Microenvironment temperature prediction between body and seat interface using autoregressive data-driven model

There is a need to develop a greater understanding of temperature at the skin–seat interface during prolonged seating from the perspectives of both industrial design (comfort/discomfort) and medical care (skin ulcer formation). Here we test the concept of predicting temperature at the seat surface and skin interface during prolonged sitting (such as required from wheelchair users). As caregivers are usually busy, such a method would give them warning ahead of a problem. This paper describes a data-driven model capable of predicting thermal changes and thus having the potential to provide an early warning (15- to 25-min ahead prediction) of an impending temperature that may increase the risk for potential skin damages for those subject to enforced sitting and who have little or no sensory feedback from this area. Initially, the oscillations of the original signal are suppressed using the reconstruction strategy of empirical mode decomposition (EMD). Consequentially, the autoregressive data-driven model can be used to predict future thermal trends based on a shorter period of acquisition, which reduces the possibility of introducing human errors and artefacts associated with longer duration “enforced” sitting by volunteers. In this study, the method had a maximum predictive error of <0.4 °C when used to predict the temperature at the seat and skin interface 15 min ahead, but required 45 min data prior to give this accuracy. Although the 45 min front loading of data appears large (in proportion to the 15 min prediction), a relative strength derives from the fact that the same algorithm could be used on the other 4 sitting datasets created by the same individual, suggesting that the period of 45 min required to train the algorithm is transferable to other data from the same individual. This approach might be developed (along with incorporation of other measures such as movement and humidity) into a system that can give caregivers prior warning to help avoid exacerbating the skin disorders of patients who suffer from low body insensitivity and disability requiring them to be immobile in seats for prolonged periods

Comparison of structural transformations and superconductivity in compressed Sulfur and Selenium

Density-functional calculations are presented for high-pressure structural phases of S and Se. The structural phase diagrams, phonon spectra, electron-phonon coupling, and superconducting properties of the isovalent elements are compared. We find that with increasing pressure, Se adopts a sequence of ever more closely packed structures (beta-Po, bcc, fcc), while S favors more open structures (beta-Po, simple cubic, bcc). These differences are shown to be attributable to differences in the S and Se core states. All the compressed phases of S and Se considered are calculated to have weak to moderate electron-phonon coupling strengths consistent with superconducting transition temperatures in the range of 1 to 20 K. Our results compare well with experimental data on the beta-Po --> bcc transition pressure in Se and on the superconducting transition temperature in beta-Po S. Further experiments are suggested to search for the other structural phases predicted at higher pressures and to test theoretical results on the electron-phonon interaction and superconducting properties

Noise removal applied to a temperature signal from body and seat contact surface based on the EMD method

People today spend longer seated resulting from changes in demand on the workforce. As a result there is a need for a greater understanding of factors affecting pressure sore formation and comfort in general. In order to monitor the body-cushion interface temperature, we have developed a portable five-channel temperature measuring system which can be powered by a laptop. An Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) was used to remove noise of thermal data between body and seat contact surface. The performance of this data driven filter was compared with three other filters (medium filter, adaptive filter and wavelet filter) with the help of the goodness of fitness statistics as judgment criteria. Results showed the EMD-based filter worked better than traditional de-noising algorithms with the lowest RMSE (root-mean-square-error) and the highest R2 values

Scaling Behavior of Anomalous Hall Effect and Longitudinal Nonlinear Response in High-Tc Superconductors

Based on existing theoretical model and by considering our longitudinal nonlinear response function, we derive a nonliear equation in which the mixed state Hall resistivity can be expressed as an analytical function of magnetic field, temperature and applied current. This equation enables one to compare quantitatively the experimental data with theoretical model. We also find some new scaling relations of the temperature and field dependency of Hall resistivity. The comparison between our theoretical curves and experimental data shows a fair agreement.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Advances in ab-initio theory of Multiferroics. Materials and mechanisms: modelling and understanding

Within the broad class of multiferroics (compounds showing a coexistence of magnetism and ferroelectricity), we focus on the subclass of "improper electronic ferroelectrics", i.e. correlated materials where electronic degrees of freedom (such as spin, charge or orbital) drive ferroelectricity. In particular, in spin-induced ferroelectrics, there is not only a {\em coexistence} of the two intriguing magnetic and dipolar orders; rather, there is such an intimate link that one drives the other, suggesting a giant magnetoelectric coupling. Via first-principles approaches based on density functional theory, we review the microscopic mechanisms at the basis of multiferroicity in several compounds, ranging from transition metal oxides to organic multiferroics (MFs) to organic-inorganic hybrids (i.e. metal-organic frameworks, MOFs)Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure

A Theory for the High-T_c Cuprates: Anomalous Normal-State and Spectroscopic Properties, Phase Diagram, and Pairing

A theory of highly correlated layered superconducting materials isapplied for the cuprates. Differently from an independent-electron approximation, their low-energy excitations are approached in terms of auxiliary particles representing combinations of atomic-like electron configurations, where the introduction of a Lagrange Bose field enables treating them as bosons or fermions. The energy spectrum of this field accounts for the tendency of hole-doped cuprates to form stripe-like inhomogeneities. Consequently, it induces a different analytical behavior for auxiliary particles corresponding to "antinodal" and "nodal" electrons, enabling the existence of different pairing temperatures at T^* and T_c. This theory correctly describes the observed phase diagram of the cuprates, including the non-Fermi-liquid to FL crossover in the normal state, the existence of Fermi arcs below T^* and of a "marginal-FL" critical behavior above it. The qualitative anomalous behavior of numerous physical quantities is accounted for, including kink- and waterfall-like spectral features, the drop in the scattering rates below T^* and more radically below T_c, and an effective increase in the density of carriers with T and \omega, reflected in transport, optical and other properties. Also is explained the correspondence between T_c, the resonance-mode energy, and the "nodal gap".Comment: 28 pages, 7 figure

Erratum to: "Nuclear Effects on R=\sigma_L/\sigma_T in Deep-Inelastic Scattering" Phys.Lett. B475(2000)386

This erratum revokes the main conclusion of a Letter that reported measurements of cross sections for deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) of leptons on $^3$He and $^{14}$N targets, expressed as ratios of $\sigma_A / \sigma_D$ to the cross section on the deuterium target.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figur

State of the climate in 2013

In 2013, the vast majority of the monitored climate variables reported here maintained trends established in recent decades. ENSO was in a neutral state during the entire year, remaining mostly on the cool side of neutral with modest impacts on regional weather patterns around the world. This follows several years dominated by the effects of either La Niña or El Niño events. According to several independent analyses, 2013 was again among the 10 warmest years on record at the global scale, both at the Earths surface and through the troposphere. Some regions in the Southern Hemisphere had record or near-record high temperatures for the year. Australia observed its hottest year on record, while Argentina and New Zealand reported their second and third hottest years, respectively. In Antarctica, Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station reported its highest annual temperature since records began in 1957. At the opposite pole, the Arctic observed its seventh warmest year since records began in the early 20th century. At 20-m depth, record high temperatures were measured at some permafrost stations on the North Slope of Alaska and in the Brooks Range. In the Northern Hemisphere extratropics, anomalous meridional atmospheric circulation occurred throughout much of the year, leading to marked regional extremes of both temperature and precipitation. Cold temperature anomalies during winter across Eurasia were followed by warm spring temperature anomalies, which were linked to a new record low Eurasian snow cover extent in May. Minimum sea ice extent in the Arctic was the sixth lowest since satellite observations began in 1979. Including 2013, all seven lowest extents on record have occurred in the past seven years. Antarctica, on the other hand, had above-average sea ice extent throughout 2013, with 116 days of new daily high extent records, including a new daily maximum sea ice area of 19.57 million km2 reached on 1 October. ENSO-neutral conditions in the eastern central Pacific Ocean and a negative Pacific decadal oscillation pattern in the North Pacific had the largest impacts on the global sea surface temperature in 2013. The North Pacific reached a historic high temperature in 2013 and on balance the globally-averaged sea surface temperature was among the 10 highest on record. Overall, the salt content in nearsurface ocean waters increased while in intermediate waters it decreased. Global mean sea level continued to rise during 2013, on pace with a trend of 3.2 mm yr-1 over the past two decades. A portion of this trend (0.5 mm yr-1) has been attributed to natural variability associated with the Pacific decadal oscillation as well as to ongoing contributions from the melting of glaciers and ice sheets and ocean warming. Global tropical cyclone frequency during 2013 was slightly above average with a total of 94 storms, although the North Atlantic Basin had its quietest hurricane season since 1994. In the Western North Pacific Basin, Super Typhoon Haiyan, the deadliest tropical cyclone of 2013, had 1-minute sustained winds estimated to be 170 kt (87.5 m s-1) on 7 November, the highest wind speed ever assigned to a tropical cyclone. High storm surge was also associated with Haiyan as it made landfall over the central Philippines, an area where sea level is currently at historic highs, increasing by 200 mm since 1970. In the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide all continued to increase in 2013. As in previous years, each of these major greenhouse gases once again reached historic high concentrations. In the Arctic, carbon dioxide and methane increased at the same rate as the global increase. These increases are likely due to export from lower latitudes rather than a consequence of increases in Arctic sources, such as thawing permafrost. At Mauna Loa, Hawaii, for the first time since measurements began in 1958, the daily average mixing ratio of carbon dioxide exceeded 400 ppm on 9 May. The state of these variables, along with dozens of others, and the 2013 climate conditions of regions around the world are discussed in further detail in this 24th edition of the State of the Climate series. © 2014, American Meteorological Society. All rights reserved

Helicity of the W Boson in Lepton+Jets ttbar Events

We examine properties of ttbar candidates events in lepton+jets final states to establish the helicities of the W bosons in t->W+b decays. Our analysis is based on a direct calculation of a probability that each event corresponds to a ttbar final state, as a function of the helicity of the W boson. We use the 125 events/pb sample of data collected by the DO experiment during Run I of the Fermilab Tevatron collider at sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV, and obtain a longitudinal helicity fraction of F_0=0.56+/-0.31, which is consistent with the prediction of F_0=0.70 from the standard model