Conservation units have a greater species richness compared to unprotected sites, a fact that highlights the need for conservation. In this regard, the study aimed to spatialize environmental violations in the areas proposed for the establishment of the APAs of the Tocantins Paleocanal and Bico do Papagaio.The methodology used was quantitative, divided into three stages: obtaining and spatializing environmental infraction reports; preparing maps to correlate infraction reports with land use and occupation; and applying the Kernel density method to understand the spatial concentration of infractions. The results indicate that most infractions are concentrated in pasture areas, with emphasis on the municipality of Marabá, in the state of Pará, which recorded the highest number of infractions.This concentration may be associated with socioeconomic pressures in the region, especially mining, agricultural, industrial activities and urbanized areas. Furthermore, temporal analysis with LandSat satellite imagery between 1998 and 2023 demonstrated that there were changes in land cover.

The rise in violence across Brazil, coupled with the increasing availability of public security data, highlights the urgent need for efficient methodologies to analyze and classify this information. Automated approaches offer a promising avenue to enhance the analytical capabilities of public security agencies, enabling deeper insights into crime patterns and supporting evidence-based decision-making. This study presents the development of a classifier for police reports in the city of Marabá, Pará, employing data mining techniques and fine-tuning of pre-trained Large Language Models (LLMs), including Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) and its Portuguese-adapted variant, BERTimbau. Experimental results show that BERT and BERTimbau achieved classification accuracies of approximately 90% and 92%, respectively, on validation datasets. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of LLMs in the automatic classification of police reports and highlight their potential to enhance criminal data analysis and contribute to more efficient and data-driven public security policies.

In the group of phenylethylamines, there are two classes called NBOMe and NBOH, considered New Psychoactive Substances (NSP), as they have changes in the molecular structure as a way of mimicking the psychoactive effects of other illicit drugs. Currently, both colorimetric tests and definitive expert laboratory tests have certain challenges in the correct identification, characterization and quantification of these illegal substances. In this context, this work aims to use techniques from computational Quantum Chemistry, molecular modeling and predictions in order to assist in the process of building a more efficient colorimetric test that includes the preliminary identification of the NBOMe and NBOH classes. In this project, the objective is to carry out an in silico investigation through computational chemistry to develop a spot test for identifying NBOMe and NBOH and the production of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to establish uniform guidelines that increase the reliability of the results obtained and simplify the adoption of this method by forensic chemistry experts. For the computational calculations, the geometric and electronic properties, atomic charges, as well as the vibrational and thermodynamic properties of the NBOME and NBOH molecules (25C-, 25CN-, 25E-, 25G-, 25N-) were evaluated. Geometric optimization and compound frequency calculations were performed with the Gaussian 06 computational package, using the DFT method and the B3LYP correlation functional, associated with the basis sets B3LYP/6-31G*, B3LYP/6-31++G* and B3LYP/ 6-21G which made it possible to obtain the chemical reaction of the molecules with the reagents 2,3,5,6- tetrachloro-1,4-benzoquinone (TCBQ) and 2-iodobenzoic acid (2-IB) and understand the connection between them, in addition to comparing the in silico infrared results with data obtained in the literature in laboratory experiments, with the aim of validating the results with a lower application cost. The study highlights the relevance of incorporating advanced computational techniques into daily forensic practice, promoting substantial advances in the detection of these illicit substances, while reducing costs and strengthening strategies to combat their misuse.

O reconhecimento de uma árvore depende da presença das características morfológicas do vegetal, como folhas, flores, raízes, caules e troncos. No entanto, a transformação da árvore em madeira beneficiada elimina essas características do vegetal. Nesse sentido, a análise da anatomia da árvore é uma alternativa de reconhecê-la quando as demais características se ausentarem. O objetivo deste trabalho foi demonstrar o desempenho de uma rede neural convolucional para reconhecer, por meio da anatomia da madeira, dez espécies florestais, sendo oito reconhecidas à nível de espécies (Bertholletia excelsa, Cariniana estrellensis, Erisma uncinatum, Hyminae sp, Manilkara huberi, Mezilaurus itauba, Grevilea Robusta e Melia azedarach) e duas à nível de gêneros (Dipteryx sp e Machaerium sp ). As imagens utilizadas foram coletadas do banco de dados “Forest Species Database - Macroscopic”, disponibilizado pelo Laboratório Visão Robótica e Imagem da Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR). Foram utilizadas 550 imagens da anatomia das madeiras em formato JPG com resolução de 3264 x 2448 pixels. Por meio dos testes realizados na rede neural convolucional criada, obteve-se a matriz de confusão, a precisão, o Recall e o f1-score. Foi possível demonstrar a viabilidade no reconhecimento de espécies florestais madeireiras utilizando a inteligência artificial (IA) por meio da rede neural convolucional com acúracia de 90% nos testes submetidos, demonstrando ser uma tecnologia promissora no reconhecimento de espécies florestais madeireiras.

Electrical energy is an essential factor for human life, for the development
and well-being of society and, therefore, generating companies and concessionaires that distribute
electrical energy make use of high financial investments to reach even difficult-to-access places.
However, in this process there is difficulty in monitoring and controlling the electrical energy
distributed and consumed, which allows the increasing occurrence of criminal activities, such as
diversion of electrical energy. The most common deviations are theft and fraud of electrical energy,
the purpose of both is the use of electrical energy without proper recording and measurement, in
which some individuals avoid paying the total or partial amounts that correspond to the actual use of
the electrical energy in private properties or commercial environments. Once the suspected
occurrence is registered, whether by technicians from the energy concessionaire in a specific location
or a complaint regarding the case, the local Civil Police is called and experts are designated to start
investigations at the registered location of the occurrence. The expert's role is to find evidence that
can elucidate the case, classifying or not the occurrence as theft or energy fraud, applying techniques
and methodologies in accordance with criminalistics postulates.
Keywords: Fraud and energy theft, Expert electrical engineering activities, Manual Guiding, Electric
Energy.

A era digital trouxe consigo uma nova gama de desafios para a segurança pública, com a proliferação de crimes cibernéticos e a necessidade de enfrentar metodologias sofisticadas de engenharia social. Este artigo explora a interseção entre essa técnica, a segurança pública e a investigação forense digital, destacando os desafios enfrentados na coleta de evidências e na perícia de software maliciosos. Esse método envolve a manipulação psicológica de indivíduos para obter informações confidenciais ou acesso a sistemas. A segurança pública tradicional agora abrange o mundo virtual, com agências policiais e órgãos governamentais que se dedicando a prevenir e combater crimes cibernéticos, abordando estratégias e tecnologias para proteger a sociedade contra
ameaças digitais. A coleta de evidências em um ambiente virtual apresenta desafios únicos, incluindo a volatilidade dos dados e a necessidade de preservar a integridade das provas, com isso a análise é essencial para entender a natureza e o impacto de ataques cibernéticos, evidenciado as habilidades e as metodologias necessárias para conduzir uma perícia eficaz em códigos maliciosos. A engenharia social e a segurança pública no ambiente virtual são pilares essenciais na proteção da sociedade moderna contra ameaças digitais. A investigação forense desempenha um papel crucial na coleta de evidências e na análise. Para enfrentar esses desafios em constante evolução, é essencial que os profissionais estejam bem treinados e atualizados com as últimas técnicas e tecnologias.

Studies that evaluate the availability, use and way in which data on drugs of abuse
are openly disclosed in Brazil are little publicized. In this context, the present work sought to analyze the
availability and use of open government data on illicit drug seizures by the main government security bodies.
The tool used in this study to analyze the availability and use of data was the Brazilian Government Open Data
(DGABr) metric. All data evaluation was carried out through the analysis of five perspectives, namely: open,
legal, technical, managerial data and reuse. The data was found manually from academic publication websites and web platforms from the main security bodies and institutions with this specific focus. As results obtained with the application of DGABr on international data, presented here by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the result obtained was an index 4. At the national level, the databases of synthetic drug reports from the federal police also I achieved the level 4 indicator, however, the other databases reached the level 3 indicator. The level 4 indicator generally indicates that the data is overwhelming for human use and analysis, while the level 3 indicator indicates that the data is sufficient, however, presented in terms of ease of use, lack of clarity in methodologies or failure to meet the management perspective, given the absence of visualization technologies and applications for easy access to data. Given this, the datasets analyzed in this research mostly only partially met the analysis criteria, which shows that the quality and maturity of data on drugs still needs improvement.

Combatting violence is a significant challenge faced by Brazilian society. The alarming context of violence and firearm use reflects the urgent need for comprehensive and effective measures to suppress the hostility advancement and ensure the population safety. The firearm discharge detection proves to be a promising initiative in addressing and reducing crimes committed with the use of weapons. In this context, the use of artificial intelligence techniques offers a new perspective on the data interpretation and analysis, which enables one to automated and accurate identify sound patterns and to provide a strategic tool to combat armed violence,
allowing for efficient allocation of police resources and preventive actions in areas affected by crime. The goal of this work is to explore and investigate the use of artificial intelligence in the firearm discharge detection, using deep learning algorithms and sound processing methods aiming to contribute to the development of more efficient detection techniques and provide theoretical and practical support for addressing armed violence in Brazil. Furthermore, the results obtained demonstrated the effectiveness of artificial intelligence techniques in automated and accurate detection of sound patterns, significantly contributing to the development of more efficient methods
in combating armed violence. The achieved accuracy rates reached 99% across the different techniques utilized in the study, highlighting the robustness and promising capability of the developed models.

The Environmental Crimes Law No. 9,605/1998 emerged as a legal instrument to inhibit criminal practices that threaten the environment. However, the absence of metrics capable of measuring the degree of impact on biodiversity makes it difficult to apply the precepts of accountability. This work aimed to evaluate the degree of impact of an environmental infraction due to deforestation, using soil fauna as a bioindicator. The collections were carried out in a preserved area in the Tapirapé Biological Reserve (REBIOTA) and in a deforested area (illegal removal of wood) in the Campos Ferruginosos National Park (PARNACF). In each area we collected soil fauna using mini-winklers following the ALL protocol. The samples were taken to the Tauari Biodiversity Museum at Unifesspa for identification at the order level (all invertebrates) and genus/species (ants and termites). The
parameters used for evaluation were abundance, richness, Shannon and Simpson diversity indices, evenness and similarity in composition. Compared to the preserved area, the deforested area had a reduction in total abundance (from 5566 individuals to 2313) and termites (from 1556 to 689), but an increase in ants (from 1902 to 1139). Evenness was low, except for ants, which increased from 0.41 to 0.81. Taxon richness also decreased, except for ants, which increased from 17 to 19 genera. The taxonomic composition of orders was very similar, with a filtering process for orders in general and termite species, with the deforested area having a fraction of the set of species in the preserved area. As for ants, there was a major replacement of the composition. Deforestation, even in its moderate form, causes significant changes in biodiversity, such as a reduction in the number of individuals and loss of ecological functions. The methodology used in the present study proved to be extremely efficient and effective, simple and low-cost, but with the use of different taxonomic resolutions.

With the increase in the demand for meat at the global level, Brazil starts to play a leading role on the world stage, together with this, the reformulation of legislation regarding animal mistreatment and the well-being that governs the slaughterhouse branch, becomes a looked at with a view to the use of good practices in pre-slaughter management, in order to obtain products of better final quality and to comply with current legislation and the desires of the consumer market, to comply with the legislation on humane slaughter, that is, minimizing suffering animal and providing proper euthanasia to the animal. In this scenario, this work enters the slaughterhouses located in the city of Marabá/PA, which are under official inspection, to collect data on the handling in the pre-slaughter of cattle, seeking to establish a relationship between the management in relation to the final quality of the carcass and the prevalence of animal abuse. To this end, it establishes criteria for housing the animals in the slaughter pens, fasting time and water diet, way of driving the animals, use of electrified sticks in driving the animals, stunning method and its efficiency, bleeding time, prevalence of lesions in the carcass, prevalence of cadaveric rigidity, cortisol and glucose dosage (serological) and to end the pH measurement of the carcasses after cooling, in order to establish a correlation between the pre-slaughter, the maturation of the carcasses and the prevalence of abuse in the management, creating the basis for the elaboration of a spreadsheet indicating the prevalence or not of animal abuse in the expert scope. It is estimated that establishments under official inspection develop appropriate methodologies to comply with applicable legislation regarding humane slaughter. It was demonstrated in this work that the practices of humane slaughter and animal welfare in the pre-slaughter of cattle make a great difference in the final quality of the product and that it is possible to determine whether or not there is a prevalence of animal abuse, only with the observations carried out at the time of pre-slaughter, that is, accommodation, fasting and water diet and practices for driving animals from the pen to the slaughter room. Based on this study, the observation sheet will, in the end, issue an opinion on the methodology used, confirming or ruling out the prevalence of animal abuse, which will consequently determine the presence or absence of superior quality conditions in the carcasses processed by the slaughter establishment. of cattle, being a tool for the judicial expert, official or ad hoc, in the assertiveness of the assessment, when requested by the court, on the absence or presence of animal abuse in cattle slaughter establishments.

From the advances in the 20th century, due to the use of Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS) and the development of new reagents for the treatment and revealing of Latent Fingerprints (LFS), new possibilities have emerged for researchers from different fields of knowledge, presenting a new direction for the treatment and analysis of LFS, such as the use of nanotechnology. Generally, their fabrication occurs through physical or chemical methods involving noble metals, but many of these methods require expensive equipment, multiple steps, and generate toxic by-products. For this reason, green synthesis has been studied and pursued by several researchers due to its rapid, cost-effective production that is environmentally friendly. Within this context, this study aims to characterize and evaluate the effect of silver nanoparticles produced from plant extracts of two species known as Jambu Acmella oleraceae and Acmella ciliata, typical plants from Pará, in order to determine their potential as revealing agents for Latent Fingerprints (LFS). The objective is to develop an efficient LFS revealing agent with relatively lower costs compared to current methods and environmentally harmless, using extracts from Acmella oleracea and Acmella ciliata, typical plants from Pará.

The digital proof of the geolocation type emerges as another alternative in the science of law, of licit and legitimate proof, to be produced in the labor judicial process, aiming to seek the feasible truth and the conviction of the judge. The Labor Court in Brazil is a pioneer, through a digital proof program. In this reality, the question arises: How is the Labor Court in Brazil treating the digital proof of geolocation in the Judicial Processes and its reflections in the Labor Judicial Decisions? In this way, the research has the objectives: to investigate the solution and the good practices executed by the Labor Justice in the treatment of digital evidence; to identify the
concept and normative foundation of digital proof in Brazil; analyze what is the forensic procedure for investigating digital evidence; and relate the digital proof of geolocation, with expert report or not, with the decisions of labor lawsuits. The research methodology is documental, with qualitative analysis of materials collected in Brazil, and of Decisions of Labor Lawsuits from January 2022 to June 2023, of the TST and the TRT11th Region. To filter the research sources based on open and public data, it was necessary to establish the descriptors: digital proof, electronic proof, digital proof and geolocation, geolocation, "digital chain of custody" and "Veritas system"; and establish Criteria for the Analysis of Judicial Decisions. As a result, 114 Labor Lawsuits were analyzed, and the concern of the Brazilian Labor Court to understand, dominate, use and multiply knowledge related to digital evidence was identified. But, it was found that there is a need for improvements in the validation of digital proof; there is a non-observance of the norms of archival science; the need to improve the evidentiary standard in the Labor Court; improve the mastery of the subject by lawyers; and the need for the curated repository of digital proof. In the end, fruits of this research, the technological products: the Guideline and the Preliminary Project of the General Law of Digital Evidence.

A internet das coisas (do inglês internet of things - IoT) define um ambiente dinâmico e inter-relacionado de dispositivos do cotidiano e industriais conectados à internet. O crescimento de dispositivos IoT aumentou significativamente os perigos de ataques cibernéticos, levando a computação forense a um esforço continuado na superação de desafios para obter evidências confiáveis em um ambiente complexo, heterogêneo e diverso, como o ecossistema IoT. Os dispositivos vestíveis são dos mais populares nos dias de hoje. Extrair dados para análise forense digital em dispositivos IoT é um desafio, pois na sua concepção não há a preocupação com esse
tipo de atividade, dada a inexistente padronização na escrita e coleta dos dados no ecossistema IoT. Com tantos dispositivos conectados o volume de dados armazenados e trafegado na rede são enormes, oportunizando o levantamento de evidências em várias fases de um processo de análise forense. Apesar disso, a falta de padrão na escrita e leitura dos dados eleva a dificuldade de se obter registros relacionáveis de maneira simples e mantendo a integridade dos dispositivos, o que poderia acelerar o processo de resolução de um crime cibernético. Este trabalho visa definir procedimentos para análise de evidências forenses em dispositivos vestíveis do tipo smartwatches, mantendo sua cadeia de custódia e integridade. Na parte experimental, utilizado
como prova de conceito dos procedimentos propostos, foram usados dois smartwatches, um da fabricante Samsumg e outro da apple, por serem as líderes de mercado neste seguimento, e a partir desses dispositivos procedeu-se à extração de dados sem o acesso de superusuário (root) do sistema, com o uso de diversas ferramentas, dentre elas, softwares proprietários de empresas especializadas, e também softwares dos fabricantes dos dispositivos. Para análise dos dados foram utilizados softwares de código aberto. Mesmo sem o acesso de superusuário, e mediante a utilização do procedimento operacional proposto, foi demonstrada a recuperação de informações relevantes a partir dos smartwartches testados, tais como: agenda telefônica,
registro de chamadas, lembretes, fotos de perfil de contatos telefônicos, ultimas redes sem fio conectadas, dados de hardware e software instalados, fotos e vídeos salvos nos dispositivos, atividades físicas, informações sobre cartões bancários, entre outras.

Neste trabalho, coletou-se resíduos nas sobrancelhas do atirador, uma área não convencional, utilizando fita de carbono e analisada a persistência dos resíduos até 8 horas após o tiro. Foi utilizada uma espingarda calibre 28, comumente encontrada e usada na região Sul e Sudeste do Pará. A técnica de microscopia eletrônica de varredura acoplada à espectroscopia de energia dispersiva de raios-X (MEV/EDS) demonstrou ser eficiente na confirmação do tempo de persistência dos resíduos (GSR - Gunshot Residues) nos intervalos de 2, 4 e 8 horas após realização de tiro e posterior coleta nas sobrancelhas de um atirador. Para 2 horas após a realização do tiro foram encontradas 16 (desesseis) partículas em ambas as sobrancelhas, para 4 horas 1 (uma) partícula na sobrancelha esquerda e para 8 horas 1 (uma) partícula na sobrancelha esquerda. O método atual, que utiliza o reagente de Rodizonato de Sódio, não fornece resultados conclusivos, sendo necessário detectar chumbo (Pb), bário (Ba) e antimônio (Sb) em uma única partícula para confirmar a origem do GSR Também foi utilizada no estudo a técnica FTIR que também não forneceu resultados conclusivos. Nessa região do estado do Pará, Brasil, há a necessidade da utilização de uma técnica mais robusta para identificar resíduos de tiros de arma de fogo (GSR), que atenda às demandas das autoridades policiais e judiciais.  A técnica supracitada é eficaz, conclusiva, e pode ser implementada como uma ferramenta auxiliar importante no protocolo forense da região.

The objective of this work was to identify the benefits of remote sensing tools to aid in forensic studies on asphalt pathologies on highways. Through images obtained by different technologies (Google Earth, Google Street View and Drone), an attempt was made to identify structural and dimensional characteristics of pathological manifestations in asphalt pavements on highways, compatible with those recommended by DNIT Standard 005/2003 – TER. The Case Study research was used as a methodological design, where data on pathologies were collected in stretches of the BR 158 Highway, located near the municipality of Santana do Araguaia - PA. The adopted methodology was summarized in carrying out, in loco, the mapping of the pathologies with their respective geographic coordinates and the recording of the images through the Drone. Right away, image acquisitions were performed (Google Earth and Google Street View). With the exception of the Drone images, the others were obtained at a fixed workstation, and treated in such a way as to provide the necessary visual quality for a better interpretation of their characteristics. For Google Street View and Google Earth, past images related to the periods 06/2022 and 12/2022 were used, and Drone images, the period 02/2023. After the steps described above, a comparative work was carried out between all the images, where it was possible to identify significant changes for some defined points, while others, less relevant modifications, however, all remained altered throughout the periods studied. In this sense, it is possible to state that the tools proved to be efficient for recording and extracting images related to the defective points, and demonstrated, in addition to accuracy and agility, benefits in terms of the possibility of being able to observe the existence of changes in pavement compliance. It is therefore concluded that, although the Satellite images have demonstrated certain limitations regarding the definition of characteristics related to the structure and dimensioning of the pathologies, that the methodology proved to be innovative and possible to be adopted for purposes related to the object of this work, as it provides fast and accurate results. In addition, it demonstrated that it is possible to use it as a method in the process of comparing present and past images, in order to indicate the existence of any alteration in the conformation of the asphalt pavement, and thus contribute to the aid of forensic analysis, with regard to the conclusion of a possible case.

As ciências forenses sempre estiveram presentes em um quantitativo significativo de fatos históricos e relevantes na humanidade. De seu prelúdio do estudo anatômico pós morte até as tecnologias mais sofisticadas, estas sempre buscaram a elucidação de crimes e a construção de uma cadeia de custódia forte e consolidada. Porém, ainda há limitações em alguns dos métodos de investigação forense, como, por exemplo, a técnica de autópsia, onde há limitação humana no que se refere à análise de lesões em pequena escala. Como forma complementar aos métodos tradicionais utiliza técnicas de imageamento por radiação de carácter ionizante em sua modalidade de tomografia computadorizada, para análise de fraturas em ossos do crânio e da face, em vítimas de mortes violentas. Esta técnica complementar pode ser otimizada mediante o auxílio de redes neurais convolucionais para análise profunda das imagens. Esta pesquisa buscou desenvolver uma técnica de análise das imagens produzidas em virtópsia para auxiliar os diagnósticos forenses. O delineamento metodológico deste trabalho, inicialmente, realizou a construção de uma massa de dados de servidores PACS, com imagens DICOM e JPEG totalizando 820 imagens. Durante o tratamento dos dados foram retirados os artefatos e ruídos secundários. Utilizou-se para o treinamento e teste de redes neurais o software Orange data mining Ⓡ desenvolvido pela Universidade de Ljubljana localizada na Eslovênia. Foram utilizados de redes neurais com arquitetura de 16, 19 camadas e com também com a arquitetura intercept. Após análise dos resultados, identificou-se que a rede intercept obteve as maiores acurácias, sendo de 0,993 e 0,973 KNN e TREE respectivamente demonstrando um resultado promissor e amplo potencial para outras aplicabilidades e novos segmentos a essa pesquisa e a sociedade.

The present work sought to address the existing interdisciplinary between Law and Engineering, within the scope of reception services and its implications in the field of administrative improbity, and the content will be published on its own website on the internet, accompanied by a dictionary of terms of easy query. The objective of this work was to analyze the interdisciplinary between Law and Legal Engineering in the context of the analysis of reports and/or engineering opinions by legal operators in administrative and judicial proceedings related to administrative improbity in shelters located in the state of Pará. For this, a comprehensive research was carried out on the interaction between the areas of Law and Legal Engineering in the specific context of shelters in the State of Pará and a forensic web dictionary was developed that contains the technical terms applied to shelters more commonly used in technical engineering reports related to impropriety, in order to facilitate understanding and communication between Law and Legal Engineering professionals. For the development of the forensic dictionary, an analysis of Legal Engineering opinions/reports presented in the instruction of judicial and administrative processes, Conanda resolutions and national and international standards for the basis of forensic technical terms was carried out. Therefore, the forensic dictionary combines a technical language that can be used in the understanding of documents/reports and be a language facilitator for law operators, as well as the completeness of its terms within the area of the impropriety process.

New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) are substances of abuse that are not internationally controlled by the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs or the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, but which pose a great threat to public health. The increasing use of NPS is associated with more intense effects, and lower cost, in addition to not being identified in standard drug tests. NPS can be classified according to their main action on the central nervous system (CNS), being stimulants, cannabimimetic, depressants, and CNS hallucinogens. The use of NPS can cause strong dependence, however, the consequences of long-term use are still unclear for most synthetic drugs, and this requires further studies to obtain a better understanding of their effects. Another problem is the difficulty in identifying and controlling the drug the authorities, considering the speed with which a new substance enters the drug market. Faced with these questions, the objective of this work was to elaborate a bibliographic review of the main effects of NPS on the CNS according to their psychopharmacological activity, this being the first chapter, and in the second chapter, a systematic review was elaborated on the main validated analytical methods for identification of NPS in biological samples. It is hoped that this work will facilitate an understanding of the main mechanisms of action and potential health risks caused by this emerging class of drugs and that the synthesis of analytical information may facilitate the choice of the best method to be applied by the authorities in the identification of NPS.