0000000000195286
AUTHOR
Christof Stönner
Application of data mining techniques to indoor and outdoor air studies
Humans emit a wide range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These molecules can be emitted via breath and skin and can be from endogenous or exogenous sources. The main breath gases besides N2 and O2 include CO2, acetone and isoprene and are mainly endogenously produced via metabolic pathways. Exogenously emitted molecules comprise methanol from the digestion of fruits and molecules such as monoterpenes and siloxanes used in hygiene products. The study of these human-made emissions is important for the detection of biomarkers for illnesses as well as for the estimation of the contribution of human emission to indoor and outdoor environments. The measurement of volatile organic compounds …
Hydroxylamine released by nitrifying microorganisms is a precursor for HONO emission from drying soils
AbstractNitrous acid (HONO) is an important precursor of the hydroxyl radical (OH), the atmosphere´s primary oxidant. An unknown strong daytime source of HONO is required to explain measurements in ambient air. Emissions from soils are one of the potential sources. Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) have been identified as possible producers of these HONO soil emissions. However, the mechanisms for production and release of HONO in soils are not fully understood. In this study, we used a dynamic soil-chamber system to provide direct evidence that gaseous emissions from nitrifying pure cultures contain hydroxylamine (NH2OH), which is subsequently converted to HONO in a heterogeneous reaction w…
Cinema Data Mining
While the physiological response of humans to emotional events or stimuli is well-investigated for many modalities (like EEG, skin resistance, ...), surprisingly little is known about the exhalation of so-called Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) at quite low concentrations in response to such stimuli. VOCs are molecules of relatively small mass that quickly evaporate or sublimate and can be detected in the air that surrounds us. The paper introduces a new field of application for data mining, where trace gas responses of people reacting on-line to films shown in cinemas (or movie theaters) are related to the semantic content of the films themselves. To do so, we measured the VOCs from a mov…
Cinema audiences reproducibly vary the chemical composition of air during films, by broadcasting scene specific emissions on breath
AbstractHuman beings continuously emit chemicals into the air by breath and through the skin. In order to determine whether these emissions vary predictably in response to audiovisual stimuli, we have continuously monitored carbon dioxide and over one hundred volatile organic compounds in a cinema. It was found that many airborne chemicals in cinema air varied distinctively and reproducibly with time for a particular film, even in different screenings to different audiences. Application of scene labels and advanced data mining methods revealed that specific film events, namely “suspense” or “comedy” caused audiences to change their emission of specific chemicals. These event-type synchronou…