkali industry is one of the largest consumers of salt, and efforts have been made to reduce its electricity use. Furthermore, KCl mining wastes have received increasing attention because they can be transformed into value-added resources. This work studies the influence of using different salt sources on the environmental sustainability of the chlor-alkali industry to identify further improvement opportunities. Rock salt, solar salt, KCl waste salt, vacuum salt and solution-mined salt were studied. Membrane cells in both bipolar and monopolar configurations were studied and compared to the emergent oxygen-depolarised cathode (ODC) technology. Life cycle assessment was applied to estimate the cradle-to-gate environmental impacts. The natural resource (NR) requirements and the environmental burdens (EBs) to the air and water environments were assessed. The total NR and EB requirements were reduced by 20% when vacuum salt was replaced with KCl. Moreover, the environmental impacts estimated for the monopolar membrane using KCl were comparable to those generated for the bipolar membrane using VS. The difference between the monopolar and bipolar scenarios (17%) was slightly higher than that between the bipolar and ODC technologies (12%). This work demonstrates the importance of studying every life cycle stage in a chemical process and the environmental benefit of applying a circular economy, even in energy intensive industries such as the chlor-alkali industry.This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), Project CTM2013-43539-R. The authors are grateful for this funding

LCA of greywater management within a water circular economy restorative thinking framework

Greywater reuse is an attractive option for the sustainable management of water under water scarcity circumstances, within a water circular economy restorative thinking framework. Its successful deployment relies on the availability of low cost and environmentally friendly technologies. The life cycle assessment (LCA) approach provides the appropriate methodological tool for the evaluation of alternative treatments based on environmental decision criteria and, therefore, it is highly useful during the process conceptual design. This methodology should be employed in the early design phase to select those technologies with lower environmental impact. This work reports the comparative LCA of three scenarios for greywater reuse: photocatalysis, photovoltaic solar-driven photocatalysis and membrane biological reactor, in order to help the selection of the most environmentally friendly technology. The study has been focused on the removal of the surfactant sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, which is used in the formulation of detergents and personal care products and, thus, widely present in greywater. LCA was applied using the Environmental Sustainability Assessment methodology to obtain two main environmental indicators in order to simplify the decision making process: natural resources and environmental burdens. Energy consumption is the main contributor to both indicators owing to the high energy consumption of the light source for the photocatalytic greywater treatment. In order to reduce its environmental burdens, the most desirable scenario would be the use of solar light for the photocatalytic transformation. However, while the technological challenge of direct use of solar light is approached, the environmental suitability of the photovoltaic solar energy driven photocatalysis technology to greywater reuse has been demonstrated, as it involves the smallest environmental impact among the three studied alternatives.Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and from FEDER funds for projects CTM2013-43539-R, CTM2015-69845-R and CTQ2015-66078-R(MINECO/FEDER, UE) is gratefully acknowledged. Sara Dominguez and Jara Laso would also like to express their gratitude for the FPI postgraduate research grants (BES-2013-064055 and BES-2014-069368)

Food loss and waste metrics: a proposed nutritional cost footprint linking linear programming and life cycle assessment

Purpose: The main purpose of this article is to assess the nutritional and economic efficiency of food loss and waste (FLW) along the supply of 13 food categories included in the Spanish food basket by means of the definition of a new method which combines two indexes. Methods: The nutrient-rich foods index and the economic food loss and waste (EFLW) index were combined by means of linear programming to obtain the nutritional cost footprint (NCF) indicator under a life cycle perspective. The functional unit used was the daily supply of food for a Spanish citizen in year 2015. Results and discussion: Results showed that vegetables and cereals were the food categories most affected by the inefficiencies in the food supply chain under a nutritional perspective, being agricultural production and household consumption the main stages in which the nutritional content of food is lost or wasted. Moreover, according to the NCF index, vegetables represented 27% of total nutritional-economic wastage throughout the entire Spanish agri-food chain. They are followed by fruits, which add up to 19%. Hence, specific food waste management strategies should be established for these specific products and supply stages. Finally, the sensitivity analysis performed highlighted that results were mostly independent from the importance attributed to either nutritional or economic variables. Conclusions: The methodology described in this study proposes an indicator quantifying the nutritional-economic cost of different food categories in the Spanish food basket. This NCF indicator makes it possible to define reduction strategies to promote the use of food waste fractions for waste-to-energy valorization approaches or the extraction of different types of pharmacological, chemical, or cosmetic compounds.The authors are grateful for the funding of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the Ceres-Procom: Food production and consumption strategies for climate change mitigation (CTM2016-76176-C2-1-R) (AEI/FEDER, UE)

Measuring the nutritional price of food wastes from a life cycle approach: the nutritional food waste footprint

Food production and consumption systems can have high impacts on the environment. In a global framework of growing concern for food security and environmental protection, the selection of food products with higher nutritional content and lower environmental impact is a challenge. To assess the reliability of different strategies along the food supply chain, a readily and understandable measure of food waste cost through its nutritional content is necessary. The methodology presented in this work allows to quantify Food Wastes and Food Losses at the various stage of the food supply chain (agricultural production, postharvest handling and trade, processing, retail, food service industry and households). The amount of avoidable and unavoidable food wastes and losses is calculated through waste composition analyses and food wastes and food losses were classified. In addition, the nutritional and economic losses of food are estimated. Hence, it is possible to propose a balance between nutritional and economic variables in order to facilitate the decision-making process for the proper food waste management, which is a first step to further estimate the environmental impacts of this sector. Furthermore, a Nutritional Food Waste Footprint (NFWF) based on the described variables is proposed, to identify those food categories with greater nutritional loss intensity

Sustainability Evaluation of Mangrove Forest Management System of Tagbanua Tribe in Bgy. Manalo, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines

Community-based forest management agreement in the country is a needed instrument in attaining sustainability of mangrove management. Sadly, there is no assurance that the system implemented in the mangrove forest management is sustainable. So, evaluating the mangrove management sustainability of the local tribe is a viable avenue for the appropriate management. In this study, the sustainability of the mangrove management system of the Tagbanua tribe in Bgy. Manalo, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan was evaluated. The study utilized various criteria with relevant indicators of sustainable mangrove forest management in assessing the mangrove forest management system. Focused group discussions were conducted to identify the relevant sustainable mangrove forest management C & I and verifiers. Each indicator was rated using the formulated verifiers in the form of the rating scale. Through household interviews, FGD, KII, mangrove assessment, and secondary data analysis, this study also used a mathematical model on the Sustainability Index for Individual Criteria (SIIC) to evaluate the scores for individual criteria and the Overall Sustainability Index (OSI) of the community. As a result, there are a total of seven relevant criteria, and 35 relevant indicators for Mangrove Management in Barangay Manalo. Based on the individual rating of seven criteria, the overall rating of the sustainable mangrove management system is 1.80, which implies a fairly sustainable mangrove management system. Also, the computed overall sustainability index is 0.26, which is fairly or moderately sustainable. Each criterion has strengths and weaknesses and needs to be improved to have a highly sustainable mangrove management system