Shoe microclimate: An objective characterisation and subjective evaluation

Shoe microclimate (temperature and humidity) has been suggested to contribute to perceptions of foot thermal comfort. However, limited data is available for perceptual responses in relation to shoe microclimate development both over time and within different areas of the shoe. This study evaluates perceptions of foot thermal comfort for two running shoes different in terms of air permeability in relation to temporal and spatial characteristics of shoe microclimate. The temporal characteristics of shoe microclimate development were similar for both shoes assessed. However, higher temperatures and humidity were observed for the less permeable shoe. Changes to shoe microclimate over time and differences between shoes were perceivable by the users. This study provides the most detailed assessment of shoe microclimate in relation to foot thermal comfort to date, providing relevant information for footwear design and evaluation

COVID-19 symptoms at hospital admission vary with age and sex: results from the ISARIC prospective multinational observational study

Background: The ISARIC prospective multinational observational study is the largest cohort of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. We present relationships of age, sex, and nationality to presenting symptoms. Methods: International, prospective observational study of 60 109 hospitalized symptomatic patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 recruited from 43 countries between 30 January and 3 August 2020. Logistic regression was performed to evaluate relationships of age and sex to published COVID-19 case definitions and the most commonly reported symptoms. Results: ‘Typical’ symptoms of fever (69%), cough (68%) and shortness of breath (66%) were the most commonly reported. 92% of patients experienced at least one of these. Prevalence of typical symptoms was greatest in 30- to 60-year-olds (respectively 80, 79, 69%; at least one 95%). They were reported less frequently in children (≤ 18 years: 69, 48, 23; 85%), older adults (≥ 70 years: 61, 62, 65; 90%), and women (66, 66, 64; 90%; vs. men 71, 70, 67; 93%, each P < 0.001). The most common atypical presentations under 60 years of age were nausea and vomiting and abdominal pain, and over 60 years was confusion. Regression models showed significant differences in symptoms with sex, age and country. Interpretation: This international collaboration has allowed us to report reliable symptom data from the largest cohort of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Adults over 60 and children admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are less likely to present with typical symptoms. Nausea and vomiting are common atypical presentations under 30 years. Confusion is a frequent atypical presentation of COVID-19 in adults over 60 years. Women are less likely to experience typical symptoms than men

A unified formalism for acoustic imaging techniques: illustrations in the frame of a didactic numerical benchmark

International audienceThe problem of localizing and quantifying acoustic sources from a set of acoustic measurements has been addressed, in the last decades, by a huge number of scientists, from different communities (signal processing, mechanics, physics) and in various application fields (underwater, aero, or vibro acoustics). This led to the production of a substantial amount of literature on the subject, together with the development of many methods, specifically adapted and optimized for each configuration and application field, the variety and sophistication of proposed algorithms being sustained by the constant increase in computational and measurement capabilities. The counterpart of this prolific research is that it is quite tricky to get a clear global scheme of the state of the art. The aim of the present work is to make an attempt in this direction, by proposing a unified formalism for different well known imaging techniques, from identification methods (acoustic holography, equivalent sources, Bayesian focusing, Generalized inverse beamforming...) to beamforming deconvolution approaches (DAMAS, CLEAN). The hypothesis, advantages and pitfalls of each approach will be clearly established from a theoretical point of view, with a particular effort in trying to separate differences in the problem definition (a priori information, main assumptions) and in the algorithms used to find the solution. Some parallels will be drawn with well-known algorithms developed in the field of applied mathematics, linked to compressive sensing, sparse representations or non-negativity constraints. Illustrations of the specificities, similarities and computational costs of each approach will be shown for different source configurations (coherent/incoherent/extended/sparse distributions)

A unified formalism for acoustic imaging techniques: illustrations in the frame of a didactic numerical benchmark

International audienceThe problem of localizing and quantifying acoustic sources from a set of acoustic measurements has been addressed, in the last decades, by a huge number of scientists, from different communities (signal processing, mechanics, physics) and in various application fields (underwater, aero, or vibro acoustics). This led to the production of a substantial amount of literature on the subject, together with the development of many methods, specifically adapted and optimized for each configuration and application field, the variety and sophistication of proposed algorithms being sustained by the constant increase in computational and measurement capabilities. The counterpart of this prolific research is that it is quite tricky to get a clear global scheme of the state of the art. The aim of the present work is to make an attempt in this direction, by proposing a unified formalism for different well known imaging techniques, from identification methods (acoustic holography, equivalent sources, Bayesian focusing, Generalized inverse beamforming...) to beamforming deconvolution approaches (DAMAS, CLEAN). The hypothesis, advantages and pitfalls of each approach will be clearly established from a theoretical point of view, with a particular effort in trying to separate differences in the problem definition (a priori information, main assumptions) and in the algorithms used to find the solution. Some parallels will be drawn with well-known algorithms developed in the field of applied mathematics, linked to compressive sensing, sparse representations or non-negativity constraints. Illustrations of the specificities, similarities and computational costs of each approach will be shown for different source configurations (coherent/incoherent/extended/sparse distributions)

A unified formalism for acoustic imaging based on microphone array measurements

International audienceThe problem of localizing and quantifying acoustic sources from a set of acoustic measurements has been addressed, in the last decades, by a huge number of scientists, from different communities (signal processing, mechanics, physics) and in various application fields (underwater, aero, or vibro acoustics). This led to the production of a substantial amount of literature on the subject, together with the development of many methods, specifically adapted and optimized for each configuration and application field, the variety and sophistication of proposed algorithms being sustained by the constant increase in computational and measurement capabilities. The counterpart of this prolific research is that it is quite tricky to get a clear global scheme of the state of the art. The aim of the present work is to make an attempt in this direction, by proposing a unified formalism for different well known imaging techniques, from identification methods (acoustic holography, equivalent sources, Bayesian focusing, Generalized inverse beamforming…) to beamforming deconvolution approaches (DAMAS, CLEAN). The hypothesis, advantages and pitfalls of each approach will be established from a theoretical point of view, with a particular effort in trying to separate differences in the problem definition (a priori information, main assumptions) and in the algorithms used to find the solution. Numerical simulations will be proposed for different source configurations (coherent/incoherent/extended/sparse distributions), and an experimental illustration on a supersonic jet will be finally discussed

Prise en compte des effets d'installation dans une soufflerie anéchoïque pour la caractérisation de sources aéroacoustiques

International audienc

Shoe microclimate: An objective characterisation and subjective evaluation [conference abstract]

Shoe microclimate: An objective characterisation and subjective evaluation [conference abstract

Implementing Quality Control of LV Longitudinal Strain Measurement

Cardiolog

A scheme for measuring the neutrino rest mass from the beta-decay of stored tritium atoms using a solenoid retardation spectrometer

A new type of electron spectrometer is under construction at Mainz University that allows a measurement of the β-spectrum of tritium with high resolution and transmission in order to determine the neutrino rest mass. It consists of a source that contains atomic tritium, trapped in a high magnetic field, and a solenoid retarding spectrometer

Precision measurement of the conversion electron spectrum of 83mKr with a solenoid retarding spectrometer

This paper reports on precision measurements of conversion lines in the decay of 83mKr with nuclear transition energies of 32.1 keV and 9.4 keV, respectively. The spectra were taken from a submonolayer surface of 83mKr frozen onto a cold backing, using the new Mainz solenoid retarding spectrometer. The high luminosity and resolution of this instrument enables the observation of all allowed conversion lines up to the N-shell and to fully separate the elastic component from inelastic satellites. The combined analysis of the data yields the transition energies Ey=32151.5±1.1 eV and 9405.9±0.8 eV, respectively. The experiment served also to pilot the application of this spectrometer to the question of a finite neutrino rest mass, searched for in the beta-decay spectrum of tritium and to problems in precision electron spectroscopy in general