Wearable Sensor Node for Safety Improvement in Workplaces: Technology Assessment in a Simulated Environment.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) has been universally recognized for its role in protecting workers from injuries and illnesses. Smart PPE integrates Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to enable continuous monitoring of workers and their surrounding environment, preventing undesirable events, facilitating rapid emergency response, and informing rescuers of potential hazards. This work presents a smart PPE system with a sensor node architecture designed to monitor workers and their surroundings.

Crowdsensing IoT Architecture for Pervasive Air Quality and Exposome Monitoring: Design, Development, Calibration, and Long-Term Validation.

A pervasive assessment of air quality in an urban or mobile scenario is paramount for personal or city-wide exposure reduction action design and implementation. The capability to deploy a high-resolution hybrid network of regulatory grade and low-cost fixed and mobile devices is a primary enabler for the development of such knowledge, both as a primary source of information and for validating high-resolution air quality predictive models. The capability of real-time and cumulative personal exposure monitoring is also considered a primary driver for exposome monitoring and future predictive medicine approaches.

Correction: Alfano et al. A Review of Low-Cost Particulate Matter Sensors from the Developers' Perspectives. 2020, , 6819.

The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper [...

A Wearable Low-Power Sensing Platform for Environmental and Health Monitoring: The Convergence Project.

The low-power sensing platform proposed by the Convergence project is foreseen as a wireless, low-power and multifunctional wearable system empowered by energy-efficient technologies. This will allow meeting the strict demands of life-style and healthcare applications in terms of autonomy for quasi-continuous collection of data for early-detection strategies. The system is compatible with different kinds of sensors, able to monitor not only health indicators of individual person (physical activity, core body temperature and biomarkers) but also the environment with chemical composition of the ambient air (NO, CO, NH particles) returning meaningful information on his/her exposure to dangerous (safety) or pollutant agents.

A Review of Low-Cost Particulate Matter Sensors from the Developers' Perspectives.

The concerns related to particulate matter's health effects alongside the increasing demands from citizens for more participatory, timely, and diffused air quality monitoring actions have resulted in increasing scientific and industrial interest in low-cost particulate matter sensors (LCPMS). In the present paper, we discuss 50 LCPMS models, a number that is particularly meaningful when compared to the much smaller number of models described in other recent reviews on the same topic. After illustrating the basic definitions related to particulate matter (PM) and its measurements according to international regulations, the device's operating principle is presented, focusing on a discussion of the several characterization methodologies proposed by various research groups, both in the lab and in the field, along with their possible limitations.

Analysis of a calibration method for non-stationary CVD multi-layered graphene-based gas sensors.

Limitations such as lack of detected stationary signal and slow signal recovery after detection currently affect graphene-based chemi-sensors operating at room temperature. In this work, we model the behavior of a sensor in a test chamber having limited volume and simulating the environmental conditions. From this model, we mathematically derive the calibration method for the sensor.

CVD transfer-free graphene for sensing applications.

The sp carbon-based allotropes have been extensively exploited for the realization of gas sensors in the recent years because of their high conductivity and large specific surface area. A study on graphene that was synthetized by means of a novel transfer-free fabrication approach and is employed as sensing material is herein presented. Multilayer graphene was deposited by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) mediated by CMOS-compatible Mo.

Effects of graphene defects on gas sensing properties towards NO detection.

The crystal structure of graphene flakes is expected to significantly affect their sensing properties. Here we report an experimental investigation on the crystalline structure of graphene aimed at exploring the effects on the gas sensing properties. The morphology of graphene, prepared via Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), Liquid Phase Exfoliation (LPE) and Mechanical Exfoliation (ME), is inspected through Raman spectroscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).

Electronic Noses for Composites Surface Contamination Detection in Aerospace Industry.

The full exploitation of Composite Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) in so-called design is still limited by the lack of adequate quality assurance procedures for checking the adhesive bonding assembly, especially in load-critical primary structures. In this respect, contamination of the CFRP panel surface is of significant concern since it may severely affect the bonding and the mechanical properties of the joint. During the last years, the authors have developed and tested an electronic nose as a non-destructive tool for pre-bonding surface inspection for contaminants detection, identification and quantification.

The effect of solvent on the morphology of ZnO nanostructure assembly by dielectrophoresis and its device applications.

Different zinc oxide nanostructured morphologies were grown on photolithographically patterned silicon/silicon dioxide substrates by dielectrophoresis technique using different solvents, such as water and ethanol, obtaining rod-like and net-like nanostructures, respectively. The formation of continuous nanostructures was confirmed by scanning electron microscopic, atomic force microscopic images, and electrical characterizations. The rod-like zinc oxide nanostructures were observed in the 10 μm gap between the fingers in the pattern, whereas net-like nanostructures were formed independently of microgap.

Single palladium nanowire growth in place assisted by dielectrophoresis and focused ion beam.

Here we report, for the first time, on the combined use of Focused Ion Beam and Dielectrophoresis techniques for the fabrication of a nanodevice whose operating mechanism relies on a single palladium nanowire. Focused Ion Beam is used to deposit, without photolithographic masks, platinum microelectrodes on a silicon/silicon nitride substrate. Dielectrophoresis is employed for assembling the palladium nanowire, starting from a saturated palladium particles solution, and precisely positioning it between the nanocontacts.

Silicon infrared diffuser for wireless communication.

We show what we believe to be a novel way to use silicon in infrared radio communication as a suitable material for the realization of optical diffusers in the range of 850-1600 nm. A crystalline silicon wafer is made porous by means of electrochemical etching. The porous silicon produced is optically characterized, and measurements report a high reflectance in the band of interest.