It would be my opinion, off the top of my head, that this approach would not be useful in a "mass surveillance" context. Many of the volotiles under study would be abundant in ambient air pollution or even in clear country air; that they have diagnostic significance is tied to the context of a direct breath test, for example. So, I can imagine a mass-surveillance apparatus attempting to detect ketones as part of a system that detects diabetics or drunkards, but where a simple breeze is enough to mask a potential match, and a rotting piece of fruit discarded on the subway floor is enough to swamp the sensors for hours. Smell is all about context, and it's the sort of context I am doubtful could be made useful in a computerised fashion for mass surveillance. Quite unlike, for example, sound, vision or even smell, which are far more easily localisable and distinguishable. On 10/06/14 08:21, Matej Kovacic wrote:
Hi,
be expected to vary depending on his recent diet, or perhaps whether he has been ill recently. I have heard occasional references to the idea of diagnosing people of various illnesses based on the presence of minute amounts of chemicals in breath (a neat idea, BTW).
There is some serious research about this:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i-Rx-Nsf3E
- http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v103/n4/full/6605810a.html
- http://pubget.com/paper/18594325/analysis-of-volatile-organic-compounds-in-t...
- http://www.jthoracdis.com/article/view/1560/html
A little older research: - http://www.foxnews.com/story/2007/02/28/breath-odor-can-be-key-to-detecting-...
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3682722.stm
- http://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2011/01/17/gut.2010.218305.short?q=w_gut_ah...
P. S: If anyone has any recent information about this (especially clinical tests), please let me know. It is an area which is of a great interest to me.
Regards,
Matej
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