Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
8.1.3.1 Plant Pathology
The E-nose technology is new and in its infant stage for application in plant
pathology.
Electronic nose is a rapid, sensitive, specific, and easy to use technique utilized
for detection and identification of plant pathology, which includes identification of
plant pathogenic bacteria in clinics and laboratories.
The discrimination of seven species of plant pathogenic bacteria (Acidovorax
avenae subsp. citrulli, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Clavibacter michiganensis
subsp. michiganensis, Erwinia amylovora, Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato,
Ralstonia solanacearum, and Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria) by mea-
suring the volatile compounds produced from pure cultures has been performed
using an e- nose and discriminant function analysis [ 28 ].
A. C. Bastos et al. examined in their study the potential of using an array of
nonspecific conducting polymer sensors for observants between soil types and
different soil environmental conditions and treatments. Results indicate that
qualitative soil fingerprint analyses using E-nose technology can be employed as a
rapid, sensitive, and noninvasive tool for characterizing soil status, identify
changes in soil conditions, and monitor processes such as organic matter degra-
dation [ 29 ]. In Table 8.4 offensive agricultural by-products are listed with human
detection threshold level and recognition level (measured in parts per million
(ppm) in dry air at standard temperature and pressure) [ 30 ].
8.1.4 Environmental
Environmental applications of E-noses include analysis of fuel mixtures, detection
of oil leaks, testing ground water for odors, and identification of household odors,
identification of toxic wastes, air quality monitoring, and monitoring factory
emissions. For effective detection and monitoring, the beginning activity of
Streptomyces in water at different stages of differentiation, as well as to differ-
entiate between different species based on their volatile production patterns, could
be successfully made by an E-nose [ 31 ].
It also suggests that it could be used for monitoring geosmin production in
water and possibly set threshold odor levels, as a routine task for specific water-
screening purposes. E-nose technology also offers prospects for replacing existing
techniques for environmental applications, in a quick and highly reproducible way.
Bourgeois and Stuetz [ 32 ] reported the use of conducting polymer sensor arrays
to analyze wastewater samples and monitor changes in wastewater quality, and
provide a simple noninvasive technique for online monitoring of wastewater.
An illness associated with poor ventilation has determined an increasing con-
sideration toward indoor air quality monitoring. Miniaturized, low-cost E-nose
developed by using metal oxide sensors integrated within climate control unit and
signal processing techniques were developed [ 33 ].
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