Forest waste composting-operational management, environmental impacts, and application.

In Portugal, the number of fires and the size of burnt areas are rising dramatically every year, increasing with improper management of agroforestry wastes (AFRs). This work aims to study the composting of these wastes with minimal operational costs and understand the environmental impact and the compost application on burnt soil. Thus, a study of life cycle assessment (LCA) was carried out based on windrow composting processes, considering the avoided environmental impacts associated with the end-product quality and its application as an organic amendment.

Salmonella cross-contamination in swine abattoirs in Portugal: Carcasses, meat and meat handlers.

In this study the occurrence of Salmonella in swine, pork meat and meat handlers along with their clonal relatedness is evaluated at abattoir level. Samples from the lymph nodes, carcass surface and meat of 100 pigs and 45 meat handlers were collected in eight abattoirs (July 2007-August 2008). Salmonella isolates were serotyped and genotyped by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).

Inorganic mass spectrometry as a tool for characterisation at the nanoscale.

Inorganic mass spectrometry techniques may offer great potential for the characterisation at the nanoscale, because they provide unique elemental information of great value for a better understanding of processes occurring at nanometre-length dimensions. Two main groups of techniques are reviewed: those allowing direct solid analysis with spatial resolution capabilities, i.e.

Flow-through optosensing of 1-naphthaleneacetic acid in water and apples by heavy atom induced-room temperature phosphorescence measurements.

A sensitive and selective phosphorimetric method for the determination of 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (1-NAA) based on a flow-injection system connected to a flow cell packed with a solid support and placed in the sample compartment of a conventional luminescence spectrometer is described. A non-ionic solid polymeric resin Amberlite XAD-7 is used for the packing. After injection of the sample, 1-NAA is on-line retained in the packed resin and measurements of the heavy atom induced (HAI)-room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) emission (lambda(ex)/lambda(em)=292/490nm) from this native luminescent compound are taken.

A radiofrequency glow-discharge-time-of-flight mass spectrometer for direct analysis of glasses.

A radiofrequency (rf) glow-discharge (GD) ion source coupled to a commercial on-axis time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOFMS) has been developed for the direct analysis of non-conducting samples. Different instrumental configurations of the rf-GD source, including the optional use of a sampler cone and the possibility of allowing electrical floating of the discharge, were evaluated first with a conducting sample. Higher ion signals were obtained when the GD was electrically floating and no sampler cone was used.