Nutrient recovery from digestate: case study report

Due to the historic presence of intensive livestock production and the limited amount of arable land for manure disposal, nitrate pollution in certain European areas is considerable. The European Nitrates Directive, implemented in 1991, intended to improve water quality in Europe by preventing pollution of ground- and surface water by nitrate leaching from agriculture. This has forced local administrators and government to introduce stringent regulations regarding the use of manure (and later on digestate), resulting in national action plans and the defining of vulnerable zones. The Flemish action plan, for example, consists of an obligation to process manure in such a way that the nitrogen present is not returned on Flemish agricultural soil after treatment, but is either exported, used on non-agricultural land (e.g. in gardens or parks) or converted to nitrogen gas or to a mineral fertiliser. These restrictions, combined with the presence of intensive livestock, imply that anaerobic digestion plants in Flanders (and other nutrient rich areas), may not, or only sparingly, return digestate as a fertilizer in its crude, unprocessed form and have to invest in digestate processing techniques. More recently, the focus in digestate processing techniques has switched from mere processing towards valorization techniques that recover a maximal amount of nutrients (N, P, K). This development is triggered by an increasing worldwide awareness of the depletion of mineral resources (such as phosphorus) and the volatile price of fossil-based mineral fertilizers. Mineral fertilizer use in Europe is high, even in regions with local nutrient surpluses where farmers pay to export or destroy nitrogen in their farmyard slurry. The reason for this is twofold, first of all animal manure spreading is limited to 170 kg of N/ha according to the Nitrates Directive (in vulnerable zones) and second of all nutrient availability and composition in manure can differ from crop requirements. Estimates of the current phosphorus and potassium reserves are highly uncertain, but based on population growth and future nutrient demand, it is predicted that depletion will occur within 93 to 291 years for P and 235 to 510 years for K (Fixen and Johnston, 2012; Van Vuuren et al., 2010; Villalba et al., 2008; Smit et al., 2009). Geopolitical moves can however shift this date forward, making nutrient scarcity an imminent threat which is exemplified by the fact that phosphorus was recently added to the EU ‘critical raw materials’ list. A momentum has been created in which upcycling of digestate derivatives towards high quality fertilizers is aspired. The current challenges are to achieve optimal recovery and recycling of nutrients from digestate in a sustainable way enabling marketing and and valorisation in an adjusted legal framework

A Gestão Social como alternativa gerencial em organizações do terceiro setor: o caso da Associação dos Amigos do Hospital Universitário

O presente estudo buscou apontar e refletir sobre os aspectos gestão social e da gestão estratégica observados nas práticas de uma organização do terceiro setor. Para o alcance desse objetivo foi analisada a instituição Associação dos Amigos do Hospital Universitário, utilizando o escopo paradigmático da Gestão Social, delimitando seus apontamentos epistemológicos, conceituais e metodológicos propostos pelos autores semânticos do tema como Dowbor (1999), França Filho e Schommer (2008), Fischer (2002) e Tenório (2005). Os procedimentos metodológicos se caracterizaram quanto a sua natureza como qualitativo e estudo de caso, e quanto aos meios de obtenção dos dados foram utilizados o bibliográfico, documental e entrevistas semi-estruturadas. A análise de dados teve teor crítico-reflexivo, confrontando teoria e prática, utilizando a metodologia de análise de conteúdo proposta por Bardin (2004). No caso atual, constatou-se a existência tanto de traços da gestão estratégica, quanto do paradigma confrontante da gestão social, sendo a estratégica predominante no âmbito administrativo, e a social preponderante nos grupos de visitação dos voluntários. Nesse sentido, a mudança cultural se apresenta como principal desafio a ser enfrentado, imprescindível para consolidação de práticas de gestão mais adequadas às necessidades da organização para que princípios de emancipação, participação e igualdade passem a ser imperativos de gestão

Enhancing sexual health and empowerment among migrant women sex workers: a community health worker-led intervention in Marseille, France

IntroductionGiven the high infection rate of sexually transmitted infections (STI) among migrant women sex workers (WSWs), it is necessary to understand how to improve prevention, information and care for this vulnerable population. Community health workers (CHWs), by linking community to health services, are positioned to improve health outcomes in migrant communities. This article aims to describe a pilot innovative intervention performed by CHWs to improve sexual health in migrant WSWs.MethodsThis one-year intervention study used a respondent-driven sampling (RDS) to recruit a representative cohort of migrant WSWs in Marseille, France. Four CHWs were recruited from different communities and participated in all stages of the research. They performed individual and group interventions of prevention, support in care and empowerment. Data on participant characteristics, type of intervention and adherence to the intervention were reported via questionnaires given to participants. Simultaneously, semi-structured interviews and informal interviews of migrant WSW, CHWs and care providers were carried out.ResultsA total of 132 migrant WSWs were included in the cohort. Very few of them knew about PrEP (12%) or already used HIV post-exposure treatment (9%). Migrant WSWs were often victims of rape or racism, 15 and 21%, respectively. In two-thirds of cases the level of health literacy was low. Participants suffered from a combination of vulnerability factors: difficulties with access to social rights, food or housing. Only 13% reported having benefited from medical follow-up or assistance by an NGO in the 3 months prior to the program. By 3 months, more than one third of the participants had been tested for HIV (35%) and 63% knew about PrEP. A total retention rate of 70% was reported in the cohort after 6 months.ConclusionCHWs enabled to improve care access for migrant WSWs by improving the collaboration between care and social actors at a local level. Through these “bring-back-to” interventions for this hard-to-reach population, CHWs enabled an optimization of the care pathway. Our results also highlight the importance of a population-based approach for individual and group support of empowerment interventions in order to strengthen their capacity for action

Identification, characterization and essentiality of the unusual peroxin 13 from Trypanosoma brucei.

Peroxin 13 (PEX13) is one of the components of a peroxisomal membrane complex involved in import of proteins into the matrix of the organelles and has previously been characterized in a variety of organisms. Trypanosomatids (Trypanosoma, Leishmania), protozoan parasites having peroxisome-like organelles designated glycosomes, possess an unusual PEX13 which shares very low sequence identity with others and lacks some typical PEX13 characteristics. It was identified in the databases through its multiple YGx motifs present in a glycine-rich N-terminal region of low sequence complexity. Like other PEX13s, it contains predicted transmembrane segments and a SH3 domain in its C-terminal half. The localization of T. brucei PEX13 in the glycosomal membrane was confirmed by expression of a fusion construct with Green Fluorescent Protein, and western blot analysis of purified organelles and membranes. The C-terminal half of the protein was shown to interact with the third of three pentapeptide repeats of the previously characterized PEX5, the receptor of glycosomal proteins with a type 1 peroxisome-targeting signal, and with PEX14, another component of the same peroxisomal protein import complex in the membrane. PEX13 is essential for the parasite; depletion by RNA interference results in mislocalization of glycosomal proteins and death of the parasites

Studies on the organization of the docking complex involved in matrix protein import into glycosomes of Trypanosoma brucei.

Trypanosoma brucei contains peroxisome-like organelles designated glycosomes because they sequester the major part of the glycolytic pathway. Import of proteins into the peroxisomal matrix involves a protein complex associated with the peroxisomal membrane of which PEX13 is a component. Two very different PEX13 isoforms have recently been identified in T. brucei. A striking feature of one of the isoforms, TbPEX13.1, is the presence of a C-terminal type 1 peroxisomal-targeting signal (PTS1), the tripeptide TKL, conserved in its orthologues in all members of the Trypanosomatidae family so far studied, but absent from TbPEX13.2 and the PEX13s in all other organisms. Despite their differences, both TbPEX13s function as part of a docking complex for cytosolic receptors with bound matrix proteins to be imported. We further characterized TbPEX13.1's function in glycosomal matrix-protein import. It provides a frame to anchor another docking complex component, PEX14, to the glycosomal membrane or information to correctly position it within the membrane. To investigate the possible function of the C-terminal TKL, we determined the topology of the C-terminal half of TbPEX13.1 in the membrane and show that its SH3 domain, located immediately adjacent to the PTS1, is at the cytosolic face

Application of thermodesorption and pyrolysis-GC–AED to the analysis of river sediments and sewage sludges for environmental purpose

International audienc

A Gestão Social como alternativa gerencial em organizações do terceiro setor: o caso da Associação dos Amigos do Hospital Universitário

O presente estudo buscou apontar e refletir sobre os aspectos gestão social e da gestão estratégica observados nas práticas de uma organização do terceiro setor. Para o alcance desse objetivo foi analisada a instituição Associação dos Amigos do Hospital Universitário, utilizando o escopo paradigmático da Gestão Social, delimitando seus apontamentos epistemológicos, conceituais e metodológicos propostos pelos autores semânticos do tema como Dowbor (1999), França Filho e Schommer (2008), Fischer (2002) e Tenório (2005). Os procedimentos metodológicos se caracterizaram quanto a sua natureza como qualitativo e estudo de caso, e quanto aos meios de obtenção dos dados foram utilizados o bibliográfico, documental e entrevistas semi-estruturadas. A análise de dados teve teor crítico-reflexivo, confrontando teoria e prática, utilizando a metodologia de análise de conteúdo proposta por Bardin (2004). No caso atual, constatou-se a existência tanto de traços da gestão estratégica, quanto do paradigma confrontante da gestão social, sendo a estratégica predominante no âmbito administrativo, e a social preponderante nos grupos de visitação dos voluntários. Nesse sentido, a mudança cultural se apresenta como principal desafio a ser enfrentado, imprescindível para consolidação de práticas de gestão mais adequadas às necessidades da organização para que princípios de emancipação, participação e igualdade passem a ser imperativos de gestão