A Crowdsourcing-based Air Pollution Measurement System Using DIY Atomic Force Microscopes

Abstract

Air pollutants have become the major problem of many cities, causing millions of human deaths worldwide every year. Among all the noxious pollutants in air, particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less (PM2.5) are the most hazardous because they are small enough to penetrate to the lungs and invade the smallest airways. Since the presence of dangerous levels of PM2.5, commonly reported in newspapers and on TV, is intertwined with the global pattern of production and consumption, there is a need for citizen science projects that engage the young generations in efforts toward reducing air pollution as they will become the future leaders of society. With this goal, and to enable the geo-temporal characterization of PM2.5, we present a crowdsourcing-based air pollution measurement system that uses affordable DIY atomic force microscopes to measure and characterize PM2.5, exploiting the power of human computation through an online crowdsourcing platform to study how PM2.5 varies over time and across geographical locations. Our system is intended as both a scientific platform and a teaching tool for children to engage in environmental policy.

Hacking CD/DVD/Blu-ray for Biosensing

“… 11 Interestingly, an OPU-based low-cost atomic force microscope (AFM) has already democratized nanoimaging up to the point that even children can perform nanoscale measurements by themselves. 12 , 13 …”

“…This technical barrier has prevented researchers, especially those without an engineering background, from utilizing OPUs with research purposes, and only few groups have managed to access all the OPU functions for its use in applications such as sub-angstrom displacement sensing, micro- and nanoimaging, and nanolithography . Interestingly, an OPU-based low-cost atomic force microscope (AFM) has already democratized nanoimaging up to the point that even children can perform nanoscale measurements by themselves. , …”

“…11 Interestingly, an OPU-based low-cost atomic force microscope (AFM) has already democratized nanoimaging up to the point that even children can perform nanoscale measurements by themselves. 12,13 Before exploiting the full potential of the OPU in a CD/ DVD/Blu-ray drive, we must understand its mechanism and main components. We distinguish the types of OPUs that are flexible for scientific research and explain how to increase the signal-to-noise ratio and couple external optical sensors to enhance sensing quality.…”

Open-source controller for low-cost and high-speed atomic force microscopy imaging of skin corneocyte nanotextures

“…Bergmann constructed a low-cost AFM setup for undergraduate and secondary school students [41] that costs more than $10,000. Grey described a low-cost simplified AFM built by a LEGO2NANO project that exceeds the requirements of standard lessons [42] , [43] , [44] . These low-cost AFM systems generally have low scanning speeds.…”

Creativity and Learning in Citizen Cyberscience – Lessons from the Citizen Cyberlab Summit

“…Lastly, the issue is concluded with three articles demonstrating the power of human computation and the learning opportunities creating by specific CS projects: "Agroecology: A Fertile Field for Human Computation" by Hanappe et al (2016), "A Crowdsourcing-based Air Pollution Measurement System Using DIY Atomic Force Microscopes" by Lopez Martinez et al (2016), and "Landfill Hunter: Learning about Waste through Public Participation" by Johnson (2016).…”