Purpose This study seeks to provide a framework for integrating animal welfare as a fourth pillar into a life cycle sustainability assessment and presents three alternative animal welfare indicators. Methods Animal welfare is assessed during farm life and during slaughter. The indicators differ in how they value premature death. All three consider (1) the life quality of an animal such as space allowance, (2) the slaughter age either as life duration or life fraction, and (3) the number of animals affected for providing a product unit, e.g. 1 Mcal. One of the indicators additionally takes into account a moral value denoting their intelligence and self-awareness. The framework allows for comparisons across studies and products and for applications at large spatial scales. To illustrate the framework, eight products were analysed and compared: beef, pork, poultry, milk, eggs, salmon, shrimps, and, as a novel protein source, insects.Results and discussion Insects are granted to live longer fractions of their normal life spans, and their life quality is less compromised due to a lower assumed sentience. Still, they perform worst according to all three indicators, as their small body sizes only yield low product quantities. Therefore, we discourage from eating insects. In contrast, milk is the product that reduces animal welfare the least according to two of the three indicators and it performs relatively better than other animal products in most categories. The difference in animal welfare is mostly larger for different animal products than for different production systems of the same product. This implies that, besides less consumption of animal-based products, a shift to other animal products can significantly improve animal welfare. Conclusions While the animal welfare assessment is simplified, it allows for a direct integration into life cycle sustainability assessment. There is a trade-off between applicability and indicator complexity, but even a simple estimate of animal welfare is much better than ignoring the issue, as is the common practice in life cycle sustainability assessments. Future research should be directed towards elaborating the life quality criterion and extending the product coverage.
Introducción: El diseño de estructuras porosas tipo andamio en ingeniería de tejidos, se direcciona hacia el desarrollo de elementos que promuevan la consolidación ósea, estabilizando los fragmentos tisulares en dispositivos de fijación biodegradable.
Objetivo: Obtener un modelo tridimensional digital para un metal celular que asemeje la morfología ósea cortical y trabecular, con características como geometría, tamaño de poro, porosidad y recubrimiento tipo piel, además de brindar una base para la materialización de estructuras que mejoren la regeneración ósea y faciliten el control de las propiedades mecánicas del andamio para los defectos biológicos de su aplicación.
Metodología: Se presenta un código paramétrico de modelado 3D, mediante la definición de una geometría regular uniforme con una porosidad y tamaño de poro adecuadas, atendiendo a la esencia de los metales celulares y complementada con un cuerpo de recubrimiento tipo piel que envuelve el modelo tridimensional, para elevar la rigidez y la resistencia mecánica del andamio; además de viabilizar el mecanizado de geometrías propias y permitir aislamiento y protección para los casos en los que se requiera.
Resultados: Se generó el desarrollo de dos modelos digitales para metales celulares con condiciones morfológicas complejas, permitiendo una buena interrelación de parámetros geométricos para la proliferación celular y una respuesta favorable a la solicitación estructural en aplicaciones de ingeniería de tejidos.
Conclusiones: El modelo diseñado evidencia la posibilidad de aplicarse al desarrollo de alternativas de fijación ósea, que disminuyan la respuesta inflamatoria, eviten intervenciones secundarias y reduzcan las tasas de rechazo a los elementos actualmente utilizados para tratar afecciones osteomusculares.
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