Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097120
Authors: Asahi Kimura Mao Hamamoto Hiromasa Yagyu
Gold nanotriangles (GNTs) for producing a test strip of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) tests were reported in this paper. The GNTs were simply synthesized by non-thermal liquid-phase reduction with sodium citrate and tannic acid composition as a reducing reagent. The antibody-conjugated GNTs were prepared using the synthesized GNTs and anti-hCG beta antibodies. The experimental results confirmed that the use of GNTs can decrease the volume of antibodies required for the use of a labeling reagent compared with spherical GNPs for the first time.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097121
Authors: Rajendra P. Shukla Johan G. Bomer Daniel Wijnperle Naveen Kumar Janwa El Maiss Divya Balakrishanan Aruna Chandra Singh Vihar P. Georgiev Cesar Pascual Garcia Sivashankar Krishnamoorthy Sergii Pud
In the ElectroMed project, we are interested in screening certain peptide sequences for their ability to selectively interact with antibodies or MHC proteins. This poses a combinatorial challenge that requires a highly multiplexed setup of label-free immunosensors. Label-free FET-based immunosensors are good candidates due to their high multiplexing capability and fast response time. Nanowire-based FET sensors have shown high sensitivity but are unreliable for clinical applications due to drift and gate stability issues. To address this, a label-free immuno-FET architecture based on planar junctionless FET devices is proposed. This geometry can improve the signal-to-noise ratio due to its larger planar structure, which is less prone to defects that cause noise and is better suited to the functionalization of different receptor molecules.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097122
Authors: Asia Kalinichenko Benjamin Junker Udo Weimar Nicolae Bârsan
A simple, direct method for the determination residual hexane content in refined oils was developed, which makes use of commercial Semiconducting Metal Oxides (SMOX) sensors and is proposed as an alternative to the currently used standards (ISO 9832:2002, ISO 2719:2016). The main advantages are related to the direct measurement of the headspace of oil samples. The measurements are performed at an oil sample temperature of 30 °C and by spiking the samples with hexane in the 8–132 mg·kg−1 range, which is in line with the requirements of current standard for the maximum residue limit set by European Union regulation. Using separate measurements performed with the help of a computer-controlled gas mixing system it is possible to determine the relationship between the concentration of hexane in oil and in the headspace.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097119
Authors: Marco Cen-Puc Tim de Rijk Dirk Lehmhus Walter Lang
This work presents the effect of thermal treatment on the electrical insulation of strain sensors on aluminum substrates. The sensors are meant to be embedded into cast aluminum parts, which are heat-treated for strengthening via precipitation hardening. For sensor manufacturing, thick film materials are used for the electrical insulation and its connection tracks, whereas sensing platinum structures are produced by sputtering. The effectiveness of different insulation thicknesses was tested for a treatment regime of 7 h at 535 °C, which matches solution heat treatment conditions as the most demanding part of the precipitation hardening process. The results showed that insulation is partially lost after treatment, and six consecutive insulating layers are required to produce an insulation capable of withstanding an extended heat treatment.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024094064
Authors: George Bellis Paris Papaggelos Evangeli Vlachogianni Ilias Laleas Stefanos Moustos Thanos Patas Sokratis Poulios Nikos Tzioumakis Giannis Giakas Giorgos Tsiogkas Christos Kokkotis Dimitrios Tsaopoulos
Lameness is a crucial welfare issue in the modern dairy cattle industry, that if not identified and treated early causes losses in milk production and leads to early culling of animals. At present, the most common methods used for lameness detection and assessment are various visual locomotion scoring systems, which are labour-intensive, and the results may be subjective. The purpose of this project is to develop an integrated system for early detection of lameness in cattle, using force plate gait analysis and pattern recognition techniques to identify changes in gait which indicate the onset of lameness. The system will be tested on the natural onset of lameness in an organised farm environment.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097118
Authors: Eva Melnik Steffen Kurzhals Valerio Beni Giorgio C. Mutinati Rainer Hainberger
In this study, poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (PEG-DMA)-based hydrogels were investigated with respect to the diffusion properties of methylene blue (MB) and MB conjugated proteins (MB-BSA and MB-IgG). Electrochemical sensors were used to monitor the diffusion process via the redox-active MB-label. All tested molecules showed good mobility in the hydrogel. Also, the release of MB-BSA could be demonstrated after drying the hydrogel containing MB-BSA, which is a promising result for the development of hydrogel-based reagent reservoirs for biosensing.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2023091419
Authors: Jana Babjakova Adela Penesova Peter Minarik Daniela Minarikova Jozef Golian
Nutrition plays a fundamental role in preventing chronic non-communicable diseases and promoting overall health. In response to the absence of official dietary recommendations in the Slovak Republic, a collective of authors collaborated with state health institutions develop Food-based Dietary Guidelines (FBDGs) for adults, focusing on food groups and scientifically based information about nutrition concerning individual requirements, with consideration for the basic characteristics of the health status of the Slovak population. The FBDGs were submitted in 2021–2022, divided into two parts (general and special—Štandardný postup na výkon prevencie: “Odporúčania pre stravu a výživu u dospelých”, “Odporúčania pre stravovanie a výživu u dospelých—špeciálna časť”), and were approved by the Ministry of Health SR and integrated into standard procedures for implementing prevention, supported by a grant from the Human Resources operational program of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, and Families (Development of the new and innovative guidelines for prevention and their implementation into medical practice). The FBDGs were methodologically prepared following the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) recommendations, adapting European and non-European FBDGs to local Slovakia’s conditions. The proposal for Slovak FBDGs was the result of the consensus of the standard’s authors. The guidelines cover scientific information about various food groups, such as vegetables and fruits, starchy foods, protein-containing foods, and fats, deal with drinking regimens, and contain evidence about recommended food patterns, food hygiene, and food labelling. The recommendations emphasize the protective effects of a properly set lifestyle throughout an individual’s life, including the significance of regular and reasonably intense physical activity, stress management, proper sleeping characteristics, absence of abuses, and limiting a sedentary lifestyle. In 2023, the authors plan to prepare a third part for the recommendations as an educational publication with visual aids to enhance the food and nutritional literacy of the public. This effort aims to support individual and population health and prevent diseases in Slovakia. The guidelines will serve as a resource for health professionals, policymakers, institutions, and media, enabling the protection of health, preventive and nutritional policies and programs, and advice to improve the population’s health. By providing comprehensive guidelines, the FBDGs will contribute to reducing the occurrence and consequences of chronic non-communicable diseases in the Slovak Republic.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097117
Authors: Siya Lozanova Avgust Ivanov Martin Ralchev Chavdar Roumenin
A new Hall microdevice with minimal complexity and orthogonal magnetic field activation is suggested. The microsensor contains a rectangular n-type silicon substrate. On the long sides, three ohmic contacts are formed symmetrically and opposite each other. The first two opposite electrodes are connected and the second two are fed in the same way, and third ones are the outputs. The increased sensitivity constituting 40 V/AT is due to the reduced parasitic surface currents. Furthermore, output electrodes are moved out of the area where the supply currents flow. The 80 × 135 μm2 size of the sensor increases the resolution and provides detailed mapping of the magnetic field’s topology.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097116
Authors: Kishore Pushparaj Alexandro Catini Rosamaria Capuano Leonardo Papale Valerio Allegra Gabriele Magna Gianni Antonelli Eugenio Martinelli Yuvaraj Sivalingam Roberto Paolesse Corrado di Natale
The use of laser cutter machines to produce porous graphene films is an innovative method for a low-cost production of flexible electrodes for electronics and sensing applications. Here, laser-induced graphene (LIG) is used to produce the gate electrodes of EGFET sensors. LIG electrodes and LIG electrodes functionalized with ZnO and metalloporphyrin-coated ZnO are used as elements of the electronic tongue. The array is tested in a classical experiment aimed at identifying complex food matrices, such as fruit juices. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the approach and provide a solid basis for further array developments.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097112
Authors: Jeong-Yeon Hwang Paul Raschdorf Andre Henschke Manuel Ligges Sara Weyer Shanshan Gu-Stoppel
This paper presents the optical system design for the MEMS mirror-based SPAD LiDAR system. The transmitter of the proposed LiDAR system consists of related optics for incident beam expansion and a piezoelectric MEMS mirror for a wide-scanning field of view. For the receiver unit, an SPAD array is utilized to collect the laser beam reflected from the target objects at a smart factory. The optical system of the proposed LiDAR system is presented, designed, and analyzed in various ways.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097109
Authors: Alessandro Benegiamo Javier Burgués Javier Alonso-Valdesueiro Beatrice Julia Lotesoriere Lara Terrén Lidia Sauco Mª Deseada Esclapez Silvia Doñate Agustín Gutiérrez-Gálvez Santiago Marco
The application of Instrumental Odor Monitoring Systems (IOMS) for odor concentration estimation in wastewater treatment plants remains a challenge. We present the optimization of a heterogeneous gas sensor array mounted on a small drone to be used in dynamic conditions. The proposed method is based on the use of feature selection during the estimation of the best calibration model. The results show that the selection of an optimal sensor array and the proper time window decreases the multiplicative error a 25%.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097115
Authors: Achilleas Bardakas Christos Tsamis
This study aims to examine the dielectrophoretic assembly of single ZnO nanowires, focusing on the effect of electrode geometry, AC frequency and solvent medium on the alignment performance. Experimental results indicate that the electrode geometry significantly affects the capturing performance due to the electric field distribution. Utilizing ethanol as the solvent medium resulted in repeatable nanowire alignment at the optimal AC voltage frequency.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097114
Authors: Gwenael Le Rhun Franklin Pavageau Timothée Rotrou Christel Dieppedale Laurent Mollard
Piezoelectric MEMS devices were fabricated on 200 mm Si wafers using both deposited and layer-transferred PZT films. In both cases, the PZT-based devices showed ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties at the level of current state-of-the-art devices. The wafer-to-wafer piezoelectric layer transfer process that was developed can thus be useful to bypass the thermal budgeting issue associated with the high crystallization temperature of PZT (~700 °C). It allows the integration of PZT capacitors on any kind of layer stack or substrate, for either actuator or sensor applications.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097111
Authors: Camille Bene Emmanuel Flahaut Morgan Legnani Pierre Temple-Boyer Jérôme Launay
An all-integrated on-chip electrochemical microcell (10 × 11 mm2) is developed using silicon technology. The potentiometric nitrate ion detection is based on the functionalization of the working microelectrode array with a polymer membrane in fluoropolysiloxane (FPSX) containing ionophore tetradodecylammoniumnitrate (TDDAN) and ionic additive potassium tetrakis[3,5-bis(trifuoromethyl)phenyl]borate (KTFPB) to form an all-solid-state ion selective electrode (ISE). The addition of an ion-to-electron transducing layer between the platinum working electrode and the polymer membrane helped to improve the sensor performances, especially the response time, the sensitivity, and the stability. Composites formed with two conductive polymers were compared: Polyethylenedioxythiophène (PEDOT) and Polypyrrole (PPy), doped with Poly(styrene sulfonate) or double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs).
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097108
Authors: Christian Bur Ksenia Karst Andreas Schütze Felix Maurer Stefan Radermacher Klaus Hoffmann Sascha Kreuer
Herein, commercially available MOS gas sensors running in temperature cycling operations are studied for the online monitoring of propofol in an ex vivo ventilation and perfusion lung model. A porcine lung was connected to a heart–lung machine and propofol was added into the blood reservoir. The MOS sensor was able to quantitatively detect exhaled propofol in the very low ppb range. The results are in accordance with those obtained by a propofol-sensitive ion mobility spectrometer.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097100
Authors: Perla Malagò Stefano Lumetti Dominik Holzmann Michael Ortner Ali Roshanghias
A non-invasive implementation of a planar magnetoresistive sensor on top of copper interconnected power modules is proposed. This solution allows for the real-time monitoring of the electrical current flowing across the power modules. Anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) sensors made of Permalloy were designed through finite-difference and finite-element simulations in the so-called barber-pole configuration and microfabricated via patterning by laser lithography and thin film deposition by electron-beam evaporation. Finally, the sensor performance was tested by measuring the magnetic field generated by the electrical current in a specific range of interest.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097101
Authors: Diogo E. Aguiam Inês S. Garcia Edoardo Sotgiu Filipe S. Alves
This study presents a new design for a MEMS electrostatic speaker array with out-of-plane piston-like diaphragm displacement using a simplified silicon-on-insulator microfabrication process. The device comprises an array of parallel actuating membranes with small circular mechanically open but acoustically sealed apertures that enable controlled etching of the buried oxide to be released directly from the front side, but retain a high acoustic impedance acting as a flat membrane. This approach simplifies the microfabrication process, requiring only two lithography masks and increasing process tolerances. Preliminary experimental measurements validate the concept and demonstrate the electromechanical and acoustic performance compared with theoretical models.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024096015
Authors: Roberta Manzollino Giulia Chellini Paola La Torre Saverio Giulio Malatesta Marco Raoul Marini Claudia Moricca
The term bioarchaeology refers to the study of archaeological remains of organic origin, including human and botanical remains, which are highly informative for reconstructing past human–environment relationships. However, they are not very tangible, either because of ethical issues or their reduced size. Using novel technologies, such as modeling, 3D printing, and virtual reality, these remains have been made accessible, manipulable, and inclusive. The objective of this work is the technological enhancement of bioarchaeological remains through the development of an innovative, non-destructive, non-invasive, and reproducible protocol. In this way, more effective dissemination of the information obtained from studying these materials is possible, making them more accessible to different audiences.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097107
Authors: Alessandro Benegiamo Meryl Cruz Stefano Robbiani Raffaele Dellacá Santiago Marco
This study assesses the agreement in terms of linearity errors between simulated and experimental data from MOX sensors operated in dielectric excitation mode. Both simulated and experimental reactance spectra exhibit high linearity with respect to gas concentration in the high-frequency shoulder of the relaxation peak. The results demonstrate strong agreement between simulated and experimental 95% CI of absolute linearity errors as a function of frequency. As expected, the empirical errors are slightly bigger compared to the simulation prediction, since the latter only considers the linearity errors. The good correspondence between simulations and empirical results supports the use of simulation to optimize the tuning capacitor and the selection of the optimal operating frequency.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097102
Authors: Siya Lozanova Martin Ralchev Avgust Ivanov Chavdar Roumenin
This paper reports a novel sensor effect in solid non-regular materials with the following formula: a previously unknown phenomenon in solid disordered structures, such as rocks and building concrete, has been experimentally established, which is expressed in the emission of micro-sized particles under the action of uniaxial pressures. The obtained results are an integrated technology indicator for pre-emergency and emergency conditions in mountain massifs and are applicable in seismically active regions.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097104
Authors: Bilal Javed Vinayak Sharma Furong Tian
A multiplex lateral flow immuno-biosensor for rapid, simple, and ultrasensitive on-site quantification of aflatoxin B1, type B-Fumonisin, and zearalenone in food requires the conjugation of their anti-toxin antibodies to the gold nanoparticles of various colors and sizes to obtain different color test lines [...]
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097106
Authors: Ghida Fawaz Meddy Vanotti Fatima-Ezzahraa Dbibih Valérie Soumann Sacha Poisson Virginie Blondeau-Patissier
A cascade impactor coupled with Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) sensors was developed in our laboratory to detect Particulate Matters with an aerodynamic diameter of less or equal to 2.5 and 10 µm (PM2.5 and PM10). To improve the collection of PM10, a layer was added to the SAW sensors, which was later on tested to check its effectiveness. These tests were carried out using polystyrene (PS) and silicon carbide (SiC) particles in order to have a representative sample of sizes. Results analysis was conducted quantitatively using a digital microscope.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097105
Authors: Maria Brites Atalaia Rosa Michael Kraft
Recent research aims to improve the performance of flexible pressure sensors by microengineering their active layer. However, current fabrication approaches often require a trade-off between scalability, miniaturization, and performance. To overcome these limitations, we propose a novel technique that involves stacking all sensor layers on a carrier wafer and shaping the active layer into micro-cones using a sacrificial mold. Precise miniaturization through photolithography techniques improves mapping resolution, useful for object recognition applications. This method offers enhanced ease of fabrication, versatility in shape and size, and tunability, potentially improving the efficacy of flexible pressure sensors for various applications.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097103
Authors: Rosamaria Capuano Chiara Serafini Leonardo Papale Valerio Allegra Corrado Di Natale Alexandro Catini
The high commercial value of saffron prompts attempts to adulterate this commodity. Thus, there is growing interest in fast and simple methods of identifying quality products. Color and aroma are the most appreciated characteristics of saffron that make this spice widely used. On these bases, we developed a multisensor approach to saffron quality identification based on VIS spectrometry and volatile compound detection. For scopes, a miniaturized spectrophotometer and an electronic nose were used to identify high-quality saffron with respect to less-valuable commercial products and adulterant agents. The outer product of the spectra and electronic nose patterns was demonstrated to be effective at clustering samples according to their purity.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2023091418
Authors: Femke P. M. Hoevenaars Tim J. van den Broek Boukje Eveleens Maarse Matthijs Moerland Ines Warnke Hannah Eggink Frank H. J. Schuren
In personalized nutrition, specific recommendations are often based on extensive phenotyping. In the world of microbiome research, classification is often based on the bacteriological composition of gut microbiota and enterotypes. We investigated if there is a possibility of translating outcomes from an intestinal screening platform to an intervention study that makes use of phenotyping. A 12-week double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover intervention study (8-week wash-out period) with a dietary fiber mixture of acacia gum and carrot powder (ratio 3.33:1) was performed in healthy volunteers (N = 54, 45–70 years, BMI 27.3 ± 1.4) to modulate their microbiome. Fecal samples were collected every 4 weeks during the 32-week study period. Before and after the intervention a standardized mixed meal challenge was performed and plasma samples were taken (0, 30, 60, 120, and 240 min). Postprandial responses were used for sub-group cluster analysis to identify the metabolic phenotype. The individual participants’ samples were cultured anaerobically for 24 h with the mixture and the individual fibers. Compositional 16s rRNA data of exposed in vitro (24 h) and in vivo samples (4, 8, and 12 weeks) was compared and linked to the metabolic cluster analysis. The comparison between the clinical intervention’s effect on microbiota composition after 12 weeks and a single 24 h exposure in vitro showed a statistically significant association in microbiome effects between in vivo and in vitro exposures (p < 0.05) for the fiber intervention. Analysis of the metabolic postprandial responses revealed a division between improvement and deterioration in response to the fiber intervention indicating two distinct clusters (metabolic phenotypes). Cluster 1 contained the lowest triglycerides-, total cholesterol-, and non-esterified fatty acids responses, while cluster 2 contained the highest triglycerides- and total cholesterol responses. Interestingly, the beta diversity of the microbiota was linked to these two clusters, resembling two different responses to the fiber intervention. Our study in healthy individuals demonstrates that a short-term in vitro exposure of individual microbiome samples to the fiber mixture is predictive of a long-term in vivo effect and relates to a distinct phenotypic cluster. This paves the way for using the in vitro platform as a pre-screen for intervention studies.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097098
Authors: Olfa Karker Konstantinos Zekentes Nicolaos Makris Edwige Bano Valérie Stambouli
For the first time, we have implemented new kinds of ISFETs based on silicon carbide (SiC). Thanks to its chemical inertness, SiC is an interesting semiconductor for the development of chemically robust and biocompatible ISFETs. The challenge is to replace Si NWFETs for biochemical sensing due to the lack of long-term stability of Si NWs in aqueous solutions. More particularly, we fabricated a micro/nanowire SiC-based ion-sensitive junction field-effect transistor (SiC-ISJFET) and studied its sensitivity to pH variations. The obtained sensitivity reaches 500 mV/pH, making it the first SiC pH sensor with performance equaling that of the latest NWFET Si-based pH sensors.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097099
Authors: Marc Azlor Eduard Ferré Manel Gasulla Ferran Reverter
This work proposes and experimentally characterizes a low-power circuit to track the maximum power point (MPP) of submilliwatt photovoltaic (PV) cells intended for indoor applications. The circuit relies on a low-power conventional indirect tracking technique: the fractional open circuit voltage (FOCV). The experimental results presented herein show that power losses due to the tracking inaccuracy of the FOCV technique are much lower (at least a factor of 10) than those due to the ensuing micropower DC/DC converter. Accordingly, the application of more accurate yet more power-demanding tracking techniques seems unnecessary in such scenarios, since they could incur even higher power losses.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097096
Authors: Fabricio N. Molinari Fabrizio De Cesare Antonella Macagnano
This study proposes a two-step process to design a chiral sensor combining MIP (molecularly imprinted polymer) and electrospinning technologies. First, stereoselective S(-)-limonene molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles (MINPs) were fabricated and dispersed into polyvinylpyrrolidone–carbon nanotube (PVP-MWCNT) conductive nanofibers to cover resistive interdigitated electrodes (IDEs). The electrical and sensing performances of the resulting sensor confirmed its capacity to discriminate and quantify the two limonene enantiomers. The sensor’s response to terpene gases appeared completely reversible, probably due to the peculiarity of the nanostructure. The sensor characteristics were influenced by the polymer matrix’s composition ratio, the cavity shape and the interfaces with carbon nanotubes. The morphological properties of the nanofibers were investigated by microscopy (optical, SEM, TEM and AFM).
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097113
Authors: Brigida Alfano Maria Lucia Miglietta Ettore Massera Patricia Arroyo Jesus Lozano Tiziana Polichetti
This work presents a simple method of synthesis of hydrogen-sensitive composites, starting from commercial materials, namely ITO, Rh, Pd and Pt nanoparticles. These composites, prepared by mechanical mixture and tested vs. 0.5% H2 showed promising results at temperatures below 250 °C, in line with those obtained in the literature on similar materials, prepared with more energy- and time-consuming methods.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097095
Authors: Marco Zini Marco Baù Alessandro Nastro Marco Ferrari Vittorio Ferrari
The contactless interrogation of an inductive sensor (IS) for conductive target detection is presented. The IS comprises a solenoidal coil of copper wire wrapped around a plastic pipe which is connected to a series capacitor to form an LC circuit resonating at the frequency fr. A conductive target placed at different positions inside the pipe modifies the inductance of the coil, and in turn, fr. An external interrogation coil (IC) electromagnetically coupled to the IS allows the fr to be read through a contactless interrogation technique. The approach has been tested by varying both the position of a lead sphere adopted as the target and the interrogation distance d between the IS and IC. Without the sphere, the LC circuit has fr0 = 2.51 MHz. The target sphere has been detected at up to |x| = 7.5 mm from the center of the IS coil with a frequency variation ∆ fr = 180 kHz at x = 0.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097097
Authors: Isabel Sayago Carlos Sánchez-Vicente José Pedro Santos
Chemical nanosensors based on nanoparticles (NPs) of pure tin dioxide (SnO2) and graphene-decorated tin dioxide were developed and characterized for the detection of pollutant gases. Sensitive layers were prepared by a drop casting method. The photoactivation of the sensors allows for the detection of ultra-low NO2 concentrations (50 ppb) at room temperature. The sensors show strong responses to NO2 and weak ones to the other tested polluting gases (CO, CH4 and CO2). The effect of humidity and the presence of graphene on the sensors’ response were studied.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024096014
Authors: Augusto Palombini Giulio Lucarini Paolo Rosati Crescenzo Violante
This paper presents a methodological proposal in order to use marine geology data on sea level change through time, to reach an effective display of shoreline evolution in a form easily suitable by archaeologists, taking into account the need of reliable DEMs and hypothetical ancient sea surfaces. The technical aspects and steps of the process are explained, so as to present a possible approach proposal for any area or chronological phase exclusively on the basis of open source software and freely available data.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097090
Authors: Neeraj Yadav Flavio Giacomozzi Alessandro Cian Damiano Giubertoni Leandro Lorenzelli
This study investigates the potential of ultrasonic baths to enhance mold-assisted electrodeposition for fabricating three-dimensional (3D) microelectrode arrays (MEAs) with improved quality and reliability. Focusing on gold microstructures, commonly employed in 3D MEAs due to their biocompatibility and electrical conductivity, we explore how ultrasonic vibrations impact the electrodeposition process. Through the formation of microscopic bubbles and reactive sites, ultrasonic baths accelerate deposition, offering potential benefits such as increased deposition rates, uniformity, and cost-effectiveness. Our experimental findings demonstrate significant improvements in deposition rate and uniformity, highlighting the potential of ultrasonic baths to advance the fabrication of 3D MEAs for various biomedical applications.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097094
Authors: Pierre Groc Guy Cathébras Vincent Kerzerho Adrian Laborde Fabien Soulier Pierre Temple-Boyer Jérôme Launay Serge Bernard
This work presents the design of a multisensor platform for the in situ monitoring of physico-chemical parameters in seawater. As a result, we propose an 8.5 × 8.5 mm2 silicon chip that integrates a MOSFET and two ISFETs (Metal Oxide Semiconductor and Ion-Sensitive Field-Effect Transistor) and four microelectrodes (two Ag electrodes and two Pt electrodes). The device allows measurements to be taken in liquid phase of temperature, pH, nitrate concentrations and conductivity. These silicon transducers could be integrated with conditioning electronics to achieve an autonomous environmental sensor device.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097089
Authors: Ana Luiza Silveira Fiates Sina Reede Franziska Bollhorst Lukas Hansen Klaus Froehner Michael J. Vellekoop
We report the realization of metallic 3D microstructures, electroplated in two-photon polymerized molds. These molds are typically 150 × 150 × 30 µm3 in size and the smallest feature size is about 1 µm. After the electroplating process, the mold is removed by means of CF4/O2 etching (1 h). The vertical electroplating growth is about two times higher than the horizontal growth, which creates voids. A new design to prevent voids was tested where the pores were arranged at a 35° angle to the chip surface. The remaining structures consisted of a copper base with a palladium finish, or of pure palladium. They were analyzed through SEM and were shown to be a good reproduction of the mold design, resulting in metallic porous structures with a specific surface area of about 6 mm2/mm2.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097093
Authors: Sophie Emperhoff Matthias Eberl Tim Dwertmann Jürgen Wöllenstein
The thermal conductivity of humid air at different saturation levels has been investigated at 70 °C. A MEMS-based thermal conductivity sensor was calibrated and used to measure the thermal conductivity of humid air. The obtained results were compared to different equations for calculating the thermal conductivity of gas mixtures, in this case, dry air and water vapor. The selected equations predict contradicting behaviors of humid air at different temperatures and saturation levels. A semi-empirical equation by Melling et al. for the temperature range of 100 °C to 200 °C has shown the best agreement with the experimental data. We intend to study the temperature range from 0 to 100 °C in more detail and plan to adapt the interpolation to fit this temperature range.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097088
Authors: Andrea Gaiardo Lia Vanzetti Andrea Pedrielli Matteo Valt Soufiane Krik
Gas sensors based on metal oxide (MOX) semiconductors doped with oxygen vacancies (VO) have many advantages over stoichiometric MOX, such as higher surface reactivity and lower operating temperature. However, preparing reduced MOX is challenging, and the impact of different VO types and concentration on sensing performance is still unclear. In this work, we developed a tailored reducing thermal treatment for creating controlled VO in MOX. The effect of the length and temperature of the treatment was investigated using several characterization methods. Finally, measurements were performed to evaluate the impact of VO type and concentration on reduced MOX sensing performance.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024094063
Authors: Aliki Dourountaki Sofia Karampela Alex Koutsouris
Tourism is multifaceted and primarily encompasses cultural activities, aiming mainly to ensure visitors’ relaxation and rejuvenation. Therefore, activities that involve exploring the culinary richness of a destination, which provide elements of the local culture and history, are important. The purpose of this study is to outline the profile of potential gastronomic tourists in order to identify the motivating factors for tasting local cuisine. Additionally, gastronomic festivals are raising the question of whether they serve as a means to attract potential tourists and what conditions they must meet in order to become an attractive activity. A survey was carried out targeting two nationalities with a deep gastronomic culture: Greeks and Koreans. The findings indicate that despite their common perspectives on food selection motives and that the existence of a gastronomic festival at the travel destination interests both nationalities, they differ in terms of choosing a gastronomic festival as the primary factor in visiting a destination. Overall, it is deemed useful to implement and promote gastronomic festivals with a focus on the particular needs of the respective potential tourists.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097086
Authors: Robert A. Lockhart Pattanaphong Janphuang Francisco Molina-Lopez Andres Vasquez Quintero Gabriele Tasselli Patrick Favre Cyril Botteron Pierre-André Farine Danick Briand
Technologies are going through a digitalization process. Convergence of 2D printing with 3D printing is leading to 3D structural electronics. Implementation during their fabrication of sensing components in objects using printing would make these 3D-printed objects smarter. At the same time, sensors production would benefit, thanks to their digital manufacturing in the 3rd dimension, from customization, self-packaging, and better integration into products. We are proposing to apply digital printing of functional and structural inks addressing the challenges of the whole processing in a single tool. Developments in the field of smart wearables are presented.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097087
Authors: Guillem Domènech-Gil Donatella Puglisi
Using a single sensor as a virtual electronic nose, we demonstrate the possibility of obtaining good results with underperforming sensors that, at first glance, would be discarded. For this aim, we characterized chemical gas sensors with low repeatability and random drift towards both dangerous and innocuous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) under different levels of relative humidity. Our results show classification accuracies higher than 90% when differentiating harmful from harmless VOCs and coefficients of determination, R2, higher than 80% when determining their concentration in the parts per billion to parts per million range.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097092
Authors: Giada Marchi Viviana Mulloni Andrea Gaiardo Matteo Valt Massimo Donelli Leandro Lorenzelli
In the context of environmental monitoring, maximum levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) are internationally regulated since long exposure impacts health. In general, very low concentrations in the sub-ppm range are found for NO2, which implies the need for very sensitive detection systems. Here, we demonstrate a chipless RFID sensing cell with both threshold detection and re-usability capabilities.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097091
Authors: Francesco Tralli Barbara Fabbri Matteo Valt Alessandro Drago Vincenzo Guidi
This study aims to utilize gaseous emissions from cultivation to predict the crop coefficient, an indirect measure of plant water stress. An array of chemiresistive gas sensors was used to collect the data, which were then processed by a simple artificial neural network algorithm. The results highlighted that the gas emissions from tomato crops can be used as a reliable indicator for determining the crop coefficient, allowing for more efficient and effective irrigation management. This research offers a potential solution to the growing issue of water scarcity in agriculture by providing a cost-effective and practical method for monitoring crop water status.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097085
Authors: Santhosh Kurukunda Salvatore Cerruto Salvatore Graziani Carlo Trigona Giovanna Di Pasquale Antonino Pollicino Kaija Põhako-Esko Alvo Aabloo
Sensors and transducers are essential components of measurement systems. The achievement of a sustainable economy requires environmentally friendly solutions and processes in order to develop sensors and transducers that are capable of being recycled, disposed, and, degraded without releasing pollutants into the environment. In this context, we propose a comparative analysis of deformation sensors based on bacterial cellulose impregnated with choline malonate and EMIM-BF4 ionic liquids (ILs). Their features and performance will be compared while also considering the green aspect of the proposed sensors.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097081
Authors: Marco Ruggieri Elisabetta Colantoni Eleonora Marconi Andrea Fabbri Paolo Branchini Andrea De Iacovo Lorenzo Colace Luca Tortora
Development of novel and inexpensive X-ray detectors is of key importance for numerous applications, such as dosimetry in nuclear and medical facilities, diagnostics in cultural heritage, and homeland security. Solution-processed materials are being investigated as novel x-ray sensing materials, with constant improvements that are rapidly approaching commercial standards. Here, we demonstrate a detector based on PbS colloidal quantum dots (QD) fabricated in air with simple drop-casting techniques on a Si substrate with pre-patterned Au interdigitated electrodes. The device showed good linearity in the tested dose range and a maximum sensitivity value of 2370 µC Gy−1 cm−1, which is higher than typically reported values for commercial a-Se and poly-CZT detectors.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097084
Authors: Sebastian Lang Wolfgang Hilber Herbert Enser Bernhard Jakoby
This work reports on the fabrication and testing of force sensors integrated directly into a printed circuit board (PCB). For this purpose, a layer of poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylen) (P(VDF-TrFE)) is printed onto two pieces of two two-layer PCBs, which are then stacked together to create a four-layer PCB. The devised and fabricated sensor with the described measurement setup features a nearly linear measurement characteristic in the range between 0.3 and 1.2 N and a detection limit of approximately 10 mN.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097082
Authors: Antonio Orlando Guglielmo Trentini Pietro Tosato Soufiane Krik Matteo Valt Andrea Gaiardo Luisa Petti
Chemoresistive gas sensors are surely one of the easiest and most commonly used methods to monitor the presence of different polluting gases. Nevertheless, there are still several challenges to overcome in order for these sensors to be widely used. In particular, the selectivity and sensitivity of chemoresistive gas sensors towards a wide range of analytes need to be improved. This is why new sensing materials capable of detecting different analytes in a sensitive and selective manner are being investigated. In this regard, this work is focused on the development and characterization of a new sensing material based on the quantum dot (QD) core–shell of CuInS2/ZnO (CIS-ZO). Optimized films of the QD core–shell of CIS-ZO were integrated into a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS)-based gas sensor platform, showing excellent sensing performance versus different gases and especially towards ethanol (C2H5OH).
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097083
Authors: Anju Manakkakudy Kumaran Federica Mitri Emanuele Maiorana Andrea De Iacovo Lorenzo Colace
This paper presents a compact and portable classification system that utilizes a discrete light source method combining near-infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopy with a Support Vector Machine (SVM) to identify and classify waste materials. The system operates by sequentially activating 10 light-emitting diodes (LEDs) of different wavelengths and measuring their reflectance using a photodetector. This system incorporates a DAQ card using the LabView program for data acquisition and system control. The proposed model achieved an identification accuracy of up to 98% using different input features and training batches. This efficient and cost-effective solution provides an innovative approach to waste management.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097079
Authors: Guillem Domènech-Gil Nguyen Thanh Duc J. Jacob Wikner Jens Eriksson Donatella Puglisi David Bastviken
We present a method to monitor methane at atmospheric concentrations with errors in the order of tens of parts per billion. We use machine learning techniques and periodic calibrations with reference equipment to quantify methane from the readings of an electronic nose. The results obtained demonstrate versatile and robust solution that outputs adequate concentrations in a variety of different cases studied, including indoor and outdoor environments with emissions arising from natural or anthropogenic sources. Our strategy opens the path to a wide-spread use of low-cost sensor system networks for greenhouse gas monitoring.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097080
Authors: Tomasz Matusiak Arkadiusz Dąbrowski Leszek Golonka
This paper presents the outcome of a study on the reliability of sensors utilizing microplasma to analyze the amount of selected elements in aqueous solutions. Increasing environmental pollution poses new challenges for protective services through real-time monitoring. The aim of this work was to develop miniature plasma generators for the excitation and then analysis of aqueous solutions.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2023091417
Authors: Dionysia-Lydia Bothou Nikolaos Zacharodimos Christina Athanasaki Stamatia Vitsou-Anastasiou Olga Papadopoulou Chrysoula Tassou Emilia Papakonstantinou
Introduction: Mixed fruit juices (FJ) may have several benefits on subjective appetite. They may curb hunger and provide sustained energy throughout the day. This study aimed to determine the effects of consuming a mixed commercial FJ (apple, orange, grape, pomegranate; FJ-control) and the same FJ fortified either with 2 probiotics strains (108 cfu/mL Lacticaseibacillus casei Shirota and Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG), 50 μg vitamin D3, 8.33 g n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, or with the combination of all of these biofunctional ingredients (vitamin-D3-n-3-probiotics), on subjective appetite and blood pressure (BP). Methods: Clinically healthy volunteers participated in this randomized, double-blind, crossover, controlled trial. In total, 11 healthy and normotensive volunteers (25 ± 2 years; 6 males; BMI = 23 ± 1 kg/m2) were randomly assigned to receive the 5 types of FJs, all containing 50 g available carbohydrates. Participants rated their hunger, desire to eat, perceived fullness, thirst, preoccupation with food, and pleasure of eating on visual analog scales (VAS) at baseline and up to 180 min after consumption of each test FJ. BP was measured at the beginning and end of each drink test session. Results: The FJ with vitamin-D3 significantly increased hunger compared with the FJ-control. The FJ with vitamin-D3 significantly increased desire for food compared to the FJ with n-3, FJ combination, and FJ-control. The FJ with n-3 significantly increased fullness compared to the FJ with vitamin-D3 and the FJ with probiotics. The FJ with vitamin D3 significantly increased thirst compared to the FJ combination, n-3, probiotics, and FJ-control. All FJs were pleasurable. The FJ with vitamin-D3 and n-3 significantly increased systolic BP compared to the other FJs, without differences between the other FJs. The FJ with vitamin-D3 significantly increased diastolic BP, without differences between the other FJs. Discussion: FJs affected subjective satiety and BP acutely. Consumption of the FJ with vitamin-D3 increased systolic and diastolic BP, hunger, desire to eat, and thirst acutely; whereas consumption of the FJ with n-3 increased systolic BP and fullness acutely. All these effects were observed when these biofunctional ingredients were consumed alone, but not when ingested in combination (FJ with vitamin-D3, n-3, and probiotics), which needs to be further investigated.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097074
Authors: James Bourely Jaemin Kim Xavier Aeby Gilberto Siqueira Gustav Nyström Oleksandr Vorobyov Christian Beyer David Schmid Danick Briand
Aiming to reduce electronic waste in sensing applications, we report on an eco-friendly printed microstrip line to sense relative humidity (RH) and temperature. The device is made of zinc resonators on paper used as transducers, which are coated with beeswax as an encapsulant, and uses konjac as a humidity sensitive coating. The multi-resonating structure, operating in the S-band, shows reproducible temperature and humidity sensing from 15 °C to 35 °C and 30% to 70% RH with sensitivities up to 1.9 MHz/°C and 2.0 MHz/%RH, respectively. This combination of transducing and sensing materials is promising for the realization of disposable environmental sensors.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097077
Authors: Anna Estany-Macià Sachin Navale Ignasi Fort-Grandas Nirav Joshi Albert Romano-Rodríguez Mauricio Moreno-Sereno
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are materials that feature a large surface area with permanent porosity, which is an attractive property for chemical and gas sensing, making them a good candidate for sensor fabrication. In this paper, we present a sensor that employs zeolitic-imidazolate-based MOFs (ZIF-8) to detect ethanol vapors via refractive index-dependent optical interference.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097076
Authors: Ananya Srivastava Achim Bittner Alfons Dehé
Indirect photoacoustic sensing (PAS) offers accurate low-ppm gas measurements, with an inverse relation of the obtained signal to the measured gas concentration. The gas is sealed in transistor outline (TO) housing using a new method. This provides a relatively a very small volume for the reference gas signal. The gas sensing system features a black body source, highly reflective measurement volumes and TO housing sealed with gas and multiple sensors. CO2 is used for testing and characterizing the sensor sealing and working concepts in the measurement range 0–2000 ppm, with other gases, such as CO, methane, etc., planned to be tested. A PAS signal corresponding to a 4 ppm minimum gas concentration is measured. Allan Deviation measurements provide a theoretical limit of detection of 3.14 ppm, with the integration time of 5.2 × 103 s.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097075
Authors: Fabrizio Caroleo Francesco Pizzoli Gabriele Magna Valerio Allegra Sara Nardis Corrado Di Natale Emma Gallo Roberto Paolesse
In this work, we report the development of an optical sensor based on the colour variation of a silicon corrole upon interaction with specific emerging pollutants belonging to the PFAS family in water samples. The solid support on which the receptor is deposited consists of Colour Catcher® paper strips. An optical portable platform composed of low-cost electronic devices, such as an LED as a light source and a webcam as a detector, was developed to digitalize the strip colour changes during the measurements. This instrument is able to perform in situ analysis of water sources to determine the perfluoroalkyl substance (PFASs) content. Data analysis using the hue parameter allowed for the calculation, with great sensitivity, of the PFOA concentration depending on colour changes.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097110
Authors: Bharathesh Badadamath Desmond Brennan Paul D. Cotter Paul Galvin
This work focusses on the design of a swallowable smart capsule to collect rumen samples from a cow’s rumen and small intestine. The capsule (60 mm long × 25 mm diameter) passively travels along the cow’s GI tract, identifies the region of interest, collects a sample, and chemically stabilizes it for offline omics analysis. Key components in the fluidic system include (i) a micro pump, (ii) valves, and (iii) a fluidic reservoir. As a preliminary design step, we investigated sample collection and reagent mixing protocols on a bench-top fluidic system. A model rumen sample (80% glycerol/water) of similar viscosity to rumen fluid was used in our research to evaluate pumping and mixing with a stabilizing reagent.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097078
Authors: Vinayak Sharma Bilal Javed Furong Tian
Novel detection strategies that exploit the unique properties of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) hold great potential for the advancement of point-of-care (POC) diagnostics, such as lateral flow and dipstick immunoassay [...]
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097065
Authors: Paolo Calorenni Maria Giovanna Rizzo Laura Maria De Plano Antonio A. Leonardi Vincenzo Paratore Guglielmo Guido Condorelli Alessia Irrera Emanuele L. Sciuto Salvatore Oddo Sabrina Conoci
An innovative biosensing strategy for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in human sera has been developed. The technology relied on a silicon flat substrate that was functionalized to perform a phage display detection of anti-amyloid beta (Aβ) antibodies, as AD markers, among the pool of IgGs of human sera. The substrate was derivatized with an interface able to bind and orient the IgGs for the detection operated by an engineered selective probe phage. The interface chemistry and its discrimination activity of healthy and AD sera have been fully characterized.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097069
Authors: Paolo Pellegrino Isabella Farella Lorenzo Vincenti Mariafrancesca Cascione Valeria De Matteis Fabio Quaranta Rosaria Rinaldi
Nowadays, mechanical AFM-based nanolithography has emerged as the most promising nanolithography technique, allowing the patterning of nanostructures on polymer layers with a sub-nanometer resolution. In such a stimulating context, we developed the Pulse-AFM method to obtain continuous structures with a controlled depth profile, either constant or variable, on a polymer layer. However, those nanostructures are contoured by polymer pile-ups that limit their integration into high-tech devices. Since pile-up removal is still an open challenge, AFM force–distance curve analysis was performed to characterize the stiffness of bulges, and an effective strategy to easily remove pile-ups while preserving the shape and morphology of nanostructures was then developed.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2023093024
Authors: Stuart A. Prosser Philip Vlaskovsky Donna T. Geddes Sharon L. Perrella
The early cessation of exclusive or any level of breastfeeding is often attributed to low milk supply [...]
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097073
Authors: Alvise Bagolini Raffaele Correale Antonino Picciotto Leandro Lorenzelli
In this work, a novel, silicon-based micro-electromechanical valve that includes a submicrometric orifice and can operate at pressure gradients of 1 bar was used to enhance sampling for gas chromatograph mass spectrometers. The valve is based on a membrane-in-membrane design and operates with thermomechanical actuation. It includes a pin to enable self-cleaning. Prototypes were fabricated and preliminary testing was performed.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097072
Authors: Mehdi Allameh Byoungyoul Park Cyrus Shafai
Employing a tri-electrode electrostatic actuator revealed a significant improvement in reducing the controlling voltage. However, the primary electrode fixed voltage can be a few times higher than the conventional topology. In this work, materials with relative permittivity of εr = 4.2, 6.2 and 10 were explored as the spacing material to reduce the primary voltage, and the results are compared with using air. Simulations showed that the controlling voltage can be reduced more than two times (at εr = 4.2) compared to the conventional topology while the primary electrode voltage required is lower than for air spacing and not more than two times larger than the conventional.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097071
Authors: Joanna Filippi Francesca Corsi Paola Casti Gianni Antonelli Michele D’Orazio Francesco Capradossi Rosamaria Capuano Giorgia Curci Lina Ghibelli Arianna Mencattini Eugenio Martinelli
Detecting circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is a challenge in cancer research. Their dissemination into the blood stream represents a crucial event in the formation of the metastases from the primary tumor. For this reason, targeting CTCs in human liquid biopsies is a warning event for cancer invasiveness, progression, and prognosis. In this regard, by means of the optically induced dielectrophoresis (ODEP) technique, we investigated the response to the electric field, at different frequencies, of human prostatic carcinoma PC3 cells, which mimic CTCs derived from prostate cancer, and human leukemia monocytic THP-1 cells, which simulate circulating monocytes. The obtained spectra of the cell motion descriptors represent the unique identification signature of each cell type.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097068
Authors: Reiner Jedermann Yogesh Kapoor Walter Lang
The resampling of sensor signals to compensate for deviating sampling intervals, clock jitter, or missing samples is still challenging. Real-time applications demand low latency and restriction of the input data window to past samples. Furthermore, most practical sensor signals are overlaid with noise. A new resampling method that provides a lower error than four other common interpolation methods under such conditions is introduced.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097070
Authors: Filiberto Ricciardella Kangho Lee Niall McEvoy Mark McCrystall Georg S. Duesberg
We report on the calibration of gas sensors based on two transition metal dichalcogenides, molybdenum disulfide or tungsten diselenide, grown by the thermally assisted conversion of patterned Mo or W. The sensors showed non-stationary behavior when exposed to ammonia (NH3) in the range of 10–100 parts per million at room temperature. This drawback hampered the calibration of the sensors. Applying the time-differential signal output (TDSO) enabled us to overcome the issue since the maxima of TDSO were uniquely and linearly correlated to the NH3 concentration. The outcomes show that TDSO is a powerful, reliable, and valid approach when gas sensors are exposed to both oxidizing and reducing atmospheres.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097063
Authors: Laura Chirivì Antonio Serra Antonio Della Torre Riccardo Di Corato Rosaria Rinaldi Alessandra Aloisi
The monitoring of toxic contaminant traces in the environment needs a simple and sensitive method, such as stripping analysis that applies a pre-concentration step to the analyte on the working electrode. The present work focuses on the realization of a two-electrode sensor made by means of laser-induced graphitization of a polyimide (PI) tape. Moreover, taking advantage of the strong affinity of Bi for metal ions for detection by Anodic Stripping Voltammetry (ASV), the proposed sensor implementation involved the use of Bi2O3 nanopowder as the precursor of Bi film as eco-friendly Hg substitute. Physicochemical analyses were conducted to investigate elemental and structural differences in relation to the shifts recorded in the voltametric behavior.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097064
Authors: Rafael Ecker Bernhard Jakoby
The objective of this study is the design and fabrication of a microfluidic thermal flow sensor using polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) as a substrate. This enables the simple fabrication process of the channel structure and the sensor itself using a laser engraver/cutter machine and a solvent-based bonding process. A thin platinum wire called a Wollaston wire is directly integrated into the fluidic chip and acts as the only sensor element. The combination of this sensor and customized measurement electronics enables a measurement range at flow velocities from 4 mm/s up to 400 mm/s (volume flow rate range from 10 µL/min up to 1 mL/min).
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097067
Authors: Gianmarco Gabrieli Michal Muszynski Matteo Manica Joris Cadow-Gossweiler Patrick W. Ruch
The cross-sensitivity of materials in low-selective sensor arrays, namely e-noses and e-tongues, results in a convoluted sensor array response, which renders traditional analytical methods for data processing ineffective. Machine learning approaches can help discover the latent information in such data, and various data processing methods, including unsupervised and supervised techniques, have been proposed to calibrate those devices. In this study, we demonstrate HyperTaste Lab—a notebook with a machine learning pipeline for potentiometric sensor arrays. The ability of the notebook to process raw data produced by model sensor arrays comprising cross-sensitive and/or ion-selective electrodes is demonstrated for the characterization of drinking water and consumer beverages. We describe the modular data processing and machine learning framework that can be applied by sensor researchers to accommodate different signal modalities and perform various downstream tasks, such as the verification of a product’s originality, the estimation of ion concentrations, and the quantitative prediction of sensory descriptors.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097066
Authors: Tobias Sukianto Sebastian A. Schober Cecilia Carbonelli Simon Mittermaier Robert Wille
Harmful pollutants in the air have become a severe concern in our health-conscious society. Consequently, deploying low-cost environmental sensors and the application of machine learning algorithms to the sensor raw data are crucial to enabling an overall assessment of the air quality around us. Due to the distributional shift between the training and operational environment induced by sensor ageing and drift processes, the algorithms that predict air quality suffer from performance degradation during the products’ lifetime. We propose a novel transformer-based model architecture inspired by the field of natural language processing, showing advantages compared to other architectures in the presence of distributional shifts.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097062
Authors: Cat-Vu H. Bui Neethu Maliakal Hasan Ulusan Andreas Hierlemann Fernando Cardes
The performances of microelectrode arrays for neural interfaces strongly depend on electrode design. Due to a lack of simulation tools, electrode engineers often have to refine new designs empirically. This process requires setups of electrical and electrophysiological hardware that are not specific to electrode testing and unnecessarily costly. We propose a low-cost testbed for specifically targeting metrics relevant to electrode performance and functions, which relies on an off-the-shelf measurement tool and only on components necessary for such testing. We experimentally demonstrate the platform by characterizing microelectrodes by means of impedance spectroscopy and recording the extracellular action potentials from in vitro primary rat neurons.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097060
Authors: Romain Liechti Francois Blard Jean-Rémi Chatroux Jean-Claude Bastien Hélène Lhermet Bruno Fain
This research paper presents a comprehensive methodology for the efficient modeling of piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (PMUTs) using a combination of finite and lumped element models. A single membrane is first studied in air with an eigenfrequency study in order to calibrate the lumped element model on the finite element model. From this electrical equivalent circuit, a complete model of the PMUT cell composed of numerous membranes is developed using the propagation, directivity, absorption, mutual and self-impedances, and variability of the resonance frequencies due to manufacturing discrepancies. The calculated acoustic response of the PMUT is then compared with a measured response, in water. The relatively good agreement between the simulation and the measurement, as well as the very low computation time, makes this approach relevant for further optimization of the PMUT design to target larger bandwidth and higher sensitivity.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097061
Authors: Benjamin Paret Philippe Menini Thierry Camps Yohann Thimont Antoine Barnabé Laurent Mazenq Lionel Presmanes
In this work, gallium-doped zinc oxide was deposited with a Radio Frequency Magnetron sputtering method on test platforms. The NO2 sensing properties of the resulting devices were studied. The sensing properties of ZnO:Ga thin films were successfully stabilized through annealing in dry air, and then improved by either a thinning of the layer or an increase in the roughness of the substrate. The sensing response with an Rgas/Rair of 15 for 100 ppb of NO2 under 50% humidity was obtained, with a response time below 10 min.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097058
Authors: Tomasz Matusiak Miron Tokarski Małgorzata Małodobra-Mazur Henryk Roguszczak Arkadiusz Dąbrowski Paweł Sitarz Matylda Czosnykowska
The miniaturisation of manual systems is reported in this paper. The whole system was based on microfluidic cartridge heated up by a unique contactless system. The presented device utilised fully passive cartridge with required reagents.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097059
Authors: David Novel Evgeny Demenev Lorenza Ferrario
This contribution explores the potential of PFIB for the post-production circuit editing of custom ASICs. The reworking of integrated circuits with ion beam is an effective tool for testing design modifications rapidly, and in small-volume productions, it proves to be a valuable substitute for the microfabrication of chips with a revised layout, thus reducing the cost and lead time. In the case study in this work, the PFIB intervention resulted in the recovery of ~90% of defective channels in a multichannel ASIC design by disconnecting some parts of the internal circuit. This contribution describes several implemented optimization strategies and their statistical effectiveness.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024096013
Authors: Roberta Manzollino Saverio Giulio Malatesta Paolo Rosati Marco Raoul Marini Marcello Colapietro Ombretta Tarquini
In this paper, we present the application of established methodologies to innovatively investigate a soil block containing a human skeleton and metal artefacts (VII century BC) from the necropolis of Crustumerium near Rome. The chemical composition was investigated using X-ray analysis, and digital acquisition was conducted for dissemination and enhancement purposes. This case study aims to show how the combination of virtual techniques (i.e., virtual anthropology and virtual reality) and X-ray imaging (XRI) can be useful tools for the study and communication of both ancient human remains and archaeological artefacts, especially when it is not possible to move and handle a fragile one.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097057
Authors: Stefan Jarić Silvia Schobesberger Peter Ertl Nikola Ž. Knežević Ivan Bobrinetskiy
A graphene-based electrochemical biosensor was developed for the detection of matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) endopeptidase, whose expression can be significantly related to the occurrence, metastasis, and prognosis of cancer. A specific anti-MMP-2 aptamer was successfully immobilized on the surface of electrochemically reduced graphene oxide via a pyrene-based linker, enabling the specific capture of MMP-2. The sensor was able to detect 1 ng mL−1, with an overall detection time of less than 20 min. Moreover, the aptamer-based biosensor showed good specificity toward different unspecific proteins.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097056
Authors: Lorenzo Vincenti Paolo Pellegrino Isabella Farella Mariafrancesca Cascione Valeria De Matteis Fabio Quaranta Rosaria Rinaldi
The increasing use of nanomaterials in high-tech devices has posed an exciting challenge for the scientific community to develop new, easy, high-throughput nanofabrication approaches. Here, we present an easy AFM-based nanofabrication approach based on Static Plowing Lithography, with which we are able to realize patterns of 3D nanostructures on a thin PMMA layer. By coupling a wet etching process with ultrasound exposure, we effectively removed the polymer bulges at the nanostructure’s borders, increasing the quality of the patterned 3D nanostructures, and paving the way for their integration into lab-on-a-chip devices.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097055
Authors: Víctor Corsino Víctor Ruiz-Díez Mario Ramírez-Palma Javier Toledo José Manuel Gilpérez José Luis Sánchez-Rojas
Three-dimensionally printed cuboid-shaped flow cells featuring a rectangular vibrating plate in one of the sides, actuated by PZT piezoelectric films, were designed, fabricated, and tested. Instead of oscillator circuits based on single resonances, we use the frequency response of the cell in a range with multiple resonances, sensitive to the liquid properties. Machine learning techniques were implemented for training and calibration with water–glycerol mixtures at different temperatures. Various materials, fabrication parameters, and post-treatment processes were investigated. The calibration errors and resolutions are compared for different devices, conditioning circuits, and machine learning algorithms. Our results demonstrate the high potential of the low-cost sensor to monitor density and viscosity in aqueous solutions.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024096012
Authors: Filippo Materazzi
“How far down can it see?” is one of the typical questions when it comes to UAV multispectral remote sensing for archaeology. Since the identification of buried remains is indirect through cropmarks observation, we asked ourselves how deep cropmarks can reveal the buried remains by analysing the complex relationship they have with vegetation. A selected number of contexts of the pre-Roman cities from Falerii and Veii have been studied through agronomic analysis on the one hand and GPR and stratigraphic excavation on the other. The results confirmed the effectiveness of this methodology for land survey, and not only do they demonstrate the ability to identify remains at a greater depth than might have been expected, but they have also made evident the difficulties of environmental analysis, which is crucial at the start of any remote sensing campaign, as well as in the subsequent study of anomalies.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097051
Authors: Bruno Andò Salvatore Castorina Ludovica Maugeri Salvatore Petralia Maria Anna Messina Martino Ruggieri Giovanni Neri Angelo Ferlazzo Emilio Sardini Mauro Serpelloni
In this paper, an easy-to-use and fast biosensor for phenylalanine quantification in patients affected by phenylketonuria is investigated. The phenylalanine concentration was indirectly estimated through the ammonia released as a by-product of an enzymatic reaction, which was then detected by exploiting an yttria-stabilized zirconia layer deposited over an interdigitated capacitive sensor. The latter was manufactured by rapid-prototyping technologies. A sensor limit of detection higher than 1.25 µM was estimated, along with an accuracy better than 18.31 µM.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097054
Authors: Lisa Weber Virginie Martini David Grosso Stephane Burtey Marc Bendahan
A resistive room-temperature ammonia sensor has been developed by CuBr impregnation of a mesoporous SiO2 host prepared by the sol–gel process and deposited by dip-coating. The mesoporous sensor performances are compared with those of a single CuBr layer. The CuBr encapsulation in a mesoporous host leads to an impressive sensitivity improvement with sub-ppm detection of ammonia at room temperature. The results open new perspectives for the development of highly sensitive chemical sensors and are of great interest for non-invasive health monitoring.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097050
Authors: Gandhika K. Wardhana Tiago L. Costa Massimo Mastrangeli
Bulk piezoelectric ultrasound transducers on integrated circuits offer unique properties for therapeutic applications of ultrasound neuromodulation. However, current implementations of such transducers are not optimized for the high transmit efficiency required to stimulate neurons. This is mainly due to the challenge of implementing a metal layer on top of the piezoelectric film using microfabrication techniques. Here, we propose a micromachined capping structure providing an electrical connection on top of the piezoelectric film with minimal acoustic losses. The structure can potentially be used as a common ground connection in phased-array ultrasound transducers.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097049
Authors: Lukas Bertram Michael Brink Walter Lang
This paper presents first characterization results of a novel, battery-less sensor for integration into glass fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) materials. The sensor targets combined usage in both production and structural health monitoring applications. It is shown that wireless measurement of biaxial mechanical strain inside FRP is possible with the presented approach. The results promise feasibility of industrial application by implementing a sticker-based ‘sensor tag’ approach for easy application and additional advantages in context of ‘smart’ structures.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097053
Authors: Emiliano Zampetti Maria Aurora Mancuso Papa Paolo Antonella Macagnano Andrea Bearzotti Yi Hsuan Chen
Atmospheric aerosols, as well as particulate matters or suspended particulate matters (PMx), impact climate and affect human health, directly or indirectly. PMx is one of the most important pollutants monitored for air quality evaluation. Optical particle counters and quartz crystal microbalances are used to measure mass in a fixed volume. However, when used separately, these devices can show some issues. In this work, we propose combining these devices to obtain results that include particle counting, mass measurement, and, in particular cases, discrimination between solid and liquid aerosols. By using both instruments together, we can overcome the limitations of each and obtain more accurate and comprehensive data on air quality.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097048
Authors: Rafael Ecker Tina Mitteramskogler Andreas Fuchsluger Bernhard Jakoby
This research work focuses on the fabrication of ultrathin polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) foils using a spin coating process of in anisole dissolved PMMA on a water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) foil. Currently, layer thicknesses as low as 1 µm can be achieved and even thinner layers appear to be possible. Sensors and actuators can be applied to the foils and directly integrated into the center of the channel of a polymer-based microfluidic chip. Specifically, the foil acts as a supporting structure that helps to position the sensor in the center of the channel. Thermal sensors, in particular, benefit from the low heat capacity of the foil. This will improve the performance and the accuracy of these sensors of which the impact on the fluidic flow is minimized.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097046
Authors: Viviana Mulloni Giada Marchi Andrea Gaiardo Matteo Valt Massimo Donelli Leandro Lorenzelli
A chipless RFID humidity sensor suitable for smart packaging is proposed in this work. The sensor is flexible, fast, low-cost, easy to fabricate and can be read wirelessly. The results show a very high sensitivity in the low-humidity range (1–10%), making it especially suited to monitor and establish package integrity.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097047
Authors: Patricia Arroyo Tiziana Polichetti Brigida Alfano Maria Lucia Miglietta Ettore Massera Jesus Lozano
This study presents the fabrication and characterization of chemoresistive sensors based on a nanocomposite of WO3-Pt and graphene for methane detection. The graphene was prepared using a liquid-phase exfoliation technique, and the nanocomposite was deposited onto interdigitated gold electrodes using drop-casting. The response of the sensors was analyzed by measuring changes in electrical resistance at methane concentrations of 7, 5, 3, and 1 ppm.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097052
Authors: Vincenzo Mariano Mastronardi Antonio Qualtieri Enrico Boni Piero Tortoli Roberto De Fazio Paolo Visconti Maria Teresa Todaro Massimo De Vittorio
Additive Manufacturing Electronics (AME) is a promising method that has the potential to directly embed piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (PMUT) probes into conventional electronic circuits and boards. It enables fast customized prototyping, three-dimensional circuit boards, and small-series production. In this study, annular probes composed of circular suspended Aluminum Nitride (AlN)-based PMUT membranes, addressed in 2-dimensional arrays, were designed, fabricated, and encapsulated using AME technology.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097045
Authors: Ilaria Sorrentino Claire Verplanck Yohann R. J. Thomas
The WAIT4 (Welfare: Artificial Intelligence and new Technologies for Tracking Key Indicator Traits in Animals Facing Challenges of the Agro-ecological Transition) project aims to increase research-based capacities to quantify and characterize animal welfare (AW) from the agro-ecological (AE) perspective and to revise farming practices by considering interactions between the animal and its environment. From this perspective, the development of new sensors for assessing the kinetics of physiological variables of interest (Na+, K+, pH) in animals’ interstitial fluid (ISF) by microneedle patches will be a valuable aid for farmers to monitoring AW states and various stressors.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097039
Authors: Rayhane Zribi Muhammad Hamid Raza Nicola Pinna Giovanni Neri
In this study, a novel electrochemical sensor was developed for the quantitative determination of riboflavin. The tungsten disulfide (WS2) layer was deposited on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by atomic layer deposition (ALD), forming a CNTs-WS2 core–shell heterostructure. This material was used to modify the commercial screen-printed carbon electrode in order to enhance its electrocatalytic activity toward the detection of vitamin B2. Cyclic voltammetry was performed as a preliminary test in the presence of riboflavin. In addition to this, an extensive electrochemical study was performed using differential pulse voltammetry, demonstrating that modified the CNTs-WS2/SPCE sensor display superior electrochemical performance compared with bare SPCE. The sensor exhibits a linear response in the concentration range from 0 µM to 45 µM, with remarkably enhanced sensitivity (9 μAμM−1cm−2) compared with the bare electrode, with a limit of detection (LOD) of 1.24 µM. This enhancement is attributed to the conformal growth of the WS2 flakes on the CNTs and the high surface area offered by these flakes.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2023091416
Authors: Vesselka Duleva Ekaterina Chikova-Iscener Lalka Rangelova Plamen Dimitrov
Background and objectives: Maintaining a balanced diet and regular exercise is especially important for first graders. Poor nutrition compromises the quality of life, school attainment, and growth and sets suboptimal dietary habits later in life. The aim of the present study is to assess negative dietary practices among first graders in Bulgaria. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of a nationally representative sample of 3051 7-year-old students was conducted in 2019. The research was carried out in strict compliance with the protocol developed by the WHO (World Health Organization) as part of the WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI). As part of the study, a questionnaire was presented to the families of the first graders to assess the frequency of food consumption by the children. Results: A quarter (25.3%) of the students did not consume breakfast on a daily basis. The majority did not eat fresh fruits (62.9%) and vegetables every day, excluding potatoes (66.3%). Furthermore, 18% of the children consumed dairy products less than once a week or never. Additionally, 14.8% had fruit juice every day. One-fifth (19.7%) of the students drank soft drinks most of the days or every day of the week (>4 days/week). Many children never consumed or consumed less than once a week protein-rich foods like meat (8.9%), fish (62.3%), eggs (26.4%), and legumes (25.9%). Most days or every day of the week (>4 days/week), a quarter (24.2%) of the children had salty snacks like chips, and half of them (49.7%) had sweet snacks like candies and cakes. Discussion: The results of the present study clearly demonstrate a suboptimal dietary model for first graders in Bulgaria. Only one-third of the children consumed fresh fruits and vegetables daily. The frequency of intake of soft drinks and salty and sweet snacks is too high. The frequency of consumption of protein-rich foods like fish, eggs, and legumes is suboptimal. First graders should become a special target group for policymakers in Bulgaria.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097043
Authors: Eva-Maria Korek Evanthia Chrysanthi Kounoupioti Ralf Brederlow
In this work, equivalent circuit models for conductivity, reference, and potassium ion sensors are introduced and validated. The models help to understand and verify the sensors’ functioning and to determine the selective element of the potassium sensor as a capacitance that occurs below 1 Hz. Measurements at 100 mHz suggest that the phase response of the sensor reveals advantages concerning response time and stability compared to the typically used magnitude.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097041
Authors: Andreas Fuchsluger Annalisa De Pastina Tina Mitteramskogler Rafael Ecker Thomas Voglhuber-Brunnmaier Nikolai Andrianov Alexander Shatalov Norbert Cselyuszka Mohssen Moridi Bernhard Jakoby
We present the concept and a proof-of-principle experiment for an acoustofluidic single- particle sorter. In a microfluidic channel, a flow profile with the following three parallel fluid domains is generated: buffer fluid in the center and buffer plus particles in the lateral domains. Due to the laminar flow regime present in microfluidics, the particles essentially follow the stream line(s) along the channel. In the spatially confined sorting and detection region, by switching on the standing acoustic wave, particles of interest (POIs) are pushed into the center fluid domain, thus leaving the chip at the center outlet. For particles of non-interest (PONIs), the acoustic region remains silent, so PONIs are not centered and follow their path to the side outlet.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097044
Authors: Sergio Sapienza Luca Belsito Matteo Ferri Ivan Elmi Marcin Zielinski Francesco La Via Alberto Roncaglia
In this work, the fabrication of wafer-level vacuum-packaged 3C-SiC on Si double- clamped beam resonators via glass–silicon anodic bonding using Ti-based vacuum gettering is reported. Open-loop resonance measurements are performed on the vacuum-packaged devices, showing Q-factor values up to 290,000, a process yield above 80%, and a maximum vacuum level around 10−2 mbar inside the Ti-gettered encapsulations.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024094062
Authors: Sofia Karampela Thanasis Kizos Alex Koutsouris
In this study, we aim to explore the possible relationships between innovation, social capital, and farm viability towards sustainability, using indicators from the literature and developing complex indexes for all examined concepts in the framework of an agriculture cooperative located on the Greek island of Samos. Data from the United Winemaking Agricultural Cooperative of Samos (UWC SAMOS) were collected through semi-structured questionnaires and further personal in-depth interviews. The findings revealed a highly complex relationship between these indexes that could not just be analyzed quantitatively. Instead, qualitative data explain the weak innovation and low level of social trust by identifying the “institutionalization of the members of the cooperative”, emphasizing the importance of mixed methods approaches.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097040
Authors: Armando Coccia Federica Amitrano Gaetano Pagano Arcangelo Biancardi Giuseppe Tombolini Giovanni D’Addio
This work describes the development of a leg sleeve with embedded e-textile electrodes for surface electromyography (sEMG). The novel device is a textile substrate with embedded circular electrodes made of conductive fabric, which can be connected to EMG acquisition systems. The performances of the novel prototypical device were validated in comparison with standard sEMG electrodes. The experimental study involved 11 healthy volunteers, and general features extracted from the signals were compared using statistical methods. The results underline the absence of significant differences between the two systems, suggesting that the e-textile novel device is a viable alternative to conventional electrodes for collecting sEMG data.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097038
Authors: Bruno Andò Danilo Greco Giacomo Navarra
In this paper, a low-cost solution for Structural Health Monitoring is proposed, exploiting a dedicated embedded sensing system. Signals provided by the sensor node have been processed by Continuous Wavelet Transform. The node behavior to seismic-like solicitations and has been assessed in the case of frequency sweeps. The results demonstrate the system’s suitability for use in Early Warning frameworks.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097042
Authors: Paolo Papa Emiliano Zampetti Corrado Di Natale Fabrizio De Cesare Giovanna Tranfo Antonella Macagnano
A nanofibrous layer of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) was designed to house, both in the fiber core and onto its outer surface, nanoparticles of mesoporous graphene (MGC), which are able to selectively adsorb acetic acid vapors. When grown on interdigital fingers microelectrodes (IDEs), upon UV-light irradiation taking place in air, the layer proved conductive and stable. Electrical and sensing features were significatively modulated by decorating the fiber surface with MGC (a sandwich-like structure) and polyethyleneimine (PEI). MGC, used both as a conductive filler and to decorate the fiber surface, strengthened the PVP scaffold and acted as a nucleation center for entrapping molecules of acetic acid. PEI improved the adhesion of MGC onto the surface. A preliminary study reported fast responses, high sensitivity with good linearity, selectivity, reversibility, and repeatability towards the acetic acid in ranges of up to hundreds of ppm at room temperature.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097033
Authors: Marco Magoni Andrea Gaiardo Matteo Valt Pietro Tosato Barbara Fabbri Vincenzo Guidi
Ozone is a crucial component of the Earth’s atmosphere, playing a critical role in protecting the planet from harmful ultraviolet radiation. However, its concentration can vary greatly across different regions with significant impacts on human health and environment equilibrium. The aim of this work was to calibrate a low-cost sensing platform, based on chemoresistive gas sensors, to monitor the environmental concentration of O3. The ongoing on-field calibration is performed with a deep neural network using the concentration of O3 collected by the local environmental protection agencies through certified tools as the gold standard.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097035
Authors: Alessandro Zompanti Paolo Romeo Anna Sabatini Luca Vollero Marco Santonico Giorgio Pennazza
In this work, a human–machine interface with energy harvesting capabilities was developed and a modular floor made of tiles equipped with piezoelectric elements was produced. The developed platform was tested as a position-tracking system for a human user, allowing the tracking of the lower body in a virtual reality environment. Moreover, the energy collected by the device was evaluated.
]]>Proceedings doi: 10.3390/proceedings2024097037
Authors: Gina Zeh Maximilian Koehne Tilman Sauerwald
The correlation between a gas sensor pattern and its corresponding odor impression on human noses remains a scientific challenge for the development of technical odor detection systems. Small, inexpensive gas sensors, for example, those based on a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS), offer a versatile platform for the development of application-specific sensor systems for odor detection or monitoring. The training of MOS sensors for odor detection remains a challenging task that has been addressed by recent advances. We hereby present a comprehensive method and instrumentation for the characterization and validation of MOS sensors using a gas chromatograph with a mass spectrometer and odor detection port.
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