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 $500,360.04 durante esta campaña 2020/21.This thesis presents a proposal of strategies to be implemented in the harvest and postharvest processes of fresh blueberries, to improve their quality upon arrival and, in this way, reduce waste percentages, that are obtained during their repacking in the European market of the 2020/21 season versus the results of the previous one. The present structure in this research has been focused on the PDCA Cycle methodology. First, the current situation of waste in Europe’s repacking process is described, during the 2019/20 season this process had an average 10following main quality defects upon arrival: collapsed berries, rot incidence, soft fruit, and mycelium incidence (mold). After this, it begins the planning of the strategies to be implemented, selecting the critical stages in the harvest and post-harvest processes that are compromising the quality of the product upon arrival (using the multi-criteria analysis method) and managing the implementation of each strategy of the critical stages, along with all the involved departments in the project, where the step-by-step of each implementation is detailed. Obtaining during the 2020/21 season, a reduction in the average waste percentage of seven percentage points and a weekly trend of the waste percentage below the maximum allowed limit (5the economic benefits obtained with the reduction of the waste percentage in the European market are determined. Therefore, it is concluded that the implementation of improvement strategies in the harvest and post-harvest processes have managed to reduce the percentage of fresh blueberries waste in the repacking of the European market, going from 10economic benefit of$ 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