There’s a bug in my pantry!

There’s a bug in my pantry!

Everybody has lived something like this. Open the pantry, take a packet of rice, flour or pasta and… insect! We find out that our foods are infected with bugs.

Insect contamination of stored food is a very annoying and worrying problem for consumers and for food companies. It involves high losses of raw materials and stored products, giving room to huge economic losses and damaging the image of the brand.

These animals are not pathogenic and do not represent a health problem for consumers, but the contaminated packet is discarded directly blaming the manufacturer, even without being responsible in the most cases.

The contaminating insects of stored products are diverse and attacks multitude of food: flour, rice, nuts, dried fruit, bread, cookies, pasta, etc. In Europe, there are approximately 300 million tons of grains which run the risk of contamination by pests during post-harvest treatment, storage and then, in food companies facilities (Stesjakl, V. 2014)

Raw materials and food companies face a big problem trying to control and remove of their facilities these arthropods, which find in silos and warehouse the perfect place to feed and reproduce.  Companies use different methods of food insect contamination prevention, control and elimination in all their processes, in order to ensure that their products are free from any contamination. In addition, they must pass rigorous audits in which each process and corner of their factories are reviewed for this purpose.

However, once products leave the factory, the control over is very difficult. These insects live to feed and reproduce, so looking for food is their priority. Contamination by insects is much more susceptible during the transport process, during storage and at homes, despite all the measures.

These arthropods have an exceptional sense of smell and they are able to smell the food through packaging and packages, so they introduce themselves by any small hole or crack of the package. Besides, they are able to drill paper, cardboard and all kind of plastics (penetrator insects). For this reason, the R&D departments of food businesses, and research centers with which they work, are constantly innovating their packaging and seeking alternatives to improve them and make them more resistant to bugs.

As consumers, we must look at the supermarket if the packages have some sign of being damaged and, at home, we have to keep products in glass or metal. In addition, if we find out in our pantry some infected package, we must remove all products that may have been contaminated and proceed to clean it thoroughly.

From the point of view of researching, due to the increasing restrictions on the use of insecticides, such as methyl bromide or phosphine, they are conducting studies to replace these methods by others technologies less harmful and more friendly with environment, such as the use of pheromones or the use of extreme temperatures for cleaning and control plants.

In relation to packages, advances are aimed at the incorporation of repellent substances to deter insects attack. Last trials are aimed at the use of essential oil which, encapsulated and polyvinyl alcohol, could be printed as an ink onto polypropylene film and used as packaging material repellent to insects (Jo Hean-Joo, 2015)

With all these advances, it will be difficult to say ‘there is a bug in my pantry!’

Medicine and Engineering: sentenced to be understood

Medicine and Engineering: sentenced to be understood

The tools that engineering provides to the medicine are a fundamental pillar. The mathematical and computational modeling is essential to the generation of new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of diseases. Behind many of the medicine advances there is an enormous scientific and technological development, whose main responsible is the engineering.

For engineering, the health has been always one of its main objectives in terms of applied research. From the design and use of technologies to control variables that affect human health, to the design and use of control technologies to support health sciences. A clear example of this is the progress in diagnostic equipment, prosthetics, therapy devices, etc.

In CARTIF, we have researched for nearly 10 years in a line which joins both disciplines. This line has focused on the improvement of the criteria used by physicians in order to predicting of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms rupture, with the aim of identifying the right time to perform surgery from the point of view of the engineering, specifically, with the strength of materials.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm is an irreversible dilation of the aortic wall segment that elapses between the bifurcation of the renal arteries and branches of the iliac arteries, affecting sometimes these ones. 70% are asymptomatic and they are detected in advanced stages, so it is very important their assessment of rupture risk.

The rupture of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) is one of the leading causes of death in the world:

•    8% of people with more than 65 years, and 10% of people with more than 80 years have an AAA.
•    It is the tenth cause of death in people with more than 65 years in occidental countries.
•    Factors such as smoking, atherosclerosis, obesity or hypertension increases the risk of developing an AAA.
•    The rupture of the artery leads to death before arriving to the hospital, in 90% of cases.
•    The mortality rate associated with surgery is 5,8% for open surgical repair and 1,7% for endovascular repair.

Currently, when the aneurysm has a diameter of 5 cm or its growth rates exceeds 0.5 cm/year is needed intervene surgically. 24% of aneurysms rupture has a smaller diameter than considered critical one. Therefore, the current clinical criteria used to assess the rupture risk are not considered as the most reliable predictors.

CARTIF team has used the main geometric parameters of AAAs: maximum diameter, healthy artery diameter, length, wall thickness and asymmetry (geometrically). These parameters can be measured easily by the doctor through computerized axial tomography, diagnostic means used by doctors.

These parameters are combined in an efficient way to generate the tool to assess the rupture risk. This tool has been programmed using free software, which allows generating a database for each patient, and within it, files with data for each follow-up examination. It contains a graphical manager that can represent the evolution of rupture risk.

The tool provides a number of suggestions to the surgeon, who takes the right decision about if it is convenient going on with surgery or continue monitoring the evolution of the aneurysm.

To verify that the tool was effective, validation tests were performed on patients for several years. The results showed that the method is able to estimate reliably the risk of aneurysm rupture, allowing identify those potentially dangerous to break, even when its maximum diameter is less that used by the medical community today, and allowing identify cases where the break is not going to occur, preventing the patient has to undergo the surgical repair procedure.

This work demonstrates that collaboration between medicine (led by HCUV) and engineering (led by CARTIF) is incredibly productive. The results allow a breakthrough with an eminently practical application and highlight the importance that research and R&D have in society.

Food for sportspeople: special or common?

Food for sportspeople: special or common?

The newly closed Rio 2016 Olympic Games are still in our minds, means of communication and webs, and we are wondering some questions such as how the diet is for athletes? what kind of products they consume? Are they suitable for any athlete with less level? 

After 14 years of discussion, the European Commission published last June the highly anticipated report on food intended for sportspeople. The purpose of this report was determine whether the food for sportspeople are special food (and therefore, if it would be necessary a specific provisions) or simply consider them as a food used commonly.

This report builds upon a market study on food intended for athletes carried out by the Food Chain Evaluation Consortium (FCEC). The number of sport products present in the market can be estimated, on the basis of the innovation rate at EU level, to between approximately 20,000 and 30.000. The FCEC Study identified the following three categories of sport food:

1.    Isotonic drinks (61 %)
2.    Protein-based products for muscle strengthening, building and post exercise recovery (26 %).
3.    Products to increase energy and performance and continuous complementary products for athletes (13 %).

Sport food is not defined in EU legislation. For the purpose of this report, the study considered as “sportspeople” those people who practice sport once a week or more. Also the definition of “sportspeople” included the requirement to consume at least a sports food in the last year.

Finally, the Commission concluded that there is no necessity for specific provisions for food intended for sportspeople. After 20 July 2016, a sport food will be considered under horizontal rules of food law as a food supplement (accordance with Directive 2002/46/CE) or, as a fortified food (accordance with Regulation (EC) 1924/2006 and Regulation (EU) Nº 1169/2011). The arguments for this decision are:

•    People who carry out sport activities hardly can be characterized as a specific vulnerable group of consumers.
•   Sometimes, it is very difficult to understand whether a specific product has to be considered as a food intended for particular nutritional uses by sportsmen or a food for normal consumption fortified in certain nutrients with a health claim targeting sportspeople.
•    The horizontal rules of food law provide the necessary safeguards for these products in terms of food safety, food composition, consumer information and legal certainty.

Currently, there are already some authorized healthy claims aims at sportspeople (see next table). Relevant claims for sportspeople on caffeine are under discussion. On the other hand, despite the fact that EFSA regarded the beneficial effect of sodium, there is not authorization to say ‘high in sodium’, because it is not beneficial for everybody.

Operators are clearly divided on the question whether specific legislation is necessary for sports food or whether sports food should be legislated by horizontal rules of food law.

An industry group is worried because they think the innovation of these products is limited. But, you know, “you can´t please everybody”.

Five false myths about thermographic camera

Five false myths about thermographic camera

Everybody knows what a thermographic camera is. Movies as “Predator”, the formula 1 broadcast, etc. have helped people to know this technology. CARTIF has been using it, during last years, in construction and infrastructure inspection.

My intention is not to tell you again, what everyone already knows, but talking about some myths and misconceptions that people have regarding its use.

Thermography is based on that any object with a temperature above zero kelvins emits infrared radiation, which is not visible to the human eye. This radiation depends on the object temperature, thus knowing the said radiation; it is possible to obtain the temperature.

A thermographic camera not only acquires this radiation (emitted radiation), but also the reflected and the transmitted radiation. Moreover, there are other parameters beyond the object temperature involved, so the temperature determination is not easy.

Thermographic camera have software which is able to calculate the object temperature in a transparent way to the user. If the operator relies too much on the said software and he doesn’t know well what he is doing, then issues might appear. A non-experienced operator may make some mistakes. In this post, we would like to clarify some misconceptions about thermography that general public has:

1.    Thermal imaging cameras can see below the surface of a target. FALSE.
The camera only sees the surface of a target and calculates the temperature

2.    All types of materials can be easily measured with thermal imaging cameras. FALSE.
The temperature information is given in the emitted radiation, but the imager also “sees” the reflected and transmitted components. Most materials are opaque to infrared, so we can usually ignore the transmitted energy. However, many materials (with low emissivity) reflect infrared radiation, thus these materials are difficult to be measured using a thermal camera.

3.    Thermal imaging cameras should never be used in the daylight. FALSE.
Infrared thermal imaging cameras do not detect visible light. They are only sensitive to infrared radiation, but it is easier to control reflected radiation at night, so it is advisable doing thermal inspection during that period of time.

4.    Knowing the emissivity of the inspected object is not necessary. FALSE.
This is the most important factor the camera must know to correctly calculate the temperature.

5.    This technology is really expensive. FALSE.
Nowadays, with the technological progress there are thermal cameras at competitive prices. Even, FLIR commercializes an accessory which transforms your mobile phone into a thermal camera.

Finally, I would to talk about some innovative thermography applications:

1.    Infrared vision in a contact lens
Engineers from the Michigan University are developing contact lens with infrared vision, using graphene.

2.    Detection of tiny motors in pro cyclist bikes
Femke Van den Driessche, one of the favorites at the Under-23 Women’s World Championships in Belgium, was found to be racing with a mechanical motor this past January by the UCI. This is known as the first mechanical doping in cycling history.

3.    Orthopaedic diagnosis
Researchers at UPM confirm the usefulness of infrared thermography (IRT) for detection and early diagnosis of orthopaedic injuries.

A research group of Thermography Unit from the Faculty of Sciences for Physical Activity and Sport (INEF) at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) in collaboration with CEMTRO has carried out a study to establish the capacity of infrared thermography (IRT) to discriminate injuries and to evaluate its applicability in emergency trauma scenarios.

Results show that this technology is a great support tool to correctly identify the presence or absence of injuries in a particular body part.

4.    Pest control
Some tests have concluded that it is possible to use thermography in order to pest detection, due to the correlation between the presence of insects and humidity.
Furthermore, some anomalies detected on thermal images might be caused by some insects such as termites.

5.    Breast cancer prevention using thermography
This method is based on detect temperature changes in thermal images. Cancer creates blood vessels when it starts to develop. This process, which is known as angiogenesis, produces heat, so a thermal camera could detect this heat long before cancer can develop.

Did Nikola Tesla open a door to accessibility? (II)

Did Nikola Tesla open a door to accessibility? (II)

In my last post, published last week, I made a collection with the most interesting definitions of “Internet of things” or this “connected world” accesible for everyone without discrimination because of economic, social or functional diversity reasons.

At the sprint by connect everything and everyone, in the disability world, the called: “connected home” and orientation and mobility are de winner.  These two aspects make life easier to people with disabilities.

In the framework of the “connected home”, the options of applying Internet of Things in the improvement of the quality of life are very spacious. Here, there are some examples:

•    Philips Hue lighting system eases the communication between people with hearing disabilities, using lights to notify the person different signs and sound warnings that they may not listen. This system provides an open software platform, which facilitates its use from external applications adapted to each user.

•    Brands such as Miele and Bosh announced the inclusion of intelligence and connection with smartphones in their appliances, both for the same control to offer other types of services (recipes, shopping list).  Control of electrical appliances to drive, even voice, can be a big advantage for people with motor difficulties, because the use of the conventional controls could be a problem for them.

•    The project SANDS (CARTIF) offers the possibility of the electrical appliances to adapt to the tastes of users automatically. Users only have to express their opinion. Appliances from users with similar profiles, communicate with each other to share recipes that are combined by the machine itself according to each user. SANDS, as in the previous case, allows the configuration and commissioning of electrical appliances from a network application. Automatic adaptation of the recipes could help people with memory problems, or cognitive disabilities to use appliances according to your tastes without having extensive knowledge of the commands.

To facilitate mobility and orientation we have projects such as:

 •    AT&T and Permobil wheelchair, with wireless. Users share information about their status and situation through a secure cloud. You can also modify aspects like the position of the chair.

•    A “Search for parking” systems, as the Viarium Technology, provides information to people with disabilities related to parking.

•    Danok of Konectik is an application that uses iBeacon sensors and technology to provide information about the environment. This application is especially useful for blind people and people with cognitive disabilities.

•    The Aditium Kango project, using cards NFC for tracking schoolchildren during their route to school. This project can also be useful for older people and people with cognitive disabilities or mental illness.

•    The connected headset, Oticon Opn, uses Wi-Fi connectivity and recipes based on TWITTERFEED (IF This Then That) in addition to the traditional functionality, to allow deaf people can set it up to receive alerts such as a bell, or the activation of a smoke detector.

In short, we can see that road to “interconnection of all” can be closer thanks to advances in the IoT.

Did Nikola Tesla open a door to accessibility? (II)

Did Nikola Tesla open a door to accessibility? (I)

Nikola Tesla was a visionary engineer and physical of the 19th century. He devoted much of his life to wireless energy transmission, as have done with radio. He was the first that imagined a connected world which he described with these words: “Anyone, at sea or earth, could receive news or particular messages from anywhere in the world, with a simple and inexpensive device in your pocket; the Earth would seem to an immeasurable brain, capable of emitting a response from anywhere”.

The now called Internet of Things (IoT) is not a big step toward “immeasurable brain”? For those who are dedicated to new technologies, should we be motivated in order to not excluding anyone from this connected world, either for economic, social or functional diversity reasons?

“Internet of Things” is an expression that today has many descriptions, but we can say that is a term invented in 1999 by Kevin Asthon, co-founder of MIT and creator of a global standard system to RFID and others sensors. He used the IoT term to describe a system where Internet is connected to the physical world through ubiquitous sensors.

One of the most formal descriptions belongs to Cluster of European Research Projects (IERC, 2009): “Internet of Things (IOT) is an integrated part of Future Internet and could be defined as a dynamic global network infrastructure with self-configuring capabilities based on standard and interoperable communication protocols where physical and virtual “things” have identities, physical attributes, virtual personalities and use intelligent interfaces, and are seamlessly integrated into the information network”.

Recently, Diego Soriano (CENTAC) described IoT concept in a more friendly way: “IoT is the technology that allows using joint, simple and cheap form, many electronics elements connected to the Internet”

If we combine these ideas with these technological aspects:
•    The large number of available sensors and wearables and in design phase.
•    The use of technologies such as Big Data and Cloud, to analyze, management and store generated data by these devices.

IoT provide enough elements to create products and systems capable of making our lives easier. They are able to interact with the world around us without having to connect to it via cables (alerts in our smartphones, tablet or bracelet from others devices, ability to interact with appliances and security elements in our home from a different location, …). As we will see below this “make our lives easier”, IoT can be especially useful and meaningful for people with disabilities and can imply an advance in their independence.

On the one hand, the general products existence provides application in different fields to different collectives, and, on the other hand, we have specific solutions for disabilities people that, as we always say, they will evolve by quality life to everyone. Compare it with the evolution of accessible architecture.

The following week, we will go on analyzing the different applicances of IoT in the dissability world. In addition of the “connected home”, we will see some specific examples which are already in the market.