THE WHATIS.COM WORD-OF-THE-DAY July 29, 2003 electronic nose
________________ SPONSORED BY: Microsoft The Quick Guide to Windows Server 2003. Get the latest information on installation, new features and training. Click here! http://WhatIs.com/r/0,,16601,00.htm?microsoft ________________ TODAY'S WORD: electronic nose See our complete definition with hyperlinks at http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci916181,00.html An electronic nose (e-nose) is a device that identifies the specific components of an odor and analyzes its chemical makeup to identify it. An electronic nose consists of a mechanism for chemical detection, such as an array of electronic sensors, and a mechanism for pattern recognition, such as a neural network. Electronic noses have been around for several years but have typically been large and expensive. Current research is focused on making the devices smaller, less expensive, and more sensitive. The smallest version, a nose-on-a-chip, is a single computer chip containing both the sensors and the processing components. An odor is composed of molecules, each of which has a specific size and shape. Each of these molecules has a correspondingly sized and shaped receptor in the human nose. When a specific receptor receives a molecule, it sends a signal to the brain and the brain identifies the smell associated with that particular molecule. Electronic noses based on the biological model work in a similar manner, albeit substituting sensors for the receptors, and transmitting the signal to a program for processing, rather than to the brain. Electronic noses are one example of a growing research area called biomimetics, or biomimicry, which involves human-made applications patterned on natural phenomena. Electronic noses were originally used for quality control applications in the food, beverage and cosmetics industries. Current applications include detection of odors specific to diseases for medical diagnosis, and detection of pollutants and gas leaks for environmental protection. ______________________ SELECTED LINKS: Wired News has an article called "Gee, your beer smells terrific." http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,55808,00.html The University of Leicester offers an E-Bulletin , "Nose-on-a-Chip Aims to Mimic Real Thing." http://www.le.ac.uk/press/ebulletin/features/noseonachip.html Scientific American has an article called "Smaller and more sensitive electronic noses open up new applications." http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000454C0-FBEC-1C70-84A9809EC588EF21 ______________________ RELATED TERMS: neural network http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci212648,00.html ______________________ TODAY'S TECH NEWS: WINDOWS RPC EXPLOIT CODE PUBLISHED Security researchers in China have posted exploit code for a critical vulnerability in Windows Remote Procedure Call (RPC) to several security lists. http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci916409,00.html MICROSOFT STEERS BACK TO LONGHORN RELEASE Microsoft's top server executive says a version of Longhorn for servers is a go, after all. http://searchwin2000.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid1_gci916407,00.html ORACLE: USERS SHOULD PATCH FLAWS ASAP Oracle Corp. is urging customers to install patches for three security flaws in the company's application server software and its E-Business suite. http://searchoracle.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid41_gci916447,00.html >> Catch up on all the latest IT news at http://searchtechtarget.techtarget.com/ ______________________ Information Kit | Linux, Unix, and all the little ixes Get up to speed quickly, and be the Linux/Unix Know-IT-All at your office. http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci915803,00.html ______________________ Secret Word-of-the-Day | What is it? On a network, this is your computer's unique hardware number. >> Click for correct answer http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212506,00.html _____________________ Quiz #5 | General IT terms Do you know how the Internet works? Take this week's quiz and find out! >> Click to take the quiz http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci553879,00.html ______________________________ RECENT ADDITIONS AND UPDATES [1] initial extent http://searchdatabase.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid13_gci916333,00.html [2] block http://searchdatabase.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid13_gci916318,00.html [3] bias http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci914376,00.html [4] cache cramming http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci914394,00.html [5] Government Information Awareness http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid19_gci914344,00.html ____________________________________________________________________ ::::::::::::::::::: WHATIS.COM CONTACTS ::::::::::::::::::: LOWELL THING, Site Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ____________________________________________________________________ MARGARET ROUSE, Associate Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ::::::::::::::::::::: ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER :::::::::::::::::::::: This newsletter is published by TechTarget, the most targeted IT media. http://www.techtarget.com Copyright 2003 TechTarget. 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