Volatile Organic Compounds: VOCs are a class of chemicals that are volatile (evaporate easily) and are organic compounds (contain carbon atoms).

Organic chemicals are widely used as ingredients in paints, varnishes, wax, cleaning, disinfecting, cosmetic, degreasing, hobby products, moth repellents and air fresheners, dry-cleaned clothing, pesticides, office equipment, building materials, furnishings, and fuels.

The ability of organic chemicals to cause health effects varies greatly from those that are highly toxic, to those with no known health effect.

More information on VOCs and Indoor Air Quality(IAQ) can be found at this EPA site on IAQ.

Test of VOC sensor with exposure to alcohol:

There is a lot going on in the main image from 1906 with an automobile, milk & passengers pulled by horses, cable car tracks, and electrification.

Expanding to a different frame at a different level, we see a new set of insights into the lives of children and an early start to wearing hats for boys/men.

Two recent reports on rising CO2 levels from the NOAA atmospheric observatory on Mauna Loa and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Up-to-date hourly, daily, and monthly data from the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory.

NOAA Article: Global carbon dioxide growth in 2018 reached 4th highest on record.

Washington Post Article: It was 84 degrees near the Arctic Ocean this weekend as carbon dioxide hit its highest level in human history.

An interesting story of work by the Victoria & Albert Museum to plan and produce a new exhibit with a close focus on limiting the deposit of particulate matter from visitors and outside sources.

Dust to dust. Access to access

A full-cycle thought process from how visitors enter the exhibit building to how they view objects and move between areas. The solution starts with an entry hall designed with twists & turns to provide space and time to shed particulate matter brought in from the outside and from visitor clothing.

The article includes a good description of challenges, risks, and impact associated with artifacts exposed to particulate matter.

Working on a dynamic baseline for a sensor with a broad response spectrum.

This chart shows two weeks of 24 hour data. The range of the first week is outlined in black, the second week in red. Data was collected with the sensor in an unoccupied and closed room.

A first step to verify the accuracy of programmatic capture of pulse duration in preparation for testing a new sensor. The input is from a simple pulse generator circuit with a scope measured 3ms high time. The resulting output displays an accurate and consistent numeric value of the 3ms duration.

Smart Module processor under test: current variable between 8mA and 15mA. All readings taken at 8am each day.

The measured battery performance is consistent with the Coppertop AA voltage vs. time graph provided in their datasheet. Remarkable end-of-battery life results: the subsystem maintained Vdd at 5.2V and current supplied >8.2mA while the voltage supplied by the 4 AA batteries declined to 2.15V at 4pm on the 18th! The last 2 hours saw a precipitous decline in Vdd from 2.8V to failure at 2.1V at 4:15pm.

The ability to persuade and influence are essential leadership competencies. Having solid data leading to and supporting both strategic and tactical insights can contribute to individual and institutional leadership and measurable results.

• Credibility (Reputation)

• Insights demonstrating extended thought

• Ability to frame for common good

• Demonstrate deep interest & understanding

• Connect with team/audience/stakeholders

• Creativity, the opportunity to be creative is a big motivator for a team member or team

Sunny day, cloudy day. Sensor positioned at window normal to peak morning sun, with reduced incident sunlight during late morning and afternoon as sun transitions to other side of building.

You knew your high school physics lesson on black body radiation was sure be of practical use, and recall that all matter above absolute zero continuously emits electromagnetic radiation.

Max Planck, in 1901, was the first to define the relationship between the intensity of radiation for a black body as a function of temperature and wavelength.

From his work we understand as the temperature of an object increases, the peak intensity shifts to shorter wavelengths. By slowly heating a piece of metal we can observe this relationship. At room temperature, the metal does not emit any visible light. As the temperature reaches approximately 500°C, it begins to glow red as the metal emits energy in the red portion of the visible spectrum. As the temperature of the metal increases to approximately 1500°C, it begins to glow white emitting energy at all visible wavelengths.

Emissivity describes the efficiency, compared to a black body, with which a material radiates energy. The temperature of an object and its emissivity define the amount of infrared energy an object will emit. At room temperature most of the emission is in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Measuring metals can be challenging. Non-contact IR sensors cannot separate incoming IR radiation into real object and reflected parts. Materials with a low emissivity is a very specialized IR measurement field. Gold has an emissivity of 0.05! A typical value for aluminum (rough finish) is 0.18 and less if polished. Copper can vary widely depending on the degree of oxidation, ranging from 0.2 to 0.8.

To assist with more accurate measurements, masking tape provides a simple paper layer that will quickly reach the same temperature as the object in question. Paper has a high emissivity of 0.85 and higher. An alternative technique for flat surfaces is a thin layer of baby powder.

Non-Contact IR Sensor

Another example of emissivity: human skin 0.99. This is the key to the success of non-contact medical temperature devices.

This recently published report is notable for a number of reasons.

https://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/news/articles/2019/02/diagnosing-art-acne-in-georgia-okeeffe-paintings.html

Two themes to highlight:

• Critical examination of assumptions: “For decades, conservationists and scholars assumed these tiny protrusions were grains of sand, kicked up from the New Mexico desert where O’Keeffe lived and worked.”

• Continuous collection of climate metrics: “After we understand what sort of environmental conditions they have been in, what sort of relative humidity, what sort of temperatures, whether they have been in direct sunlight, then we can prescribe a particular environment with particular conditions that will allow the art work to survive over a very long period of time,” Walton said.

The very interesting and challenging problem of preserving historic artifacts on the moon.

https://www.wbur.org/npr/696129505/how-do-you-preserve-history-on-the-moon

For example, managing the impact of future visits to the moon by multiple nations is far more complex than governance of any terrestrial site.

Interesting results can be visualized by editing the formula at the bottom. For example, try changing the final z exponent value to 2 from 3 and redraw. Or add more complexity by changing z^3 to Z^2*sin(x)/y, results below. Have fun!

Zuss, an interactive math widget.

https://love.imaginary.org/

Click/tap and rotate 3D model, and adjust scale with sliders on left.

Many more singularities to consider and try at https://homepage.univie.ac.at/herwig.hauser/gallery.html

For a building with heating, this graph shows an example of rate-of-heat loss vs. exterior night time temperature.

An understanding of an entire building envelope can be developed by collecting data on each floor and comparing heat loss and heating curves.

Overnight thermostat set at 60 degrees from 10pm to 6am; auto change at 6am to 68 degrees.

Blue was the coldest night, orange and gray were successive nights during a warming trend.

Early thoughts, sketching out new ideas and models for mapping sensor design to monitoring algorithms. Exploring potential for multi-sensor signatures by combining data from different technologies.

For some time, this particular Smart Sensor was located in a second floor interior space sheltered from draft or other influences that could produce rapid change. At the end of December, the sensor was moved to a table close to the front door. The resulting daily maximum RH oscillation is striking and unexpected, especially in January.

Also notable is the higher humidity during the late fall of 2018 vs 2019 (this graph has been updated 9/20/2019).

The Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle is well established and remains a very useful model. Smart Sensor solutions from FROGSIGHT provide the capability to measure, monitor, and analyze study or change metrics. A baseline is an invaluable reference for the entire life cycle of a study or change initiative, and an excellent first step.

Deming or Shewhart Cycle.

ASQ is a well regarded professional development association in the field of quality with multiple sections (chapters) throughout New England.

Working on a prototype for a low-power battery operated Smart Sensor module. Surface mount devices have very small features and dimensions, about the size of President Roosevelt’s ear in this case. For reference, a dime has a diameter of 0.705 inch.

It is remarkable how studying a seemingly unrelated field can produce important insights. Researchers studied the calling patterns of tree frogs and developed matching mathematical models.

Steer Swamp Spring Peeper

According to the authors, “Those models qualitatively reproduced the calling pattern of actual frogs and were then helpful in designing autonomous distributed communication systems."

https://phys.org/news/2019-01-frog-choruses-wireless-sensor-networks.amp?

Frogs have had a lot of time to develop sophisticated communication protocols. Now the performance, efficiency, and scalability of IOT wireless sensor networks may benefit from their accomplishments.