Search results for " Quality"
showing 10 items of 3133 documents
Decision-Making Tools to Manage the Microbiology of Drinking Water Distribution Systems
2020
[EN] This paper uses a two-fold multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach applied for the first time to the field of microbial management of drinking water distribution systems (DWDS). Specifically, the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) was applied removing the need for reliance on expert judgement, and analysed interdependencies among water quality parameters and microbiological characteristics of DWDS composed of different pipe materials. In addition, the fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) ranked the most common bacteria identified during trials in a DWDS according to their relative abundance while managing vagueness…
Fish Welfare in Aquaponic Systems: Its Relation to Water Quality with an Emphasis on Feed and Faeces—A Review
2017
Aquaponics is the combination of aquaculture (fish) and hydroponic cultivation of plants. This review examines fish welfare in relation to rearing water quality, fish feed and fish waste and faeces to develop a sustainable aquaponic system where the co-cultured organisms, fish, bacteria in biofilters and plants, should be considered holistically in all aquaponics operations. Water quality parameters are the primary environmental consideration for optimizing aquaponic production and for directly impacting fish welfare/health issues and plant needs. In aquaponic systems, the uptake of nutrients should be maximised for the healthy production of the plant biomass but without neglecting the best…
Environmental Benefits and Economical Sustainability of Urban Wastewater Reuse for Irrigation—A Cost-Benefit Analysis of an Existing Reuse Project in…
2020
Besides benefits associated to increased water availability for irrigation, reuse projects of urban water can also provide positive environmental impacts, as they contribute to improve water quality of the receiving bodies by diverting wastewater from their outlet. This represents a typical win-win situation where significant synergies can be achieved between urban and agricultural sector, and the environment. These favorable conditions, however, do not necessarily imply that water reuse is either feasible from an economic perspective nor that the underlying supply chain is going to be triggered, if certain conditions are not met. Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) is considered a sound, theoretic…
Evaluating Safety Systems for Machine Tools with Computer Numerical Control using Analytic Hierarchy Process
2019
Computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools are complex production systems with fully automatic machine parts. Nowadays, high feed rates and machining speeds are used during the machining process. Human operators are still needed to set-up the machine, load/unload workpieces and parts, load the machining code, and supervise the machining process. The operators work in an environment where automated high-speed motions occur, and consequently, CNC machine tools have to be equipped with safety systems. The approach presented in this paper was to evaluate the main safety systems of CNC machine tools based upon the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The analyzed systems were divided into six m…
High Performance 3D PET Reconstruction Using Spherical Basis Functions on a Polar Grid
2011
Statistical iterative methods are a widely used method of image reconstruction in emission tomography. Traditionally, the image space is modelled as a combination of cubic voxels as a matter of simplicity. After reconstruction, images are routinely filtered to reduce statistical noise at the cost of spatial resolution degradation. An alternative to produce lower noise during reconstruction is to model the image space with spherical basis functions. These basis functions overlap in space producing a significantly large number of non-zero elements in the system response matrix (SRM) to store, which additionally leads to long reconstruction times. These two problems are partly overcome by expl…
La plantilla 3.0, un instrumento para conocer la música de la infancia: Revisión y validación
2015
Este trabajo se interesa por conocer la música de la vida diaria de los niños desde una mirada educativa1. Para estudiarlo el artículo ofrece un instrumento que permite conocer los elementos objetivos de la música que escuchan, prestando especial atención al entorno sonoro de mayor cobertura e impacto, el mediático. El instrumento constituye el paso inicial para estudiar los posibles efectos de la música y proponer alternativas educativas, porque la finalidad última de la investigación es la mejora de la educación. El desarrollo metodológico ha consistido en la creación del instrumento, la plantilla 3.0, y su aplicación, dando cuenta en este artículo de su revisión, características técnicas…
CANCER SURVIVORSHIP: THE NEED FOR COMPREHENSIVE CARE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF ASSUMING AN ACTIVE ROLE
2019
Advances in the early detection and treatment of cancer have led to an increase in the number of people who have overcome the disease, reaching 5% of the current population in our country. As indicated by the Sociedad Española de Oncología Médica [Spanish Society of Medical Oncology], this situation involves new challenges that require, among other things, the identification of and attention to the quality of life and the psychosocial needs of this growing population. The objective of this article is to reflect on the importance of comprehensive, specialized, and multidisciplinary care, in which the survivor has a more active participation. However, previously, the debate on the concept of …
Strategies for Improving Optimal Positioning of Quality Sensors in Urban Drainage Systems for Non-Conservative Contaminants
2021
In the urban drainage sector, the problem of polluting discharges in sewers may act on the proper functioning of the sewer system, on the wastewater treatment plant reliability and on the receiving water body preservation. Therefore, the implementation of a chemical monitoring network is necessary to promptly detect and contain the event of contamination. Sensor location is usually an optimization exercise that is based on probabilistic or black-box methods and their efficiency is usually dependent on the initial assumption made on possible eligibility of nodes to become a monitoring point. It is a common practice to establish an initial non-informative assumption by considering all network…
Quality of autochthonous Sicilian plums
2015
Thirty four plum local varieties and accessions obtained from different growing area of the Sicilian island were analyzed for their qualitative and nutraceutical properties and three commercialcultivar were used as references. These properties included the fruit fresh weight (g), the pulp firmness (FFF), the total soluble solids (TSS), the titratable acidity (TA), the total anthocyanins,the phenolics content and the antioxidant activity.This preliminary study showed significantly differeces among the plums; Zuccarato giallo and Prunu Niuru presented TSS higher than the commercial cultivars (24.9 and 21.6 °Brix respectively)and interesting data obtained on the nutraceutical compounds values …
Temperature effects explain continental scale distribution of cyanobacterial toxins
2018
Insight into how environmental change determines the production and distribution of cyanobacterial toxins is necessary for risk assessment. Management guidelines currently focus on hepatotoxins (microcystins). Increasing attention is given to other classes, such as neurotoxins (e.g., anatoxin-a) and cytotoxins (e.g., cylindrospermopsin) due to their potency. Most studies examine the relationship between individual toxin variants and environmental factors, such as nutrients, temperature and light. In summer 2015, we collected samples across Europe to investigate the effect of nutrient and temperature gradients on the variability of toxin production at a continental scale. Direct and indirect…