Study of the leaching alterability in Soxhlet Extractor of ceramic materials with incorporation of ashes resulting from the incineration of urban solid waste

Population expansion, especially in metropolitan areas, has led to an increase in the production of urban solid waste (USW) by domestic and commercial activity in urban centres. Reducing the production of these wastes is an extremely difficult task. However, the reduction processes, themselves, have the potential to produce a number of useful residues. This study focuses on the residues of incinerated USW, which produces ashes of varying compositions. This study investigates a mixture of two ashes, one resulting from the incineration of USW from LIPOR II (Intermunicipal Waste Management Service of Porto Region) and another from ValorSul (Valorisation and Treatment of Solid Waste of Lisbon and West Regions), both processed by EcoInCer (Ecological Innovations Ceramics company). Ashes from several samples of USW incorporating clays were tested to identify physical and mechanical characterisations, with a view to identifying useful ecological ceramic materials which could be  used  by the ceramics industry. Ceramic samples with 0%, 10% and 20% of ashes were incorporated in a clay matrix composed of 5% kaolin and 95% red clay, and submitted to leaching alterability in Soxhlet Extractor. The obtained results demonstrate the ways in which the ash percentage and the firing temperature can be important in the alterability of a ceramic material. Keywords: Ceramic materials, Leaching, Urban solid wast

As Operações CIMIC nas Operações de Apoio à Paz

Os conflitos que marcam a actualidade são caracterizados pelo papel cada vez mais interveniente que a população tem no que respeita à estabilização e à implementação civil nas áreas afectadas. No espectro das novas operações não-artigo 5º, mais especificamente nas operações de apoio à paz, o comandante, no seu planeamento, deve ter em onsideração todos os aspectos relacionados com os civis presentes no TO, criando as condições necessárias à cooperação entre a força militar e as autoridades civis, com o objectivo de apoiar o comandante no cumprimento da missão, assim como, alcançar uma estabilidade duradoura na região, contribuindo para a melhoria das condições de vida da população e crescente aceitação da força no TO. Este trabalho de investigação aplicada visa o estudo da Cooperação Civil-Militar, assim como os seus conceitos emergentes, nas operações de apoio à paz. Como tal, numa primeira fase, a metodologia empregue baseou-se na revisão da literatura, onde fazemos um enquadramento e caracterização das operações de apoio à paz e onde apresentamos a CIMIC e os seus conceitos emergentes com base na doutrina OTAN. Numa segunda fase, fazemos uma análise à forma como a CIMIC se encontra articulada no seio da OTAN e como decorre durante as fases de uma operação não-artigo 5º. Posteriormente, examinamos o caso nacional em duas vertentes, em que na primeira apresentamos a estrutura CIMIC, consubstanciada na Companhia Geral CIMIC, verificando a evolução ocorrida desde a sua fase de concepção, assim como os objectivos que pretende alcançar. Numa segunda vertente, analisamos o trabalho que as nossas FND realizaram no TO da UNIFIL, nomeadamente na área CIMIC, apurando o impacto que está a ter na população. Por fim, chegou-se à conclusão da importância que a CIMIC tem no seio da OTAN na condução das operações não-artigo 5º, assim como das capacidades CIMIC a nível nacional onde se verifica o desenvolvimento nesta área, comprovando-se com a execução de acções CIMIC nos TO da UNIFIL, que prestaram um contributo precioso a Portugal.Abstract The conflicts that make the headlines nowadays are characterized by an increasingly concerned role of the population in relation to stabilization and civil implementation in afflicted areas. Regarding new operations in non-article 5, especially in peace-support operations, the commander in his planning should take into account all the aspects of the civilians in the TO, giving conditions for cooperation between military and civilian authorities with the aim of establishing the necessary means for the mission fulfillment and creating conditions for achieving lasting stability in the region, contributing for the improvement of ways of living and growing acceptance of force in TO. The aim of this research work is the study of Civilian-Military Cooperation, as well their emerging concepts in peace-support operations. As such, the methodology used was based initially on a bibliographical review where we do a framework and a characterization of peace operations and where we present the CIMIC and its emerging concepts based on NATO doctrine. Secondly, we analyze the way the CIMIC is articulated within NATO, and how it works through all stages of an operation non-article 5. Then, we discuss a national case in two ways: first, we analyze the CIMIC structure embodied in General CIMIC Company monitoring the developments since its conception phase as well as the goals that are purposed to achieve. In a second part, we evaluate the work that our FND made at UNIFIL respectively in the CIMIC area, verifying the positive impact it is having on population. At the end, we get to the conclusion of the importance of CIMIC within NATO in conducting operations in non-article 5 as well as CIMIC capabilities at national level where there is a development in this area, proving the implementation of CIMIC in TO of UNIFIL, which provided a valuable contribution to Portugal

Use of Industrial Waste for the Optimization of Ceramic Construction Materials

The massive growth of the ceramic industry and the consequent demand for construction materials worldwide has motivated the search for alternative solutions aimed at reducing the use of mineral / natural resources as the main source of raw materials. One of the strategies frequently adopted by the scientific community is the reuse of industrial waste. It is beneficial not only to reduce the overexploitation of mineral resources but also to reduce the environmental, economic and social impacts resulting from their incorrect disposal/treatment and consequent deposition on land unsuitable or that purpose. Duetoconsiderationssuchasphysico-mechanical characteristics and the high production rate, two different types of industrial waste were selected for this work, ashes resulting from the burning of coal in thermoelectric power plant, commonly known as bottom ash (B), and the Marble Powder (MP). It was intended to test the technological feasibility of the manufacture of ceramic materials produced from clay mixtures containing these two residues. For this purpose, the fine fraction(<63μm)obtained from the sieving of the marbleresidue(MR)and slag(Bf)was used,aswellasacoarsergrainslagfractionrangingfrom63-125μm(Bg). The resulting test samples were subjected to a firing of 950 °C under an oxidizing atmosphere, following a primary drying process. Faced with the standard values, the new ceramic materials obtained from MP have seen their mechanical and porous characteristics decrease and increase, respectively. Atthesametime,althoughtheadditionofBinno way influenced the mechanical characteristics,a significant improvement the porous characteristic was observed. The incorporation of these residues produced a color very close to the original sample material. Keywords: industrial waste, ceramic, construction materials, bottom ash, Marble Powde

Study of the leaching alterability in soxhlet extractor of ceramic materials with incorporation of ashes resulting from the incineration of urban solid waste

RESUMO: A produção de resíduos sólidos urbanos (RSU) está em constante crescimento, contribuído para um aumento dos impactes sobre o ambiente e a sociedade. Para tentar mitigar estes problemas foram realizados e ensaiados provetes cerâmicos ecológicos com incorporação de escórias resultantes da incineração de resíduos sólidos urbanos. Deste modo, pretendeu-se estudar o efeito do aumento da temperatura de cozedura, dos 900 ºC para os 1000 ºC, nos provetes com 0, 10 e 20% de escórias, sujeitos ao ensaio de alteração por lixiviação em extrator soxhlet. Com base nos resultados obtidos verificou-se um maior incremento da resistência nos provetes cerâmicos com 20% de escórias, cozidos a 1000 ºC.ABSTRACT: The production of urban solid wastes (USW) are constantly growing, carrying a huge impact on the environment and society. To try to mitigate these problems, ecological ceramic test-pieces, with the incorporation of ashes resulting from the incineration of urban solid waste, were carried out and tested. In this way, it was intended to study the effect of the increase of the firing temperature from 900 ºC to 1000 ºC in samples with 0, 10 and 20% of ashes, subject to the leaching alterability in soxhlet extractor. Based on the results, a greater increase of resistance was verified in the ceramic samples with 20% of ashes and fired at 1000 ºC.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Acrylamide mitigation in bakery products

The aim of this study was the determination of acrylamide in Portuguese bakery and its reduction in a bakery product. Acrylamide is considered by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a carcinogenic compound to animals and probably to humans. For this study a total of 30 samples of god bread, “trouxa filó”, pies, ham and cheese rollings, muffins, pastels, and cookies were randomly collected in several commercial establishments. Sample preparation involved solid phase extraction and for the quantification of acrylamide a ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometer (UPLC-MS/MS) was used. The ham and cheese rolling and “trouxa filó” had the highest amount of acrylamide, 3743 µg/kg, and 3862 µg/kg, respectively. The results also showed that caramel cookies, butter cookies, Greek cookies and cocoa cookies do not exceed the EFSA indicative value (500 μg/kg) (EFSA, 2015). Pie samples(686-1084 μg/kg), god's bread(995 μg/kg), pastels(527-809 μg/kg) and muffins(676-1057μg/kg) contain high levels of acrylamide when compared to the values found in the literature for bakery products, 198 μg/kg (Mojska, Gielecińska, Szponar, & Ołtarzewski, 2010). Given the obtained results, tests were carried out in order to reduce the concentration of acrylamide. A bakery product was prepared to which four different reducing agents (A, B, C and D) were individually added. The effect of each agent on acrylamide formation was evaluated. Results showed that mixture B obtained an acrylamide reduction of 5.6%. On the other hand, the remaining mixtures increased the production of the contaminant. Yet, it was found that the decrease obtained with mixture B is still not sufficient since it remains above the indicative value of EFSA. Thus, further studies are necessary in order to achieve a higher percentage of reduction of acrylamide. Progress studies are ongoing with other reducing agents and flours.Este trabalho foi desenvolvido com o apoio da FCT - Project ELEMENTARIA – 2013DAN850 and MISAGEN/

Validation of a Standard Luminescence Method for the Fast Determination of the Antimicrobial Activity of Nanoparticles in Escherichia coli

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.The use of nanoparticles in multiple industries has raised concerned voices about the assessment of their toxicity/antimicrobial activity and the development of standardized handling protocols. Issues emerge during the antimicrobial assaying of multiple cargo, colorimetric, colloidal nanoformulations, as standard protocols often rely on visual evaluations, or optical density (OD) measurements, leading to high variance inhibitory concentrations (MIC). Thus, a fast, luminescence-based assay for the effective assessment of the antimicrobial activity of nanoparticles is herein reported, using the bioluminescence of an in-house E. coli ATCC® 8739™ construct with the pMV306G13 + Lux plasmid (E. coli Lux). The new strain’s sensitivity to ofloxacin as a standard antibiotic was confirmed, and the methodology robustness verified against multiple nanoparticles and colorimetric drugs. The reduction of incubation from 24 to only 8 h, and the sole use of luminescence (LUX490) to accurately determine and distinguish MIC50 and MIC90, are two main advantages of the method. By discarding OD measurements, one can avoid turbidity and color interferences when calculating bacterial growth. This approach is an important tool that contributes to the standardization of methods, reducing samples’ background interference and focusing on luminescence as a direct probe for bacterial metabolic activity, growth and, most importantly, the correct assessment of nanomaterials’ antimicrobial activity.publishersversionpublishe

Development of Cyanine 813@Imidazole-Based Doped Supported Devices for Divalent Metal Ions Detection

PM003/2016 IF/00007/2015 CEECIND/00648/2017A NIR cyanine@imidazole derivative Cy1 was synthesized and evaluated as a metal ion sensor in solution. Cy1 was shown to be very sensitive to all metal ions tested, presenting a blue shift in the absorption from 668 nm to 633 nm, followed by a change in colour from pale green to blue with Zn2+, Cd2+, Co2+, Ni2+ and Hg2+ ions. Despite the blue shift in the absorption, a decrease at 633 nm (with a colour change from pale green to colourless), as well as a quenching in the emission intensity at 785 nm were observed for Cu2+ ions. The results show the formation of sandwich complexes of two ligands per metal ion with the highest association constant observed for Cu2+ (Log Kass.abs = 14.76 ± 0.09; Log Kass.emis. = 14.79 ± 0.06). The minimal detectable amounts were found to be 31 nM and 37 nM, with a naked eye detection of 2.9 ppm and 2.1 ppm for Hg2+ and Cu2+ ions, respectively. These results prompted us to explore the applicability of Cy1 by its combination with nanomaterials. Thus, Cy1@ doped MNs and Cy1@ doped PMMA nanoparticles were synthesized. Both nanosystems were shown to be very sensitive to Cu2+ ions in water, allowing a naked-eye detection of at least 1 ppm for Cy1@ doped MNs and 7 ppm for Cy1@ doped PMMA. This colourimetric response is an easy and inexpensive way to assess the presence of metals in aqueous media with no need for further instrumentation.publishersversionpublishe

Experimental procedure for studying the degradation and alteration of limestone slabs applied on exterior cladding

The studied limestone is a well known Portuguese natural stone that occurs in Valverde—Alcanede region, located in the Maciço Calcário Estremenho (center of Portugal). This stone is used in several exterior and interior applications such as paving, cladding, masonry and decorations. Slabs made of the studied limestone were installed in ventilated facade with a “kerf” anchoring system in a building located in Valencia (Spain). After approximately fve years, signs of degradation were detected on the facades through changes in color, enhancment of cracks and fssures that caused instability and collapse on several slabs. Limestone slabs comprise irregular patterns due to rock cutting across stylolites. These features represent ideal paths for fuid circulation through the slab and can be identifed as vulnerability zones for exterior applications. Experimental procedure included several laboratory analyses to study clays and the iron oxide contents. Microscopic petrography, XRD and SEM observations were important to identify the interaction of the clay material in stylolites and fossil contours. Results show the importance of establishing standard methods for selecting stone on cladding applications. From the results, it is possible to understand that clay minerals have a strong infuence on the mechanical performance of this stone. Among other important remarks, results show the importance of the development of standard procedures that acknowledge the structure and mineral composition before setting these natural products as construction materials. Proper stone selection was found important to avoid facade degradation, and hence contribute to prevent accidents and promote user safety as well as economic impacts.V. Pires gratefully acknowledges the support of Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) under the project UIDB/04449/2020 e UIDP/04449/202

Erradicação, contenção e controlo de espécies invasoras.

Os primeiros estudos que procuraram explicar os processos de invasão biológica, incidiram sobre a vulnerabilidade das comunidades biológicas das ilhas e sobre o impacto da fixação de populações humanas, as quais favoreceram a introdução deliberada de uma grande variedade de animais e plantas. Um dos cientistas que mais cedo abordou a problemática das invasões biológicas, e que se pode considerar pioneiro neste domínio, foi Charles Elton. No seu livro “The Ecology of invasions by animals and plants”, publicado em 1958, colocou três questões relativas ao estudo dos processos de invasão que mantêm uma evidente actualidade: 1. Que características convertem uma espécie numa invasora potencial quando introduzida num ambiente novo? 2. Que características tornam um habitat mais ou menos susceptível à invasão? 3. Que estratégias de gestão são mais adequadas para controlar uma espécie invasora? Avaliar o impacto das espécies invasoras na biodiversidade e ecossistemas nativos, perceber as causas e os mecanismos que permitem a sua fixação e sucesso, desenvolver estratégias de prevenção de introdução, gestão e controlo, bem como consciencializar a opinião pública e os decisores políticos para a dimensão e gravidade das invasões biológicas, ao nível dos seus efeitos na biodiversidade, saúde pública e economia, permanecem grandes desafios que se colocam aos cientistas que se dedicam a este problema. O presente livro tem o importante objectivo de apresentar a história e a expressão territorial das invasões biológicas em Portugal, numa análise sistemática e multidimensional, não negligenciando a importância da divulgação, da comunicação, e das metodologias e ferramentas de gestão das espécies mais problemáticas