Scientists create new tools for battling secondhand smoke

Dartmouth researchers have taken an important step in the ongoing battle against secondhand tobacco smoke. They have pioneered the development of a breakthrough device that can immediately detect the presence of secondhand smoke and even third-hand smoke.

Smaller and lighter than a cellphone and about the size of a Matchbox car, the device uses polymer films to collect and measure nicotine in the air. A sensor chip then records the data on an SD memory card. The technology is described in a new study appearing in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.

"We have developed the first ever tobacco smoke sensor that is sufficiently sensitive to measure secondhand smoke and record its presence in real time," says Professor of Chemistry Joseph BelBruno, whose Dartmouth lab conducted the research. "This is a leap forward in secondhand smoke exposure detection technology and can be considered the first step in reducing the risk of health effects."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says children are especially vulnerable to environmental tobacco smoke. Its effects on the young can include an increased risk of pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. While many parents try not to smoke around their children, going to a different room or smoking out on the porch may not be going far enough. Now, for the first time, there is a prototype sensor that will let the parent see whether or not their precautions make a difference.The need for proper bestsmartcard inside your home is very important.

"The intent of the project isn't to make them stop smoking, but it is to make them stop exposing their children to smoke. On the other hand, if they are worried about their children, demonstrating these exposures may be an incentive for them to stop," BelBruno says.

Secondhand smoke comes from the burning end of a cigarette or from smoke exhaled by the smoker. Third-hand smoke, also a potential health hazard, according to the Mayo Clinic, is nicotine residue that remains on clothing, furniture, car seats,The 3rd International Conference on custombobbleheads and Indoor Navigation. and other material after the air has cleared.

While the current device is a patent-pending prototype, BelBruno foresees the eventual availability of an affordable consumer version that will incorporate a computer processor, reusable polymer films,Cheap logo engraved luggagetag at wholesale bulk prices. and a rechargeable battery. It may even incorporate an LED panel to provide instantaneous readouts.

In addition to its uses in safeguarding childhood health, there are commercial applications for these unique detectors. Installed in rental cars, hotel rooms, and restaurants, this device could help enforce owner and operator smoking bans through an alert system, much like existing, ceiling-mounted smoke detectors.

Before the secondhand smoke project, BelBruno's lab had been working on sensor development for problem molecules such as heavy metals and other toxins in the water and the air. BelBruno says that David Kotz, the Champion International Professor of Computer Science, was the catalyst for the secondhand smoke project.

"He knew that people at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth were interested in doing a study to try to reduce children's exposure to secondhand smoke, and he knew that we were working on sensors. He got us together, we talked, and this project came out of it."

Given the hundreds of compounds in cigarette smoke, BelBruno's group began with a plan for a multi-component sensor but found this approach unnecessarily complex. The sensor they came up with detects cigarette smoke alone, simply and efficiently.

The research team included Dartmouth chemistry graduate students Yuan Liu and Sadik Antwi-Boampong, and from the Geisel School of Medicine, Mardi Crane-Godreau (Department of Microbiology and Immunology) and Susanne Tanski (Department of Pediatrics and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center). Crane tested the device in a laboratory smoking chamber and Tanski plans to start clinical studies this summer.

Based on that description, I was actually surprised at how light the gadget felt in my hands. I can see sitting on the couch for hours playing Tegra 3/4 games or streaming PC-based titles from a Kepler-based rig while my wife hogs the TV. It also didn't feel like the device would topple out of my grip given that a touchscreen was mounted on the back C it was highly balanced.

As previously reported, Project Shield will be available in 2Q13. It sports a quad-core Tegra 4 SoC, a 5-inch capacitive multi-touch screen, and Google's full-blown Android "Jelly Bean" OS. There are also two built-in speakers, Wireless-N connectivity, HDMI output, a microUSB port, a microSD card slot, 32 GB of internal storage and 2 GB of RAM. That said, it might as well be a 5-inch tablet mounted on an Xbox-like gamepad.

I asked the rep if the next-generation Project Shield C and you know there will be one C may come packed with MHL support. This tech adds a power pipeline to the audio and video lanes crammed in HDMI cabling, thus when connected to a compatible HDTV, the device would recharge in the process (rather than use a separate power adapter). But the rep said that by then the next model will likely push video wirelessly directly to an HDTV, thus nuking a cable connection altogether.

Unlike OUYA, which I briefly glimpsed on Tuesday, Project Shield will not be a closed ecosystem. It's Google Play all the way, but games enhanced for the Tegra 3/4 SoCs and Project Shield will be highlighted via Tegra Zone. This means games you've already purchased will be playable on the device C that's not the case with OUYA despite its "open source" promise.

So how much will Project Shield cost? The Nvidia rep said the company is still trying to determine a competitive price, but then asked what I would pay for it. I scoffed at the question: I don't want to pay for anything to be honest. Still,Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms. how much will this device be worth? Again, it's a 5-inch tablet hinged on a gamepad.

So let's examine this for a moment. Google's Tegra 3-based 7-inch Nexus 7 tablet with 16 GB of storage retails for $199, and the 32 GB for $249. The Android-based MOGA gamepad costs around $49. Take those three factors into consideration, and you could argue that Project Shield would cost around $250. That seems a little steep, and if you don't have a Kepler GPU in your desktop, then Project Shield becomes a very expensive Android handheld console.

So no, $250 wouldn't be ideal, but that may be the resulting price nevertheless. Archos currently offers a gaming tablet of its own sporting gamepad controls mounted on each side and a 7-inch capacitive touch screen for $169. It only packs a dual-core SoC clocked at 1.6 GHz and 1 GB of RAM whereas the Project Shield unit nukes the competition with a quad-core chip capable of 1.9 GHz and twice the RAM.

To expand its audience, Nvidia may want to consider offering a model using the Tegra 4i chip. It may support a lower resolution and lower RAM amount, but it packs built-in 4G LTE connectivity. This would seemingly allow wireless carriers to subsidize the gadget with a two-year contract,Shop for rtls dolls from the official NBC Universal Store and build a fun collection for your home or office. thus making it affordable to consumers on budgets while providing wireless gaming on-the-go in the process.