Pangolin scales as adaptations for innate immunity against pathogens.

Background: Pangolins are the only mammals that have overlapping scales covering most of their bodies, and they play a crucial role in the ecosystem, biological research, and human health and disease. Previous studies indicated pangolin scale might provide an important mechanical defense to themselves. The origin and exact functions of this unique trait remain a mystery.

Hierarchical Nafion enhanced carbon aerogels for sensing applications.

This work describes the fabrication of hierarchical 3D Nafion enhanced carbon aerogels (NECAGs) for sensing applications via a fast freeze drying method. Graphene oxide, multiwalled carbon nanotubes and Nafion were mixed and extruded into liquid nitrogen followed by the removal of ice crystals by freeze drying. The addition of Nafion enhanced the mechanical strength of NECAGs and effective control of the cellular morphology and pore size was achieved.

A low-cost autonomous optical sensor for water quality monitoring.

A low-cost optical sensor for monitoring the aquatic environment is presented, with the construction and design described in detail. The autonomous optical sensor is devised to be environmentally robust, easily deployable and simple to operate. It consists of a multi-wavelength light source with two photodiode detectors capable of measuring the transmission and side-scattering of the light in the detector head.

BIOTEX--biosensing textiles for personalised healthcare management.

Textile-based sensors offer an unobtrusive method of continually monitoring physiological parameters during daily activities. Chemical analysis of body fluids, noninvasively, is a novel and exciting area of personalized wearable healthcare systems. BIOTEX was an EU-funded project that aimed to develop textile sensors to measure physiological parameters and the chemical composition of body fluids, with a particular interest in sweat.

Wearable technology for bio-chemical analysis of body fluids during exercise.

This paper details the development of a textile based fluid handling system with integrated wireless biochemical sensors. Such research represents a new advancement in the area of wearable technologies. The system contains pH, sodium and conductivity sensors.

Development of a volatile amine sensor for the monitoring of fish spoilage.

A sensor with potential for the development of a "chemical barcode" for real-time monitoring of fish freshness is described. This on-package sensor contains a pH sensitive dye, bromocresol green, that responds through visible colour change to basic volatile spoilage compounds, such as trimethylamine (TMA), ammonia (NH(3)) and dimethylamine (DMA) collectively known as Total Volatile Basic Nitrogen (TVB-N). The sensor characteristics were studied as well as its response with standard ammonia gas.

Photometric detection in flow analysis systems using integrated PEDDs.

A novel inexpensive optical-sensing technique has been developed for colorimetric flow analysis. This sensing system employs two LEDs whereby one is used as the light source and the other as a light detector. The LED used as light detector is reverse biased with a 5-V supply so that the photocurrent generated by the incident light discharges the capacitance.

Novel fused-LEDs devices as optical sensors for colorimetric analysis.

The development of a novel, low power optical sensing platform based on light emitting diodes (LEDs) is described. The sensor is constructed from a pair of LEDs fused together at an angle where one LED functions as the light source and the other LED is reverse biased to function as a light detector. Sensor function is based on the level of light received by the detector diode, which varies with the reflectance of the interface between the device and its environment, or the chemochromic membrane that covers the device.

Integration of analytical measurements and wireless communications--current issues and future strategies.

Rapid developments in wireless communications are opening up opportunities for new ways to perform many types of analytical measurements that up to now have been restricted in scope due to the need to have access to centralised facilities. This paper will address both the potential for new applications and the challenges that currently inhibit more widespread integration of wireless communications with autonomous sensors and analytical devices. Key issues are identified and strategies for closer integration of analytical information and wireless communications systems discussed.

Low pressure ion chromatography with a low cost paired emitter-detector diode based detector for the determination of alkaline earth metals in water samples.

The use of a low pressure ion chromatograph based upon short (25 mm x 4.6 mm) surfactant coated monolithic columns and a low cost paired emitter-detector diode (PEDD) based detector, for the determination of alkaline earth metals in aqueous matrices is presented. The system was applied to the separation of magnesium, calcium, strontium and barium in less than 7min using a 0.

Determination of phosphate using a highly sensitive paired emitter-detector diode photometric flow detector.

The use of a novel inexpensive photometric device, a paired emitter-detector diode (PEDD) has been applied to the colorimetric determination of phosphate using the malachite green spectrophotometric method. The novel miniaturized flow detector applied within this manifold is a highly sensitive, low cost, miniaturized light emitting diode (LED) based detector. The optical flow cell was constructed from two LEDs, whereby one is the light source and the second is the light detector, with the LED light source forward biased and the LED detector reversed biased.

Novel integrated paired emitter-detector diode (PEDD) as a miniaturized photometric detector in HPLC.

A novel low power, low cost, highly sensitive, miniaturized light emitting diode (LED) based flow detector has been used as optical detector for the detection of sample components in high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). This colorimetric detector employs two LEDs, one operating in normal mode as a light source and the other is reverse biased to work as a light detector. Instead of measuring the photocurrent directly, a simple timer circuit is used to measure the time taken for the photocurrent generated by the emitter LED (lambda(max) 500 nm) to discharge the detector LED (lambda(max) 621 nm) from 5 V (logic 1) to 1.

Monitoring of headspace total volatile basic nitrogen from selected fish species using reflectance spectroscopic measurements of pH sensitive films.

The release of amines from decomposing fish such as trimethylamine (TMA), dimethylamine (DMA) and ammonia, collectively known as total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), are in high enough concentrations in headspace to be monitored by a colour change in a pH-sensitive sensor. A method developed here uses a pH indicator dye physically trapped in a cellulose polymer film to respond to the headspace TVB-N released from selected fish species during spoilage. Two species were selected for analysis on the basis of economic importance and the levels of volatile amines released were followed with time using uv/vis reflectance spectroscopic measurements.