Philippine Gov’t funded Sci-Tech Department unveiled the new developed -Electronic Nose – Tongue gadgets

DoST sets e-sensing tech in Ph

Is the aroma of freshly brewed espresso enough to wake you up in the morning? What more if you finally take in and enjoy that steaming cup of coffee for that perfect start for the day? But, what if you had a cold, wouldn't those sniffles stop your nose from perking you up?

Good thing there is now a technology that does the smelling and tasting for you — or even sense that that is not good coffee.

That is exactly how DOST-ITDI (Department of Science and Technology – Industrial Technology Development Institute) makes electronic sensing ensure that your foodstuffs are really what they are as claimed by producers and manufacturers, and get your money's worth – through such technologies as electronic tongue, or e-tongue and electronic nose, or e-nose.

These relatively new technologies have already been seeing action particularly in the food industry – such as in food classification, characterization, quality control, and safety assurance – and they have been more reliable and effective than human sensory panels and other lab procedures.

One example is at ITDI's Food Processing Division (FPD) where e-nose and e-tongue are now being used in studying and characterizing various foodstuffs such as virgin coconut oil, vinegars, soy sauces, and coffee to ensure their good quality and safety.

In a project with another division at ITDI, the Chemicals and Energy Division (CED), and DOST-Region IV-A for the coconut industry, the same e-nose and e-tongue technologies are being used alongside GC-MS (gas chromatography with mass spectrometry) in evaluating the flavor, maturity, and postharvest stability of makapuno products, among other factors.

The human senses of smell and taste, along with laboratory techniques such as GC-MS, had long been used for testing and evaluating the quality of foods, beverages, and pharmaceutical products.

The problem is that human senses are subjective and hard to reproduce, not to mention that the sensory panelists, human as they are, are prone to health issues, environmental conditions, fatigue, exposure to prior smell or taste analytes, and other factors that may affect their sensory perceptions.

Also, using GC-MS for analysis and interpretation of the results requires considerable amount of time and resources as well as human intervention to operate it.

You can only input a certain number of target analytes on a GC-MS, hence a limited data output to accurately assess the smell or taste of the sample or product.

"This is where the electronic nose and electronic tongue come in. These devices crudely mimic the abilities of their human counterparts by collecting data and convert them into more understandable sensory information," said FPD supervising science research specialist Dolly Villaseñor.

She added that "in the process, these e-nose/e-tongue technologies employ cross-selective sensors that detect far more molecules and in more varying degrees than the more conventional laboratory apparatus."

The e-nose, much like its human version, can sense the most volatile components in a sample, while the e-tongue can "taste" mostly dissolved compounds in a solution, much like a human tongue.

Results from these sensors are then interpreted using multivariate statistics software, such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA), Partial Least Squares (PLS), Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy (SIMCA), and Statistical Process/Quality Control (SQC).

In line with these trends, standardized methods of product analysis are now being developed and researchers at the FPD say "we are hopeful that using e-nose and e-tongue would help improve quality assurance of food products and help make sure that Filipino consumers get the quality and authentic food products they pay for".

And no humans can be blamed for sensing it wrong.

So now, you can be sure that that cup of coffee tastes and smells like, well, coffee. Good, authentic coffee. Thanks to e-nose and e-tongue.  

RRUdelaCruz, with reports from RMGomez and CNUCurtado, ITDI S&T Media Service. (http://is.gd/xTCN1f)

Manila Standard Today

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Vietnam, Philippines Strongly Protest Against China’s including their territory in passport map

Philippines Strongly Protest Against China's including their territory in passport map. Photo: Filipiinamom.com 

THE Philippines has protested China's new passport design, which includes the image of a map of the entire disputed South China Sea.

China's new passports show a map including its claim to almost all the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) – provoking protests by the Philippines Thursday and Vietnam – but leaving out islands bitterly disputed with Japan.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario on Thursday said it was unacceptable because it impinges on the sovereignty of the Philippines, which has claims to territories in the West Philippines Sea.

"The Philippines strongly protests the inclusion of the nine-dash lines in the e-passport as such image covers an area that is clearly part of the Philippines' territory and maritime domain," he said, quoting a diplomatic protest sent to Beijing.

The so-called nine-dash lines take in about 90 per cent of the 3.5-million-square-kilometre West Philippine Sea on Chinese maps.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims to the South China Sea, which straddles key shipping lanes in the region and is believed to be rich in resources.

In December, the Philippines are hosting a four-party meeting with Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei in a bid to resolve the territorial dispute.

Beijing has been engaged in a simmering row with its southern neighbors over its claim to vast swathes of the West Philippine Sea, with Chinese maps having a "nine-dash line" that runs almost to the Philippine and Malaysian coasts.

The row saw a maritime stand-off with Manila earlier this year and took centre stage at the East Asia Summit, attended by US President Barack Obama, earlier this week.

China and Japan have also engaged in furious exchanges over East China Sea islands administered by Tokyo, which calls them Senkaku, and claimed by Beijing as Diaoyu. China saw mass protests over them nationwide in September.

The latest front in the West Philippine Sea dispute is travel documents issued by Beijing, with its new computer-chipped passport, or e-Passport, showing various islands as Chinese territory, including the Paracels and Spratlys.

Manila claims part of the Spratlys and Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario sent Beijing a formal protest letter on Thursday, calling the maps "an excessive declaration of maritime space in violation of international law".

"The Philippines strongly protests the inclusion of the nine-dash lines in the e-Passport as such image covers an area that is clearly part of the Philippines' territory and maritime domain," del Rosario said.

Foreign ministry spokesman Raul Hernandez added: "If we allow that, then that would mean acquiescence to their claim of the whole of the South China Sea."

The West Philippine Seais strategically significant, home to some of the world's most important shipping lanes and believed to be rich in resources.

The Paracel islands lie within it and have been held by China since it forced out South Vietnamese troops in 1974, but they are still claimed by Hanoi.

Some social media users in China said the maps had delayed them at Vietnamese immigration.

"I got into Vietnam after lots of twists and turns," said one user of China's hugely popular micro blogging site Sina Weibo, saying an entry stamp was initially refused "because of the printed map of China's sea boundaries – which Vietnam does not recognize".

Vietnamese foreign ministry spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi told reporters on Thursday that the Chinese documents amounted to a violation of Hanoi's sovereignty and it had protested to the embassy.

Officials handed Chinese representatives "a diplomatic note opposing the move, asking China to abolish the wrongful contents printed in these electronic passports", he said.

Other claimants to parts of the West Philippine Seaare Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.

Beijing attempted to downplay the diplomatic fallout from the recently introduced passports, with a foreign ministry spokeswoman saying the maps were "not made to target any specific country".

"We hope to maintain active communication with relevant countries and promote the healthy development of people to people exchanges," Hua Chunying added.

In Tokyo, a foreign ministry official said: "We have confirmed that disputed islands in West Philippine Seaappear in a map printed on new Chinese passports.

"On the other hand, Senkaku doesn't. Therefore, we are not in a position to comment or complain." (http://is.gd/AlEA7q)

The Australian News 

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