No abstract

CHWs were an effective tool to train farm workers in eye health and safety, improving the use of personal protective equipment and knowledge.

Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is a process that is well-known and fast-developing in Europe. AD generates large amounts of digestate, especially in livestock-intensive areas. Digestate has potential environmental issues due to nutrients (such as nitrogen) lixiviation or volatilization. Using liquid digestate as a nutrient source for microalgae growth is considered beneficial because digestate could be valorized and upgraded by the production of an added value product. In this work, microalgal biomass produced using liquid digestate from an agricultural biogas plant was investigated as a slow-release fertilizer in tomatoes. Monoraphidium sp. was first cultivated at different dilutions (1:20, 1:30, 1:50), in indoor laboratory-scale trials. The optimum dilution factor was determined to be 1:50, with a specific growth rate of 0.13 d−1 and a complete nitrogen removal capacity in 25 days of culture. Then, outdoor experiments were conducted in a 110 dm3 vertical, closed photobioreactors (PBRs) in batch and semi-continuous mode with 1:50 diluted liquid digestate. During the batch mode, the microalgae were able to remove almost all NH4+ and 65 (±13) % of PO43−, while the microalgal growth rate reached 0.25 d−1. After the batch mode, the cultures were switched to operate under semi-continuously conditions. The cell densities were maintained at 1.3 × 107 cells mL−1 and a biomass productivity around 38.3 mg TSS L−1 d−1 during three weeks was achieved, where after that it started to decline due to unfavorable weather conditions. Microalgae biomass was further tested as a fertilizer for tomatoes growth, enhancing by 32% plant growth in terms of dry biomass compared with the control trials (without fertilization). Similar performances were achieved in tomato growth using synthetic fertilizer or digestate. Finally, the leaching effect in soils columns without plant was tested and after 25 days, only 7% of N was leached when microalgae were used, against 50% in the case of synthetic fertilizer.

The aim of this study was to characterize the influence that different dimensions of public trust in regulatory institutions have on social acceptability judgments of electricity generation sources in Chile. Chilean university students' acceptability judgments of ten energy sources were characterized using a web-based survey, covering risk and benefit perceptions, declared levels of acceptability, and trust in regulatory institutions. Our results confirm the influence of public trust in regulatory institutions on general perceptions and acceptance of electricity generation sources, and corroborate the presence of two dimensions of trust in regulatory institutions: integrity-based trust and competence-based trust. Our results revealed a significant influence of both aspects on risk and benefit perceptions and acceptance of fossil fuels, biomass and nuclear power, while for NRES no significant relationships were found. For hydropower, integrity-based trust was the only form of trust that influenced perceptions of risks and benefits, and its influence over public acceptance was significantly larger than competence-based trust. Further analyses of results for each energy source and implications for regulators are discussed.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract