Evaluation of Personalized Thermal Conditioning Chair in Net Zero Energy Building Office

The net Zero Energy Building (ZEB) aims to promote a productive working environment with high occupant satisfaction while minimizing energy input. Personal air-conditioning is a technology which can significantly contribute to ZEB. In this paper, we evaluate the improvement to occupant satisfaction from the use of a personalized thermal conditioning chair (TCC). In our results: (i) The TCC can change the equivalent temperature by –0.7 to 1.2°C. (ii) Users controlled the TCCs according to their thermal comfort. Users chose cooling mode mainly in summer and heating mode in winter according to environmental changes in the ZEB office. (iii) The TCC was controlled to maintain the user’s preferred thermal environment. This resulted in the surrounding temperature of each user during TCC operation to vary. (iv) The thermal comfort survey from users converged to “neutral”. This shows that users felt improved comfort from the ability to control their own thermal environment.publishedVersio

Option Package Bundling

This paper analyzes the optimality of package bundling by focusing on the ?main and accessory?relationship between two goods. In particular, we consider option package bundling in which an optional good is valuable only if it is consumed together with a certain (nonoptional) base good. We develop a model of option package bundling for a monopolist in which buyers?valuations are independently and uniformly distributed. We also allow inter-relationship between valuations by assuming that the reservation value of the bundle can be greater or less than the sum of the innate value of both goods. Our analysis observes that mixed bundling, in which the base good is sold with or without the optional good, yields a higher pro?t than pure bundling if and only if the range of the optional good valuation exceeds a threshold value. We then conduct a welfare analysis of the bundling choice. The result is surprising: pure bundling is always desirable from the social welfare viewpoint when a monopolist chooses mixed bundling.Multiproduct monopoly; Bundling; Optional goods; Interdepen-dent valuations.

Pressure-induced Superconductivity in a Ferromagnet UGe2_2 -- Resistivity Measurements in Magnetic Field --

The electrical resistivity measurements in the magnetic field are carried out on the pressure-induced superconductor UGe$_2$. The superconductivity is observed from 1.06 to 1.44 GPa. The upper critical field of $H_{C2}$ is anisotropic where $H_{C2}(T)$ exhibits positive curvature for $H//b$ and $c$-axis. The characteristic enhancement of $H_{C2}$ is reconfirmed for $H//a$-axis. In the temperature and field dependence of resistivity at $P > P_{C}$ where the ferromagnetic ordering disappears, it is observed that the application of the external field along the {\it a}-axis increases the coefficient of Fermi liquid behavior $AT^{2}$ correspondingly to the metamagnetic transition.Comment: To be published in the proceeding of the International Conference on High Pressure Science and Technology(AIRAPT-18),Beijing,China,23-27 July 200

Magnetic Properties of a Pressure-induced Superconductor UGe2_2

We performed the DC-magnetization and neutron scattering experiments under pressure {\it P} for a pressure-induced superconductor UGe$_2$. We found that the magnetic moment is enhanced at a characteristic temperature {\it T}$^{*}$ in the ferromagnetic state, where {\it T}$^{*}$ is smaller than a Curie temperature {\it T}$_{\rm C}$. This enhancement becomes remarkable in the vicinity of {\it P}$_{\rm C}^{*}$ = 1.20 GPa, where {\it T}$^{*}$ becomes 0 K and the superconducting transition temperature {\it T}$_{\rm SC}$ shows a maximum. The characteristic temperature {\it T}$^{*}$, which decreases with increasing pressure, also depends on the magnetic field.Comment: To be published in J.Phys.Soc.Jp

Guillain-Barré Syndrome and Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome following Spinal Surgery

Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) typically occurs after gastroenteritis and respiratory tract infec-tion, but surgery has also been considered one of the triggers. Posterior reversible encepha-lopathy syndrome (PRES) is a rare complication of GBS. A normotensive female in her 70s pre-sented ascending paralysis and frontal-parieto-occipital subcortical lesions with intermittent hypertension after spinal surgery. Nerve conduction studies revealed demyelinating polyneu-ropathy. The patient’s brain lesions disappeared with amelioration of hypertension. She was diagnosed with the demyelinating form of GBS and PRES caused by intermittent hypertension. Intravenous immunoglobulin G (IVIG) improved her symptoms without exacerbation of the PRES. Surgery can be a trigger of GBS, and GBS can cause PRES by hypertension and present as central nervous lesions. It is important to treat hypertension before using IVIG when PRES is suspected as a complication of GBS, since the encephalopathy can be exacerbated by IVIG. There may be more undiagnosed cases of the coexistence of GBS and PRES after surgery be-cause surgery itself can also cause PRES. Proper control of blood pressure and confirmation of negative central nervous lesions are required to treat GBS patients with IVIG safely