Volatile Organic Compound Monitoring during Extreme Wildfires: Assessing the Potential of Sensors Based on LbL and Sputtering Films.

A new theory suggests that flammable gases generated by heated vegetation, in particular the volatile organic compounds (VOC) common to Mediterranean plants, may, under certain topographic and wind conditions, accumulate in locations where, after the arrival of the ignition source, they rapidly burst into flames as explosions. Hence, there is a need for the development of a system that can monitor the development of these compounds. In this work, a sensor's array is proposed as a method for monitoring the amount of eucalyptol and α-pinene, the major VOC compounds of the Eucalyptus and Pine trees.

Sustainability assessment of wastewater reuse in a Portuguese military airbase.

The current water-scarcity crisis that is being felt in Europe, namely in the southern region, has leveraged the development and implementation of national and regional water management plans. These policies aim to promote efficient wastewater reuse in industrial and urban sectors. Thus, stakeholders are now seeking strategies to enhance the sustainability of their wastewater treatment processes.

Nanostructured Metal Oxide Sensors for Antibiotic Monitoring in Mineral and River Water.

Antibiotics represent a class of pharmaceuticals used to treat bacterial infections. However, the ever-growing use of antibiotics in agriculture and human and veterinary medicine has led to great concern regarding the outbreak of microbe strains resistant to antimicrobial drugs. Azithromycin, clarithromycin, and erythromycin are macrolides, a group of molecules with a broad spectrum of antibiotic properties, included in the second EU watchlist of emerging pollutants which emphasizes the importance of understanding their occurrence, fate, and monitoring in aquatic environments.

Polyelectrolyte Based Sensors as Key to Achieve Quantitative Electronic Tongues: Detection of Triclosan on Aqueous Environmental Matrices.

Triclosan (TCS) is a bacteriostatic used in household items that promotes antimicrobial resistance and endocrine disruption effects both to humans and biota, raising health concerns. In this sense, new devices for its continuous monitoring in complex matrices are needed. In this work, sensors, based on polyelectrolyte layer-by-layer (LbL) films prepared onto gold interdigitated electrodes (IDE), were studied.

Emerging organic contaminants in wastewater: Understanding electrochemical reactors for triclosan and its by-products degradation.

Degradation technologies applied to emerging organic contaminants from human activities are one of the major water challenges in the contamination legacy. Triclosan is an emerging contaminant, commonly used as antibacterial agent in personal care products. Triclosan is stable, lipophilic and it is proved to have ecotoxicologic effects in organics.

Electronic Tongue Coupled to an Electrochemical Flow Reactor for Emerging Organic Contaminants Real Time Monitoring.

Triclosan, which is a bacteriostatic used in household items, has raised health concerns, because it might lead to antimicrobial resistance and endocrine disorders in organisms. The detection, identification, and monitoring of triclosan and its by-products (methyl triclosan, 2,4-Dichlorophenol and 2,4,6-Trichlorophenol) are a growing need in order to update current water treatments and enable the continuous supervision of the contamination plume. This work presents a customized electronic tongue prototype coupled to an electrochemical flow reactor, which aims to access the monitoring of triclosan and its derivative by-products in a real secondary effluent.

[Motor evoked potentials in thoracoabdominal aortic surgery].

Thoracoabdominal aortic disease (aneurysm or dissection) has increased in recent decades. Surgery is the curative treatment but is associated to high perioperative morbidity and mortality risks. Paraplegia is one of the most severe complications, whose incidence has decreased significantly with the implementation of spinal cord protection strategies.