Review of Ethanol Intoxication Sensing Technologies and Techniques

Abstract

The field of alcohol intoxication sensing is over 100 years old, spanning the fields of medicine, chemistry, and computer science, aiming to produce the most effective and accurate methods of quantifying intoxication levels. This review presents the development and the current state of alcohol intoxication quantifying devices and techniques, separated into six major categories: estimates, breath alcohol devices, bodily fluid testing, transdermal sensors, mathematical algorithms, and optical techniques. Each of these categories was researched by analyzing their respective performances and drawbacks. We found that the major developments in monitoring ethanol intoxication levels aim at noninvasive transdermal/optical methods for personal monitoring. Many of the “categories” of ethanol intoxication systems overlap with each other with to a varying extent, hence the division of categories is based only on the principal operation of the techniques described in this review. In summary, the gold-standard method for measuring blood ethanol levels is through gas chromatography. Early estimation methods based on mathematical equations are largely popular in forensic fields. Breath alcohol devices are the most common type of alcohol sensors on the market and are generally implemented in law enforcement. Transdermal sensors vary largely in their sensing methodologies, but they mostly follow the principle of electrical sensing or enzymatic reaction rate. Optical devices and methodologies perform well, with some cases outperforming breath alcohol devices in terms of the precision of measurement. Other estimation algorithms consider multimodal approaches and should not be considered alcohol sensing devices, but rather as prospective measurement of the intoxication influence. This review found 38 unique technologies and techniques for measuring alcohol intoxication, which is testament to the acute interest in the innovation of noninvasive technologies for assessing intoxication.

Role of Fluid Dynamics in Infectious Disease Transmission: Insights from COVID-19 and Other Pathogens

“…When the Weber number exceeded a specific threshold, the impact changed the drop volume into a spreading sheet with varying velocities and thicknesses [218]. This sheet is surrounded by a moving ring of varying thickness that breaks into droplets [219], thereby enabling a phenomenon called 'Respiratory fluid fragmentation' [220]. A similar progression from sheets to rims to drops was observed in [221].…”

Chemical Sensor Based on Piezoelectric/Triboelectric Nanogenerators: A Review of the Modular Design Strategy

“…P-TENGs can be modularly designed and optimized according to the specific requirements of the flammable gas sensing application (Table 3) [7]. This flexibility allows for the fine-tuning of energy conversion and gas sensing characteristics to enhance sensitiv-ity, selectivity, and stability in detecting flammable gases such as ethanol, hydrogen, and liquefied petroleum gas [67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74].…”

Ethanol Metabolism and Melanoma

“…EtG and EtS can be retained in the blood (1-3 h), urine (2-4 weeks), and keratinized matrices such as hair (months), and these metabolic products are used as metabolic biomarkers of recent alcohol consumption [89,90]. For example, transdermal sensors have been developed to measure skin concentrations of ethanol or its metabolite EtG after alcohol drinking [91]. The metabolites produced by non-oxidative metabolism are not considered non-toxic.…”