Canine-inspired Unidirectional Flows for Improving Memory Effects in Machine Olfaction.

A dog's nose differs from a human's in that air does not change direction but flows in a unidirectional path from inlet to outlet. Previous simulations showed that unidirectional flow through a dog's complex nasal passageways creates stagnant zones of trapped air. We hypothesize that these zones give the dog a "physical memory," which it may use to compare recent odors to past ones.

COVID-19 impact on maritime traffic and corresponding pollutant emissions. The case of the Port of Barcelona.

The impact of the SARS-CoV pandemic has gone well beyond health concerns, reaching the maritime industry. The study on the environmental impact of shipping industry during COVID-19 pandemic can provide useful insights to propose new management policies regarding shipping operations, both in-port and on the route. We present a case study centred in the Port of Barcelona covering a 30 nautical miles range in the period March to July 2020, during which different levels of restrictions and stringent lockdown measures were enforced.

How Did the COVID-19 Lockdown Affect Children and Adolescent's Well-Being: Spanish Parents, Children, and Adolescents Respond.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown strategies have been widely used to contain SARS-CoV-2 virus spread. Children and adolescents are especially vulnerable to suffering psychological effects as result of such measures. In Spain, children were enforced to a strict home lockdown for 42 days during the first wave.

mWISE: An Algorithm for Context-Based Annotation of Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Features through Diffusion in Graphs.

Untargeted metabolomics using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS) allows the detection of thousands of metabolites in biological samples. However, LC-MS data annotation is still considered a major bottleneck in the metabolomics pipeline since only a small fraction of the metabolites present in the sample can be annotated with the required confidence level. Here, we introduce mWISE (metabolomics wise inference of speck entities), an R package for context-based annotation of LC-MS data.

Sniffing speeds up chemical detection by controlling air-flows near sensors.

Most mammals sniff to detect odors, but little is known how the periodic inhale and exhale that make up a sniff helps to improve odor detection. In this combined experimental and theoretical study, we use fluid mechanics and machine olfaction to rationalize the benefits of sniffing at different rates. We design and build a bellows and sensor system to detect the change in current as a function of odor concentration.