In-depth investigation into the transient humidity response at the body-seat interface on initial contact using a dual temperature and humidity sensor

Relative humidity (RH) at the body-seat interface is considered an important factor in both sitting comfort and generation of health concerns such as skin lesions. Technical difficulties appear to have limited research aimed at the detailed and simultaneous exploration of RH and temperature changes at the body-seat interface; using RH sensors without the capability to record temperature where RH is recorded. To explore the causes of a spike in RH consistently produced on first contact between body and seat surface, we report data from the first use of dual temperature and RH (HTU21D) sensors in this interface. Following evaluation of sensor performance, the effect of local thermal changes on RH was investigated. The expected strong negative correlation between temperature and RH (R 2 = =0.94) supported the importance of considering both parameters when studying impact of sitting on skin health. The influence of sensor movement speed (higher velocity approach: 0.32 cm/s ± 0.01 cm/s; lower velocity approach: 0.17 cm/s ± 0.01 cm/s) into a static RH region associated with a higher local temperature were compared with data gathered by altering the rate of a person sitting. In all cases, the faster sitting down (or equivalent) generated larger RH outcomes: e.g., in human sitting 53.7% ± 3.3% RH (left mid-thigh), 56.4% ± 5.1% RH (right mid-thigh) and 53.2% ± 2.7% RH (Coccyx). Differences in size of RH change were seen across the measurement locations used to study the body-seat interface. The initial sitting contact induces a transient RH response (duration ≤ 40 s) that does not accurately reflect the microenvironment at the body-seat interface. It is likely that any movement during sitting would result in similar artefact formation. As a result, caution should be taken when investigating RH performance at any enclosed interface when the surfaces may have different temperatures and movement may occur

Lumbar spine localisation method based on feature fusion

To eliminate unnecessary background information, such as soft tissues in original CT images and the adverse impact of the similarity of adjacent spines on lumbar image segmentation and surgical path planning, a two-stage approach for localising lumbar segments is proposed. First, based on the multi-scale feature fusion technology, a non-linear regression method is used to achieve accurate localisation of the overall spatial region of the lumbar spine, effectively eliminating useless background information, such as soft tissues. In the second stage, we directly realised the precise positioning of each segment in the lumbar spine space region based on the non-linear regression method, thus effectively eliminating the interference caused by the adjacent spine. The 3D Intersection over Union (3D_IOU) is used as the main evaluation indicator for the positioning accuracy. On an open dataset, 3D_IOU values of 0.8339 ± 0.0990 and 0.8559 ± 0.0332 in the first and second stages, respectively is achieved. In addition, the average time required for the proposed method in the two stages is 0.3274 and 0.2105 s respectively. Therefore, the proposed method performs very well in terms of both precision and speed and can effectively improve the accuracy of lumbar image segmentation and the effect of surgical path planning

An Intuitionistic Fuzzy Based Decision-Making Method for River Operation Management: Practice from China

River course is the path of carrying river flow and the blood of modern economic and social development. River operation management has attracted great attention from governments and water conservancy circles all over the world. In China, the river operation management mode refers to the combination of two dimensions: The organization method of river operation management and the bearing and use method of river maintenance fund. Based on the practice of China, we used a two-dimensional matrix method to construct a feasible mode set, including 12 modes, according to the various organization methods of river operation management and the bearing and use methods of river maintenance fund over the years in China. We also compared and analyzed the advantages, disadvantages, and applicable conditions of these 12 river operation management modes. In particular, we investigated the main rivers of 19 provinces and municipalities in China, identified the main factors of the river operation management mode, further identified 5 key indexes, and constructed a decision-making index system for the river operation management mode. We used the intuitionistic fuzzy hybrid average (IFHA) and intuitionistic fuzzy weighted average (IFWA) operators to construct a set of river operation management mode selection method based on intuitionistic fuzzy decision-making. A case study was conducted to select the operation management mode for the Heilongjiang section of Songhua River, using the method put forward in this paper. This study can promote water resource management research and prepare for a possible future sustainability emergency

Humidity Sensors. Advances in Reliability, Calibration and Application

Humidity detection has deep significance for the scientific research surrounding medical care and human performance, and the industrial development of agriculture, geography and automated instruments. This special issue aims to showcase some of the advancements in humidity sensor design and calibration, and its applications. The selected papers cover a variety of humidity sensor-related topics including material science, chemistry and industrial engineering. Through dedicated contributions from peer reviewers and the editorial team, this book aims to offers reader some insight into the field of humidity sensor development and use