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In the present work the classification of dairies additives in a rapid and simple way, is proposed. Measurements were made by means of an Electronic Nose developed in our laboratories, which we named 'Patagonia E-Nose.' This E-Nose is composed of SnO2 sensors located in a thermally stabilized chamber which improves the repeatability of the measurements. Samples of various hydrolyzed dairies were measured using air as a reference gas. Then, the integrals of the signals were analyzed using a combination of different multivariate chemometric methods such as linear discriminant analysis (LDA), principal components analysis (PCA), back-propagation neural network and different classifiers. Also, different algorithms were implemented and compared by calculating the number of correctly classified samples of each method. 99.4% of correct classifications were obtained by using cross-validation and selecting the most appropriate algorithms. The results indicate that the samples were correctly classified through the implementation of a simple and low cost measurement protocol. Fil: Vorobioff, Juan. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Argentina Fil: Adaro, Mauricio Omar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Boggio, Norberto Gabriel. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Magallanes, J.. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Boselli, A.. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Argentina Fil: Lamagna, Federico Agustín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Argentina Fil: Rinaldi, Carlos Alberto. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina

The objective of this work is to improve the electronic nose (e-nose) response to detect the presence of Triatoma infestans, commonly named “vinchuca”, transmitters of Trypanosoma cruzi, agent of the Chagas disease (ECh). An electronic nose developed in our own laboratory, with 8 commercial MOX type SnO 2 sensors, was used. Different reference gases used in the purging of the e-nose sensors chamber were analyzed. The samples analyzed consisted of pieces of filter paper placed in contact with individuals of Triatoma infestans during 168 hours. After removing the insects, the samples were irradiated with UV laser to increase the intensity of the measured signals. Notable improvements in the amplitude of the sensors signals were obtained using N 2 as reference gas in combination with UV laser irradiation.

In this article a method to increase the capability of an electronic nose to discriminate between a priori similar odours is presented. Olive oil is analyzed because it is well known that the characteristics of its aroma impair in many cases the discrimination between different kinds of olive oils especially when they are from similar geographic regions. In the present work the improvement of the electronic nose performance for the above-mentioned discrimination by a non-destructive method of IR laser vaporization of the sample is studied. Laser vaporization has also been performed at two different IR wavelengths to analyze the effect of laser radiation absorption of the sample on the electronic nose selectivity.

The Riachuelo–Matanza basin area (2.240 km 2 ) is located in Buenos Aires province, Argentina. This area is affected by intensive and extensive agricultural activities, and bears almost 3,000,000 inhabitants and more than 10,000 industries, that release their effluents to the main collector of the basin, the Riachuelo River. It is a highly polluted area and the quality of water, soil and air is severely impaired causing chronic health problems. As part of an interdisciplinary study undertaken by local institutions to reach an environmental quality diagnosis and analysis of the pollutants dynamics in the basin system we have measured, with an electronic nose, the air immediately above the water in several points at the Riachuelo River mouth where the painteresque La Boca district is located. Water quality parameters simultaneously collected at the same sites were analyzed and correlated with the electronic nose response. This study is only exploratory and focuses on the viability of using an electronic nose to locate conflictive emissions throughout a given zone.

A prototype of an electronic nose (e-nose), based on an array of six undoped and doped SnO2 gas sensors made by the rheotaxial growth and thermal oxidation (RGTO) technique, is applied to the analysis of a basic ingredient of beer, the hop. We address two main requirements from the local brewing industry: to detect departures from the hop’s quality due to aging processes or lousy storage and to obtain a quick discrimination of the various similar types of pellets usually employed. Different methods for the extraction of the features of each sensor response have been studied. A comparison between discrimination obtained with a linear dimensional reduction via principal component analysis and a nonlinear reduction obtained with self-organized maps has also been made. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.