1. Yes, you can set up security roles (Tools -> Manage -> Security Roles) that restrict access to only certain projects, and then assign the security roles to the users (Tools -> Manage -> Users).
2. Yes, you can set up notifications at the project level, so the users will only get notifications for those projects (on the Project Wiki tab there's a details section for Notifications).
Dan Suceava
http://www.axosoft.com